Reblog: Garden of Gratitude

It’s so easy to get caught up in focusing on the negative, or all the things “wrong” around us. This blog post illustrates how valuable it is to get caught up in the good around us, instead.

 

Garden of Gratitude

by Patrick Collins

…He told me that on his morning trip next door four days after he began ‘deadheading”, as he gazed at the pots he noticed how brilliant and colorful the geraniums were. He suddenly realized that he had spent the first part of the week focusing on the dead flowers, looking intently for the “dead and gone” and what he could “bury”.   He realized that he had overlooked the beauty of the entire garden, and each individual plant by looking for death instead of life. He became incredibly GRATEFUL for life and being. Read more

Reblog: Finding peace and home

This article is so helpful for seeing home in a spiritual light. 

Finding peace and home 

By Elizabeth Mata                                                                  

My husband is from Spain, and I’m from the United States, so we divide our time between the two countries. It’s not uncommon for people to ask which country I consider home. Preferences aside, that question has made me think more deeply about the spiritual meaning of home.

Most of us want our home and surroundings to include warmth, stability, and peace. As normal as it is to have a home that has these things, circumstances such as foreclosure, destructive weather, or divorce can uproot all that we hold dear about home. Or maybe there’s a necessity to sell one’s home, and there’s no buyer in sight. Then what to do? Read more

Reblog: Use what you have

Use what you have

By Patricia Hardee  (Reblogged from CSMonitor.com)

In an interior design magazine, an advertisement caught my eye: “USE WHAT YOU HAVE. No big deal. Take the terror out of decorating. Talented professional can help you. No job too small or too large. References. Immediate results.”

It was designer Lauri Ward’s ad about using what people already have as a foundation to renew their home décor. For many people, her good idea revolutionized the interior design business. Rearranging for immediate and improved use what is already ours made such good sense, and I thought, That’s an essential principle that Jesus taught.

Speaking of what is already ours through God’s law of abundance, Jesus said, “Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24, New International Version [NIV])…Read more