Posted on 07/01/2010 9:03:55 AM PDT by Mad Dawg
Wise words...
Have to do it minute by minute.
Only takes the smallest of sparks to ignite an ego flash fire.
Sending prayer your way.
My doctor has told me that the most recent studies indicate that GIANT RETINAL TEARS are definitely hereditary, and your more ordinary RETINAL TEARS (that happen one at a time) are also definitely hereditary.
If you have a blood relative who has ever had a retinal tear of any kind ~ even in an auto or other accident ~ you should study the internet to see what the symptoms are, and if any such symptoms appear they should IMMEDIATELY, not tomorrow, not next week, not after an appointment, contact an opthamologist for treatment. Your chance of developing a retinal tear is many times that of someone without a relative with this problem.
"They" can fix these things these days ~ my GIANT RETINAL TEAR was made up of 7 separate tears. The doctor caught it before my retina flopped over and blinded me. The danger with a loose floppy retina is that you will damage the central part, as well as the optic nerve. Once that happens you are blind ~ and the only consolation will be an extra tax exemption, and the auditors will go easier on you.
Otherwise, there are no consolations and blindness is a bad trip.
I used to think real estate brokers had the world's best job because they were selling new places to live to people ~ who would be happy.
Now I know that opthamologists are the happiest. They are like Jesus ~ they go around and cure blindness.
God knew what He was doing when He manifest Himself as His Son who could cure blindness.
I wonder if they could do preventative maintenance in people who are at risk.
Put in some laser welds in strategic places so that giant tears do not happen.
Saving vision sacredness to it.
Prayer For Help Against Spiritual Enemies
Glorious Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly hosts, who stands always ready to give assistance to the people of God; who fought with the dragon, the old serpent, and cast him out of heaven, and now valiantly defends the Church of God that the gates of hell may never prevail against her, I earnestly entreat you to assist me also, in the painful and dangerous conflict which I sustain against the same formidable foe.
Be with me, O mighty Prince! that I may courageously fight and vanquish that proud spirit, whom you, by the Divine Power, gloriously overthrew, and whom our powerful King, Jesus Christ, has, in our nature, completely overcome; so having triumphed over the enemy of my salvation, I may with you and the holy angels, praise the clemency of God who, having refused mercy to the rebellious angels after their fall, has granted repentance and forgiveness to fallen man. Amen.
But this is what he was about:
Love looks for no cause outside itself. Its profit lies in its practice.Not bad, huh?
I love because I love, I love that I may love.
Love is a great thing so long as it continually returns to its fountainhead, flows back to its source, always drawing from there the water which constantly replenishes it.
Yep!
Who's resting?
Here's my alleged thought for the day. I just received a HUGE compliment. Somebody said, more or less, that I had achieved a personal goal very important to me and, also important to me, had used my gift in a useful way.
So, it's a big temptation to say, "My strength and the might of my arm ..."
My only hope to escape this unscathed is to offer the whole thing IMMEDIATELY to God and to His Kingdom. I have nothing that I have not received -- even the myriad of choices which go into "this way or that way" are His.
It is my COMFORT to have nothing. I cannot bear the weight of personal virtues, even of the most trivial kind. It is an easing of weight from my shoulders to, as they say "return thanks."
Everything is His, and that is our joy.
I might rest later.
No time to look it up now, but I believe it’s Isaiah 26:12
“It is You who have accomplished all that we have done”
Two beautiful excerpts from the writings of Jessica Powers, Carmelite nun;
“Those must remember who would gain the place
this rule that does not vary:
all truth, all love are by humiliation guarded,
as One has testified before.
This may explain why the serf finds salvation,
and kings and scholars pass the little door”
and this:
“I am copying down in a book from my heart’s archives the day I ceased to fear God with a shadowy fear. Would you name it a day that I measured my column of virtue and sighted through windows of merit a crown that was near? Ah, no, it was rather the day I began to see truly that I came forth from nothing and ever toward nothingness tend. That the works of my hands are a foolishness wrought in the presence of the worthiest King in a kingdom that never shall end. I rose up from acres of self that I tended with passion and defended flurries of pride; I walked out of my self and went into the woods of God’s mercy and here I abide.
There is greenness and calmness and coolness, a soft leafy covering from the judgment of the sun overhead, and the hush of His peace and the moss of His Mercy to tread. I have naught but my will seeking God; even love burning in me is a fragment of infinite loving and never my own. And I fear God no more; I go forward forever in a wilderness made of His infinite mercy alone.”
Pinging everyone to ROE’s amazing #693.
I am reading St. Bernard for bedtime reading. He maintains humility is the beginning of the approach to God. It is nothing but perceiving the truth about ourselves.
I have hit a dry spot with respect to words (much to everyone’s relief I’m sure!) I woke up angry this AM and really had to take the reins and force myself to my morning prayers. Sure, objectively speaking it is all grace, and the realization that the only thing to do in a hissy fit is to turn to God is itself a gift.
But subjectively, it felt like work, hard work with little result.
So I have nothing to say. Let’s pray.
Thank you for posting that, ROE. And I’m sorry you’re spiritually poorly today, Mad Dawg.
Jessica’s words (in 693) are a little like what I was trying to say on another thread, about being “serious.” To me, “seriousness” is a sneaky Basement Cat making me believe it’s all about me and the boxes I can check off. Smack her with an old copy of “First Things” - gosh that was under the bed a long time, wasn’t it? - and say, “God is great, and He’s handling it all ... and He thinks I’m cute, darn it!
Take that, Basement Cat! New Zealand is beautiful. Frank has perfect red-gold curls. Monkey Face is the dearest lady in Nevada. Congressman Billybob was a great man. Four verses of “Buenos Dias, Paloma Blanca” and an encore of “Como Estrella en Claro Cielo,” and I hope they hurt your cat ears.
Yeah! CHARGE!
AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
THX THX.
Here’s something that may—just may—make you laugh a little today and provide a new perspective on humility as well:
Perhaps the greatest of insults is from the movie
The Great Trees starring Kirk Douglas:
“You are a sty on the eye of a flea on the thigh of a nit on the neck of a gnat.”
Lord, I am so weak and small. I worry that I am not up to Your tasks for me. Help me to tackle the challenges that come my way with humility and determination. Help me to ignore my own fears and needs. Strengthen me so I am not prey to discouragement. Fill me with Love so that it is always my first choice in all I say and do.
Temper me in Your fiery furnace. I am afraid I am not up to the test. I believe- help my unbelief. I am not worthy- but say the word and heal me. Allow me to touch the hem of Your cloak and eat the crumbs from Your table. Forgive me and have mercy on me. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen
I see that I must have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous with that last post.
Mea culpa.
Humility is quite elusive. :-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.