A PICNIC

A PICNIC
Find a special spot to call your own today. Lay out a cloth on this spot. Place a few of your favorite items on it: A photo, a candle, your journal, a prayer book, your Bible,, maybe pens, pencils and paper. Fix your special beverage. Play music to reach your soul. Now it is time to begin your spiritual picnic. Only good and happy times can happen during your picnic, as you drift into a world of calm, feeling stress-free, having the time to converse and listen to God. As the picnic ends, promise God you will hold another picnic soon, understanding how important it is to always spread out the cloth, to break bread with him, is so many different ways. ~Marie T. Morrison~

ON FIRE WITH JOY!

Feel the flame of the Holy Spirit heat up your mind, body and soul, refreshing your life, moving your spirit to live out God's joy each day! ~Marie T. Morrison~

WATER BLESSINGS

While out watering our beautiful, blessed garden the other day, I once again realized just how wonderful water is. Here I am, sprinkling water on all the colors of our garden, while the water itself made its own rainbow of colors. The water was vibrant, letting everything be showered with new life. Yes, new life, as the moisture let everything revive from the baking heat into being strong once again.
My thoughts drifted as I continued to bring my thirsty plants back to life. I began to think of the vast amounts of water our world has. The beautiful ocean is such a spiritual entity for me. Though I seldom have the chance to visit the sea, I love to sit by its edge, imagining all the life it holds,. From where I contemplated with my thoughts about this, I knew I couldn’t actually see all what the magnificent waters held. But I believed, not seeing. I smiled, visualizing activity under the blue-green waters. There would be those rainbows of colors, supplied by God, making each living plant and animal dependent upon one another.
As the days passed, I have still continued to think about what water does for us. It brings my own self back to life when I thirst, and gives me tremendous strength as I feel the sensations of it as I do my daily workout at the pool. I can’t stay away from it. I want to continue to feel the soothing effects it provides me as I glide from one place to another in the water. My smile comes back, as I thank God for giving me the privilege to feel the water upon me, both internally and externally.
While moving in the water, praying and meditating my thoughts to God, I am reminded how my life began with water. I received the baptismal water, which created its own beautiful rainbow of new life for me. I was blessed in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. What joys opened up for me, to know the strength to carry me in my faith and my life began at that very moment. The Holy Spirit resided within me, and through God, Jesus was always there to protect me, to carry me and walk beside me. The world was not black and white anymore, but filled with every color of the rainbow, as I was surrounded with love.
The water is pure and clear. It is silent as it gives life to the gardens, to life in the seas and to my own life. Yet, what a loud resonance it makes, giving all in our world the life God provides for us.

(I have published this before, but my audience was little then, so am publishing it again.)

AN EXTRA DOSE

If our mood becomes especially temperamental, it may be a good day to ask the Holy Spirit to dish us an extra dose of patience. It is a time for a challenge, proving to God we can live by His standards. Ruining another’s day because of one’s personal anger is unfair. We are human, but making mistakes to hurt others is never a good idea.
~Marie T. Morrison~

WHAT IS SET

Try as we might to want people to care at the level we do, it is not going to work. It does not matter how much effort is put into this task , it just will not happen. It is time for us to make our own changes, that of accepting others are set in their ways, as we are set in ours. To release this stress from our minds, knowing how they give, or not give, in the ways acceptable to them, should give us a state of freedom. We are not to be one another’s judge, as that is left to God. We can only to our best, not beyond that, always keeping in mind, that we must at all times, also nurture our own bodies and souls. ~Marie T. Morrison

IT IS ONLY AN IDEA

Having an idea can lead to something great, only if we act upon it. Feel God’s inner strength within yours, ready to begin this new journey. The idea may seem small in your mind, but what a complete turnaround it can bring to many lives. Say a prayer to the Holy Spirit and proceed to take action, reaching out to those benefitting most by what has lit up in your mind. That little glow in your head will now bring a brilliant blaze of difference, to more than you will ever know. Hear God’s Words telling you, “Go for it!” A fountain of thankful blessings will continue to flow, because you did step forward!

~Marie T. Morrison~

A DELICIOUS MEMORY

Think of a memory today. Will it be of your first day of school? The day you finished school? They day you got your first job? Make the memory a pleasant one, something to make you smile. The day God first spoke to you, the day you first realized just how wonderful the world is. I remember how exciting it was when a deaf child was communicating to me, her grin, her stomping her feet and her hands slapping on the desk, as she showed me the picture of the cross she drew. It was my first time for me to to be among a group of deaf children, all of them stomping and slapping on the desks, grinning, to let me know the Spirit was among them. For me to think that deaf children were silent was such a myth. Oh, what a delicious memory! It is one I will never forget! What is yours? May God be with you, and with that memory, throughout your day!
With love,
~Marie T. Morrison~

FINDING THE CALM

Patience is a never-ending practice, taking tremendous perseverance. What works in one instance may not work for another. What we tolerate in friends is different for family members. Tongues can be sharper, according to the circumstance. God keeps us on our toes, giving us daily challenges, even testing our own skills at completing a given task. Remember the Spirit dwelling within, finding the calm, to keep us at peace.
~Marie T. Morrison~

JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM

Rushing on a judgment may be the cause of wrong information. Think about it. Pray on it. Talk about it with those knowing the facts. It releases a world of stress. Bless those helping in the right decision-making. Thank God for being there, once again.
~Marie T. Morrison~

MAKING A SWITCH

Switching our priorities may not be our preference, but it can mean a world of difference, as we lend our ear or hand to a fellow brethren. In the end, what we had planned really will not matter. What does count is that another heart was comforted.
~Marie T. Morrison~

NOT AS WE SEE IT

A person not smiling is wishing for someone to smile first, going through bad times. Saying hi to the quiet person passing by, looking straight ahead, may be just what the person has been secretly hoping. Not judging a person’s dreadful mood, responding with kindness, could alter one’s day for the better. You never know how much that one smile can enlighten one’s life, all in the grace of God.
~Marie T. Morrison~

FORGIVENESS

F ree yourself, as the past cannot be changed.
O nce you let go, inhale a breath of fresh air, and the healing begins.
R oll over the stone and have a new attitude.
G o forward, bringing new hope.
I gnite an optimistic light, showing a new path of faith.
V alues buried through anger can now resurface,
E ncouraging others not to lose one’s identity in the darkness.
N ever hold onto the anger.
E xtinguish it.
S avor the pleasurable moments in life,
S piritually, God will walk with you, every step of the way.

~Marie T. Morrison~