Saturday, June 17, 2006

Blessed! by Patrick D. Odum [HEARTLIGHT(R)Magazine]

Blessed!
------------ by Patrick D. Odum

Blessed are those who fear the LORD, who find great delight in his commands. (Psalm 112:1 TNIV) If the words we choose matter, and I suspect that they usually do, then maybe it's significant that we don't use the word "blessed" much anymore. Honestly, it seems like an antiquated word, an antique from another era. I think that's because most of us in 2006 like to feel that we determine our own fate; that we are the pilots of our own lives. We are active, in control, traveling down a road of our own choosing, and under our own steam. "Blessed" is too passive. If you're "blessed," you haven't done anything. You've received the action, not performed it. If you explain your status, success, wealth, health, happiness, or whatever by saying that you're blessed, you've limited your own role in attaining what you have.

Most of us don't naturally think that way. We prefer to describe ourselves with other words. *Talented *Determined *Persistent *Insightful *Intelligent *Creative. Maybe we'll use the word "lucky" from time to time, as long as we don't think that anybody really attributes our success primarily to luck. Every once in a while, perhaps we'll admit to being "fortunate" — if there's really just no way for us to take the credit for a windfall that's come our way. But "blessed"? Really, now, when was the last time you heard someone use that word? (Saying "bless you" after someone sneezes doesn't count...)

The biblical writers weren't shy about the word "blessed," though. The song we know as Psalm 112 begins with a promise that those who find joy in obeying God are "blessed." He sings of the prosperity of their children, wealth — "even in darkness," he promises, "light dawns for the upright." Are those blessings a result of their own efforts? Well, it's not that they have nothing to do with it at all. They do their best to obey God, certainly. They live their lives. They try to be "gracious and compassionate and righteous," they "are generous and lend freely and conduct their affairs with justice."

Just the same, the blessings that the people in this Psalm experience aren't produced by their own efforts. They come from God, in whom they trust, in whom they have security, and who will in the end give them victory to celebrate. God is the source, the one whom this Psalm praises. It isn't a song in praise of righteous living or religion or acts of kindness; it's a song that celebrates God as the source of blessings for all those who give him the place in their lives that he is due. Our world says that success and prosperity are the result of hard work.

If you want to succeed in your career, or in a sport, or in whatever, you know the drill, right? Work long hours. Sacrifice whatever doesn't make you better. Focus. Train. Be prepared. Keep your life focused around success, and you'll get there. And, truth be told, that approach works, to some degree. In all likelihood, you'll end up pretty good at whatever you've determined to be good at. You'll be successful, at least by some definitions of the term. Your accomplishments will be noticed.But give it a little thought, and I think it'll occur to you that success and prosperity on those terms are limited, at best. It never lasts, for one thing. Worse, so much can be lost as we drive to attain our narrow little dreams – so much that seemed easy to discard at the time and so very important later, after we realize what we've lost. Maybe we need to focus a little less on being successful and a little more on being blessed.

Dios te bendiga. There's a traditional goodbye among the Spanish-speaking members of my church that I'm trying to adopt in my own life. Usually, when we English-speaking folks leave church, we say something like "Have a good week!" to each other. But, almost without fail, my Spanish-speaking brothers and sisters say, "Dios te bendiga" — "God bless you." I like that, I guess, because it reminds me that whether I "have a good week"or not, as a child of God through Jesus Christ I am always a recipient of his blessings. Here's the difference, really, between being blessed and being successful. I can experience God's blessings "even in darkness." Even when things aren't going well, even when I've messed my life up, even when I'm not smart enough or strong enough or good enough or brave enough, I am still one who is "blessed." Even when I don't feel blessed, it's no less true.

"Blessed are the poor in spirit," Jesus claimed. "Blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for just a taste of righteousness. Blessed are those who show mercy, and the pure in heart, and those who put themselves on the line to bring people together. Blessed even are those who are persecuted, insulted, and accused for no reason other than that they try to live lives that please their God." (Matthew 5:1-10 NKJV) That list is very different from a list that those with whom we work and go to school, those who live down the street from us, maybe even those who go to church with us, would make of those who were "successful."

It sounds ludicrous to say that those who are poor in anyway are blessed. It's downright contradictory, isn't it, to say that those who mourn are blessed? In a world that values assertiveness and aggression, it's hard to imagine the meek inheriting anything but leftovers or those who make peace being anything other than doormats. And surely, if living for God brings pain and hardship, one might want to consider if he's a God worth living for. But Jesus says those folks are blessed exactly for the reason that it's not obvious that they're blessed. They are people who choose not to set their hearts on the world's definitions of success, and so they find themselves on the outside looking in, misfits who don't seem to have a place in the world's economy. But that's because they have their eyes on God's kingdom instead. Jesus' promise is that God doesn't overlook that. That touches him. It matters to him. And he responds by blessing: by pouring down comfort and mercy, by fulfilling our deepest longings, by making us heirs of everything he has, by showing us his face and calling us his children. In short, by opening wide the doors of his kingdom and promising that though we might not fit well in the world in which we live, we have a place in that kingdom with him. So maybe we should rediscover that word "blessed." Maybe we've lost something by excluding it from our vocabularies. It is a reminder of God's great generosity and marvelous grace.

Dios te bendiga.

God bless you.

Believe it — those aren't just words.

(c) 2006 Patrick D. Odum <patrickodum@dignity.com>


RELATED LINKS:
Do You Feel Lucky? http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200310/20031024_lucky.html
Am I Blessed Like This? http://www.heartlight.org/cgi-shl/my_utmost/utm.cgi?0725
The Best Day Ever http://www.heartlight.org/articles/200402/20040222_bestday.html
Faith Web http://faithnet.faithsite.com



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kathie5255@yahoo.com
I am a Galatians 2:20 woman
http://360.yahoo.com/kathie5255
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NT-KJV/

Thursday, March 02, 2006

Little Miss Sunbeam

Someone has asked me about the history of Little Miss Sunbeam and what town she was from; we were thinking perhaps she was from our local area of Louisiana. I did a little digging and this is what I found.
--------------------------------

Flowers Bakeries has come a long way since its first loaves of bread were baked in Thomasville, Georgia in 1919. Flowers and Sunbeam have been partners since 1944. Little Miss Sunbeam and the Sunbeam brand are owned by Quality Bakers of America, a baking cooperative.
---------------------

Flowers Bakery says this:
What is the name of the original Little Miss Sunbeam? No one knows the name of the little girl who inspired this well-loved white bread brand. In 1942, Quality Bakers of America (QBA) hired Ellen Segner, a *New York artist, to create a bread trademark that housewives would find irresistible. As the story goes, Segner spotted a girl in a park in *New York City, sketched her likeness, and used the sketch as the basis for Little Miss Sunbeam. Sunbeam is a trademark owned by QBA, a bakery cooperative.
------------------------

And another story is that it was actual pictures taken of a little girl in *Ohio. Here is her story (not much information about her stint as Little Miss Sunbeam, though):

The Little Miss Sunbeam GirlDriven by a great love for imagination, Judi Garratt (Master of Arts ’74) enjoys a vocation rich in freedom of expression. One of the nation’s leading pantomime artists, Garratt began performing professionally at the age of 13.

Today she focuses her career on bringing theatre to schoolchildren, underprivileged youths, kids with disabilities, pediatric hospital patients, and young library patrons. That’s a long way from her solid *Ohio roots and her national debut at the age of two as the smiling baby on the Sunbeam Bread wrapper.
http://www.miami.edu/miami-magazine/spring01/classnotes.html#garratt
-------------------------------

For more information on Little Miss Sunbeam, visit the QBA site
http://www.qba.com/miss_sunbeam.asp and
http://www.www.sunbeambread.com

Then there is the Little Miss Sunbeam "look-alike" article about Bonnie Riley, who was 7 when she won a contest as the Little Miss Sunbeam "look-alike"
http://www.hws.edu/alumni/alumnews/showwebclip.asp?webclipid=290
It's interesting reading!

___________________________________
Blessings to all,
Kathie5255@yahoo.com <><
_____________________________________________
My #1 blog is http://360.yahoo.com/kathie5255
#2 page is http://360.yahoo.com/kathie8355740

Poems, Articles, & Links In A Fellowship Of Friends!
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Friends-Fellowship

Saturday, February 11, 2006

Radio Legend: Paul Harvey

Grapefruit Pie

(as mentioned by Paul Harvey on the air 12/8/05)

2 large or 3 medium red grapefruits, sectioned
1 1/2 cups water 1 cup sugar3 tablesp. cornstarch
3oz box of Strawberry Jell-o™

Combine sugar and cornstarch, add water and cook over medium heat until thick and clear. Add Jell-o™ and stir to dissolve. Cool and add grapefruit sections. Pour into baked pie shell and chill until firm. Top with Cool Whip™ before cutting, Makes Six to Eight Servings
--------------------------------------------------------------

How long has it been since YOU listened to Paul Harvey? You can listen to his programs online with a Windows Media Player anytime http://www.paulharvey.com/index.php
maybe you would like to listen to him live, check with your local radio stations (many of them have Mr. Harvey on the air at Noon- your time).
----------------------------------------------------

Paul Harvey received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush on Wednesday, November 9, 2005
http://www.paulharvey.com/index.php
--------------------------------------------------

Radio Legend Paul Harvey's Biography
http://www.paulharvey.com/bio.shtml
-----------------------------------

I am a Galatians 2:20 woman

Wednesday, February 01, 2006

Have you ever told a little white lie?

Have you ever told a little white lie? You are going to love this -- especially all of the ladies who bake for church events.


Alice was to bake a cake for the Baptist Church ladies' group bake sale in Tuscaloosa, but she forgot to do it until the last minute. She remembered it the morning of the bake sale and after rummaging through cabinets she found a dusty old Angel food cake mix in the back of her kitchen cabinet and quickly made it while drying her hair and dressing and helping her son Bryan pack up for Scout camp.

But when Alice took the cake from the oven the center had dropped flat and the cake was horribly disfigured. She said, "Oh dear, there's no time to bake another cake." This cake was so important to Alice because she did so want to fit in at her new church, and in her new community of new friends. So, being inventive and not wanting anyone to think she was not the perfect woman able to handle all things at all times or that, Heaven forbid, she wasn't participating in her church's bazaar, she looked around the house for something to build up the center of the cake. Alice found it in the bathroom -- a roll of toilet paper. She plunked it in and then covered it with icing. Not only did the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect!

Before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and head for work, Alice woke her daughter Amanda and gave her some money and specific instructions to be at the bake sale the minute it opened at 9:30, and to buy that cake and bring it home. When the daughter arrived at the sale, she found that the attractive perfect cake had already been sold. Amanda grabbed her cell phone and Alice was horrified...she was beside herself. Everyone would know... what would they think? Oh, my! she wailed. She would be ostrasized, talked about, ridiculed. She would have to move or kill herself!

All night Alice lay awake in bed thinking about people pointing their fingers at her and talking about her behind her back. The next day, Alice promised herself that she would try not to think about the cake and she attended a fancy luncheon/bridal shower at the home of a friend of a friend and try to have a good time. Alice did not really want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than once had looked down her nose at the fact that Alice was a single parent and not from the founding families of Tuscaloosa but having already RSVP'd she could not think of a believable excuse to stay home.

The meal was elegant, the company was definitely upper crust old South.... and to Alice's horror the CAKE in question was presented for dessert. Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake, she started to get out of her chair to rush into the kitchen to tell her hostess all about it, but before she could get to her feet, the Mayor's wife said, "What a beautiful cake!" Alice who was still stunned and trying to formulate what words she would use to explain the situation, sat back in her chair and close her eyes. She then heard the hostess (who was a prominent church member) say, "Thank you, I baked it myself."

Alice smiled and thought to herself


there is a God


AMEN

Friday, January 27, 2006

PROMOTION


Promotion comes to him who sticks
Unto his work and never kicks,
Who watches neither clock nor sun
To tell him when his task is done;
Who toils not by a stated chart,
Defining to a jot his part,
But gladly does a little more
Than he's remunerated for.
The man, in factory or shop,
Who rises quickly to the top,
Is he who gives what can't be bought:
Intelligent and careful thought.
No one can say just when begins
The service that promotion wins,
Or when it ends; 'tis not defined
By certain hours or any kind
Of system that has been devised;
Merit cannot be systemized.
It is at work when it's at play;
It serves each minute of the day;
'Tis always at its post, to see
New ways of help and use to be.
Merit from duty never slinks,
Its cardinal virtue is -- it thinks!
Promotion comes to him who tries
Not solely for a selfish prize,
But day by day and year by year
Holds his employer's interests dear.
Who measures not by what he earns
The sum of labor he returns,
Nor counts his day of toiling through
Till he's done all that he can do.
His strength is not of muscle bred,
But of the heart and of the head.
The man who would the top attain
Must demonstrate he has a brain.
-- Edgar A. Guest

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

The Book Bill

A customer sent an order to a book club for the one they were
offering that month. The distributor noticed that the bill for a
previous book hadn't been paid. The collections manager then sent
their form letter saying,
"We can't ship your new order until you pay for the last one."

The collections manager received a note a few days later,
"Please cancel the order. I can't wait that long."