Thank you for joining us this Lenten Season with the Marble Women’s Ministry from New York City.  Here are some thoughts for taking the Lenten journey into your daily life.

Make me a Channel of your Peace

Happy Easter!  We are all blessed today!

May the joy of the risen Jesus Christ be with you, to bring joy into your very soul. The good God has given Himself to us. During His life here on earth, Jesus wanted to share His joy with His apostles, ” That my joy may be in you. ” Joy was the password of the first Christians. ” Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say to you, rejoice. ”  Mother Teresa

Easter Medley

Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend

In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev’ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow’r of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand.”

In Christ Alone…

The midweek of Holy Week should be filled with songs that unite our divided world and so I share the following songs to help you.

Heal the World sung by Child Prodigy

My Own Two Hands by Playing for Change

United by Playing for Change

Several of the blog posts from Advent and Lent have focused on releasing our fears, being more grateful, and going forth with boldness.  So today, I want you to gain the courage to just dance.

Come from the Heart

Lyrics by Susanna Clark and Richard Leigh

My daddy told me when I was a young girl
A lesson he learned, it was a long time ago
If you want to have someone to hold onto
You’re gonna have to learn to let go

You got to sing like you don’t need the money
Love like you’ll never get hurt
You got to dance like nobody’s watchin’
It’s gotta come from the heart
If you want it to work

Now here is the one thing I keep forgettin’
When everything is falling apart
In life as in love, you know I need to remember
There’s such a thing as trying too hard

You got to sing like you don’t need the money
Love like you’ll never get hurt
You got to dance like nobody’s watchin’
It’s gotta come from the heart
If you want it to work

Many have been credited with the quote, “dance like nobody’s watching,” but this old style country song really helped the quote reach the masses.

So to give you a bit of a laugh, one of the best recent examples of this sentiment came out of New Orleans on Super Sunday, 2018.

A dance video where the man just dances…

Find a way to dance like nobody is watching and release your fear…

Marcie Doll

“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
Proverbs 27:6

In the age of Facebook and Instagram, you may have collected thousands of friends on these sites from all stages of your life.  I so enjoy keeping in touch with people who have made a difference in my life.  And then there is that kind of friend, where you can just pick -up where you left off…

Yesterday, I spent time with one of those friends that I do not get to see as regularly as I used to when we worked together, but it was just like we hung out last week.  I know she will tell me the truth and do so kindly, that I will not even flinch.  She will laugh with me and let me cry on the phone, when I do not get the job I was hoping for or a door closed I did not expect to.  And she will encourage you to be your best self, even when you are not up to it.  And we can sloppy laugh at something that we should not….

In a week, where many of Jesus’s friends denied and one betrayed him, I like to think of the people who always stood by him.  Mary and Martha, Lazarus, Mary Magdalene, etc..,

“This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends…. This I command you, that you love one another.” John 15:12-13, 17

So this Holy Week, I will focus on being the best friend that I can be, one that is kind, connected, a cheerleader, a shoulder to cry on, one to laugh with, and all of the other things that a friend needs to be…

Here is a list of articles that may help you if you need to reboot some of your friendships….

NY Times on True Friendship

Samuel Crossman (1664)

1 My song is love unknown,
my Savior’s love to me;
love to the loveless shown,
that they might lovely be.
O who am I, that for my sake,
my Lord should take frail flesh and die?

2 He came from His blest throne
salvation to bestow;
but man made strange, and none
the longed-for Christ would know.
But oh, my Friend, my Friend indeed,
who at my need His life did spend!

3 Sometimes they strew His way
and His sweet praises sing;
resounding all the way
hosannas to their King.
Then “Crucify!” is all their breath,
and for His death they thirst and cry.

4 Why, what hath my Lord done?
What makes this rage and spite?
He made the lame to run,
He gave the blind their sight.
Sweet injuries! Yet they at these
themselves displease,
and ‘gainst Him rise.

5 They rise, and needs will have
my dear Lord made away;
a murderer they save,
the Prince of Life they slay.
Yet cheerful He to suffering goes,
that He His foes from thence might free.

6 In life, no house, no home
my Lord on earth might have;
in death, no friendly tomb
but what a stranger gave.
What may I say? Heav’n was His home,
but mine the tomb wherein He lay.

7 Here might I stay and sing,
no story so divine;
never was love, dear King,
never was grief like Thine.
This is my Friend, in whose sweet praise
I all my days could gladly spend.

My Song is Love Unknown by Koine

King’s College Choir Version

“It is a person’s unquenchable thirst for wonder
That sets them on their initial quest for truth.
The more doors you open, the smaller you become.
The more places you see and the more people you meet,
The greater your curiosity grows.
The greater your curiosity, the more you will wander.
The more you wander, the greater the wonder.
The more you quench your thirst for wonder,
The more you drink from the cup of life.
The more you see and experience, the closer to truth you become.
The more languages you learn, the more truths you can unravel.
And the more countries you travel, the greater your understanding.
And the greater your understanding, the less you see differences.
And the more knowledge you gain, the wider your perspective,
And the wider your perspective, the lesser your ignorance.
Hence, the more wisdom you gain, the smaller you feel.
And the smaller you feel, the greater you become.
The more you see, the more you love —
The more you love, the less walls you see.
The more doors you are willing to open,
The less close-minded you will be.
The more open-minded you are,
The more open your heart.
And the more open your heart,
The more you will be able to
Send and receive —
Truth and TRUE
Unconditional
LOVE.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem

Let me admit something, I do not go anyplace without a camera.  While a cell phone camera works, I usually have one of my other cameras, a Samsung or a Canon.  On a normal day, I probably take between 10-12 pictures, but other days I can take a hundred.

As I go through my pictures each day as part of my time with my Bullet Journal, I tend to pray on the pictures a bit.  I travel a lot for business now, so I seem to see different things everyday, but even when I am home, I still get inspired. Here are three days in March for me and a collage of pictures.

So take a bunch of pictures each day and pray.

March 9th, 2018

The middle series is from March 13th, 2018 and the last is from March 14th, 2018.

So my prayer today is from America the Beautiful…

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed His grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!