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Friendship

Friendship is not like,

The turbulent waves that rise high in the ocean,

Frightening the creatures and ships,

Or like the wind that blows fiercely,

Scattering and destroying things on the way.

It is not like the thunder,

Lightening or torrential rain,

Destroying the flora and fauna on the earth.

         

But, friendship is like,

The calm water in a lake,

Stable and amicable for the boats to sail,

Fishes to swim and plants to grow.

Like the gentle breeze which makes the plants

                        Sway to and fro,

Pacifying the crying baby and refreshing

                        The wary traveler.

Like the light drizzle which co oils the air,

 Making the birds to twitter and hop,

 Enthusing the children to skip and dance.

 Friendship is too precious to be bought,

You can get it only by loving and gibing.                 –Anj

Greatness

Once a little boy of five was left alone

With his father at bedtime. It has never

Happened before. After some maneuvering

And a lot of fun, the father finally got the      

Little fellow into his night clothes, and was

About to lift him into bed when the child

Said, ‘But dad, I have to say my prayer.’

He knelt down beside his bed, joined his

Hands, raised his eyes to heaven and

Prayed: ‘now I lay me down to sleep, I pray

The Lord my soul to keep; if I should die

Before I wake, I pray the Lord nay soul to take.’

That was his usual prayer, but tonight

He looked up at his dad, then raised his eyes

To heaven and prayed, ‘Dear God’ make

Me a great big good man, like my dad, Amen.’                   

In a moment he was in bed, and in five minutes

Asleep. And then the father knelt by his son’s

Beside and prayed, ‘Dear Lord’ make me a great                                                                                                              

Big good man like my boy thinks I am.’                -Anjat               

This, Too

Shall pass away

When some sorrow, like a mighty river,

Flows through your life with peace-

Destroying power,

And dearest things are swept

From sight forever,

Say to your heart each trying hour:

 “This, too, shall pass away.”

When fortune smiles,

And full of mirth and pleasure,

The days are flitting by without a care,

Lest you should rest with

Only earthly treasure,

Let these few words

There fullest import bare:

“ This too, shall pass away.”

When earnest labors brings you

Fame and glory,

And all earth’s noblest ones

Upon you smile,

Remember that life’s longest,

Grandest story

Fills but a moment in earth’s little while:

 “This, too, shall pass away.” -Anjat

WAS THAT YOU?

Somebody did a golden deed

Proving himself a friend in need;

Brightening the skies the whole day long

Was that somebody you?

Somebody made a loving gift,

Cheerfully tried a load to lift;

Somebody told the love of God.

Told how God’s Willis our happiness

                        Was that somebody you?

Somebody filled the days with light,

Constantly chased away the night;

Surely his life shall never cease,

                        Was that somebody you?                      -Anjat

  

FEAR NOT…

 Fear not that you might fail…Fear rather that you might never succeed if you never dare to try.

1.         Fear not that you might make a mistake believing in your dream …Fear not rather that if you don’t go for it you might stand before God and He’ll tell you that you could have succeeded if you had more faith.

2.         Fear not that of to doesn’t work out you’ll be embarrassed… Fear rather that if you don’t try time will only prove you could have succeeded! The saddest words of tongue or pen are these: “it might have been.”

3.         Fear not that you fail …Fear rather that you will never succeed if you don’t start taking risks.

4.         Fear not that you might be hurt…Fear rather that you might never grow if you keep waiting for painless success.

5.         Fear not that you might love and lose … Fear rather that you might never love at all.

6.         Fear not that others might laugh at your mistakes…Fear rather that God will say to you , “O you of little faith.”

7.         Fear not that you might fall again…Fear rather that you might have made it the next time if you’d only tried once more and given it all you had.

                                                                

INSPIRING ANECDOTES

 Quaker desirous of converting John Bunyan visited him in Bedford jail.                          

“Friend John,”said he, “I come to thee with a message from the Lord; and after having searched for thee in all the prisons in England, I am glad I have found thee at last.”

 

“If the Lord has sent you,” answered Bunyan, you need not have had so much pains to find me out, for the Lord knows I have been here for twelve years.”

LEARN TO LOVE YOUR DANDELIONS

 

      This wonderful old neighbor of mine was retired and spent much of his time in his yard, which was a great source of pride to him. But try as he would, he could not get rid of the dandelions. Despite using the best grass seed and the most expensive weed killer, they still appeared, bright yellow dots in the midst of his beautiful green lawn.

     When he wrote to a gardening expert about his problem, the reply included several suggestions and closed with this statement. “If none of these work, I suggest you learn to love dandelions.”

     One morning, I stopped by to have coffee with an old friend. For years she and her husband had been saving money to buy a more expensive home. But she was still at the same address when I called on her. As I walked into her living room and looked around, the words just tumbled out, “Jean, your house just looks beautiful.”

     It was not an idle compliment. She took me through the rest of the house and every room; every corner was a gem of imaginative decorating. She had done it, not with a lot of money but with creativity, flair and hard work.

     Over coffee she confided, “I’m sure you remember how much I wanted a 

SHARING

  

In addition to the word gifts of prophecy, tongues, and interpretation of tongues, sharing from our own insight or experience is another means by which the community manifests the glory of the Lord and builds itself up as the; Lord’s body. Sharing includes exhortation, teaching, and testimony.

Perhaps the most common form of sharing is exhortation, moving people to a deeper commitment or to a particular action. Frequently, as the Holy Spirit works, a person begins to sense what the Lord is saying. Not always is this sense meant to be put into the form of prophecy, it can be shared as simply a sense of the Lord’s word speaking to what we are or must become. It is not a word meant just for our information but for our transformation, and it is natural to communicate it as an exhortation –a calling to heed the Lord and turn in the way he commands.

Such exhortation has a prophetic quality. in the New Testament we sometimes see prophets speaking this way. After the council of Jerusalem described in Acts 15, Judas and Silas are sent to Antioch to speak: “And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, exhorted the brethren with many words and strengthened them” (Acts 15:32)

Another common form of sharing at a prayer meeting can generally be described as teaching.

There is a place in the prayer meeting for more developed or formal teaching. One person may read a passage from Scripture and comment on it to bring out the meaning he feels is intended. Or someone may share an insight into some Christian truth with enough development so that all can understand it. Or someone may share an understanding of how the Lord wants us to live, and in his explanation bring together several text from Scripture. Such sharing can contain genuine wisdom from the                      Lord, especially when it proceeds from the Lord’s own word in Scripture: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom”(Col. 3:16).

Testimony, another form of sharing in meetings, means simply the sharing from personal experience of the Lord’s action in our lives so that others may see the reality and goodness of the Lord and be led to love and praise him more. Testimony may include everything from a detailed account of one’s conversion to a simple sharing of a brief event that shows God’s action. Many of us have experienced the power of good testimony: there is no need to convince ourselves of its great value in a meeting, but there is much to learn. How often have we heard testimony to the Lord’s action is of such great value that we ought to make the effort to learn how to do it? At the outset, we must remember that 'sharing is to glorify Lord and to build up others, not to glorify or focus attention on ourselves. There are two opposite problems that relate to this goal: on the one hand we have those who won’t speak or share in a meeting out of a false humility and a fear of drawing attention to themselves, and on the other we have some who share out of a sense of insecurity to pride, and, failing to glorify the Lord, they only succeed in asserting themselves. To the first group, who are probably the more numerous, we must honestly say that it is not right to “hide our light under a bushel” and, out of fear of our weakness, refuse to tell of the Lord’s goodness in our lives. God’s manifested love ought to be shared so that his glory may be seen. We do have tendencies to want attention and temptations to pride, so let us admit to the Lord those tendencies and ask him to take care of them, and then determine in our heart that we wish to share for the sake of the Lord. The Lord knows well enough how to handle our weaknesses, and can prevent them from harming our testimony. On the other hand, those who share out of pride or insecurity tend to speak more about them than about the Lord. Generally this shows up in a tendency to speak more about their subjective feeling about what the Lord has done than on the objective situation of their life and the action of the Lord in it. Leaders and other mature members and sisters with correction and help in learning how to share.

It is worth noting that there are different kinds of sharing, and that different things are appropriate at different types of meetings. For example, in a small home prayer group of ten to twenty people who know each other personally, it is appropriate to share regularly about what the Lord is ding in a particular area of our life. However, in a larger public prayer meeting of a hundred or even several hundred, these things are not appropriate. In larger meetings it is important that the sharing be oriented to the whole community gathered and not just to those who know us well.  Especially appropriate to these situations is sharing of an evangelistic character, about how we met the ‘Lord or were baptized in the Spirit, or sharing that demonstrates the reality and glory of God for those who are new. Further, in those communities, which have special prayer meetings for community members, it is appropriate to share testimony oriented to those already committed to the Lord who understand the significance and subtleties of growth in the Lord.