Wednesday, August 29, 2012

A Thought for the Day - August 28, 2012


After the devotional readings for today (August 28, 2012) from Psalm 116:1-2 ("I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live," ESV), and 1 Peter 3:11-12 ("Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil," ESV), I picked up my daily reading from Howard Thurman's book "The Inward Journey" and found these inspirational words. It all comes together: 

"'Let not thy will be set to sin.' These searching words are from the Book of Tobit...The judgment which says that a deed is wrong is always a reflection of the content of the individual's sense of value. (A person) may say 'I know my feeling of guilt for what i have done does not make sense, except to me.' Our reaction is the way we are trained, conditioned, taught. But this does not alter the fact of our responsibility for our acts and reactions. It is important to make the full context of one's life pattern to the end that one's deeds will flow more and more from the center of one's intent. Perhaps this is a goal that is never reached, but to work at it is to become increasingly mature and responsible."

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

A word/thought for the day


This morning I woke with anxieties and questions on my mind. As I prayed about them, this passage came to mind (as I substituted my name in the verse), "Kenny, Kenny, you are worried and distracted by many things" (Luke 10:41).
Then I read this from Howard Thurman (which I believe to be my answer to my prayer concern):
"He leads us on by paths we did not know. There is an abiding desire to know the future, to see around the corner of the days and years. Even when we say we do not concern ourselves about what will happen next month or next year, the shy insistence still remains - we want to know. This normal feeling is a part of all the anxiety which we face on the threshold of any new adventure. If we could be sure that all will be well - if we could have some guarantee that our present hopes would not betray us and leave us deserted in the lonely place - then we would find the peace that belongs to the contented. But life is not like that...He leads us on by paths we did not know."
Yes, I am indeed "worried and distracted by many things." But there is one thing about which I need not be concerned. "In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths" (Proverbs 3:5).
"He leads us on by paths we did not know." Amen.
Pastor Kenneth Q. JamesPsalm 119:33-34
"Let truth, the light of my heart, speak to me, and not my own darkness!"
Augustine, Confessions, Book XII, Chapter 10