Let's Be Choosy

 

“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.” 

 ~ Joanne Kathleen Rowling 

Life always has a menu in front of your nose 

Asking you to choose those things that will say who you are

It is like a restaurant, really

Are you always going for life's emotional greasy cheeseburger

 and paying the consequences

Or grabbing that fresh green salads of peace and calm that life offers to your soul?

 and getting the reward

 We make those choices every day

What to take in 

What to leave out

What emotional "meals" you will allow to shape your soul

Life just hands you the menu

You get to choose the "meals"

                                                                          Kofi Annan said:

"To live is to choose. 

But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for,

 where you want to go 

and why you want to get there.” 

and that's poetiquejustis

Choose this day whom you will serve

Joshua 24:15

Expectations

 

Expectancy is the atmosphere for miracles

Edwin Louis Cole

I am expecting a lot from today

and tomorrow 

and the year to come

 I will expect, demand, and accept

the good things that come my way

And the not so good

The wanted

And the "......could have done without that"

and I will treat them all as threads of gold and silver and scarlet

That I will weave in to something magnificent

because that is how a miracle is born

What will you do with the threads of your days in the coming months?

Let's meet right here next year

And we will share our miracles!

and that's poetiquejustis

"For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”  

Matthew 17:20

You Have the Power

 

"To live happily is an inward power of the soul." ~ Aristotle 

Cakes are made from the outside in

Buildings are built from the bottom up

Make up brushes on 

 and washes off

 ah..but joy....

and happiness....

and freedom from fear

 only comes from living from the inside out

Today...take inventory

What is powering your soul?

Does it feel like this?

or this?

 Choose your power

and that's poetiquejustis 

 Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more

than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—

infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. 

Bank On It!

 

Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there will be sun.

Annie

Things beginning to seem a bit taxing?

 

Here is some advice...

Have an interest in those around you

Invest in others

Bank on our communities

Sharing the dividends of love with others

Now that is an economy we should all be able to agree on!

and that's poetiquejustis

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Matthew 6:21

The Year is An Open Book

 

You can never get a cup of tea large enough

or a book long enough

to suit me

C S Lewis

It is that wonderful time of the year

The sigh between Christmas

and the New Year

The moment when all is done

And nothing is quite ready to begin

A time when slippers are the footwear of choice

and the fireside is the 'destination'

So, have some tea

Open a book

(put away your phone)

The busy will be back

soon enough

and that's poetiquejustis

The LORD replied, "My Presence will go with you, 

and I will give you rest."

Exodus 33:14

To Have and to Hold

 

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
    Their old, familiar carols play,
        And wild and sweet
        The words repeat
    Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Very few of us know that this poem was written 

during the American  Civil War

 No wonder Longfellow's pen had turned to thoughts of peace

And the familiar comfort of the Christmas Bells.

       peace may seem for you today as elusive as it did for him

   in the midst of war

For we all battle something

in fact, Wadsworth also said:

 and so this Christmas Season

Seek peace and pursue it

Turn off the news

and the brash voices

 

Look for eyes that smile

and words that heal

 

Stop, and hear the music of the Christmas Bells

If only for a moment

and 

If only in your heart

Do you feel it?

That is the joy of Christmas!

And if you receive it

It is yours to have and to hold

And that's poetiquejustis

And my soul shall be joyful in the Lord;
It shall rejoice in His salvation.

Psalm 35:9

Where's Your Spirit?

 

"I will honor Christmas in my heart and keep it all the year"
Charles Dickens

The Spirit of Christmas takes a lot of heart room

...nope... that will never do...

You need room for the wrappings and the trappings

The egg nog and the toys

For the magical and miraculous

For little girls and boys

You need space for the less fortunate

And for trees that look so sad

So if you will let your heart grow big enough

This will be the best Christmas season you ever had!

And that's poetiquejustis

 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he

Proverbs 23:7