Sermon Illustrations on Appreciation

Compassion Fatigue

Luke 12:48

Disciplined giving revolves around three basic Biblical principles:

1. First fruits. Give God the first and the best.

2. Proportional giving. To whom much given, much expected.

3. Regular giving. Regular is better than fitful.

But what about spontaneity and joy? Doesn't "disciplined giving" take away

the importance of motivation and the joy of responding at the moment? I think

not. Perhaps a story will illustrate. While on national staff, I worked with

two colleagues of very different temperaments. One was methodical and

organized, the other spontaneous and "go with the flow." My first friend kept

a list of people's birthdays and anniversaries, and on long flights and other

spare moments, he would write cards - sometimes months in advance. After

sealing the envelope, he would note the date it was to be mailed where the

stamp would cover it. My second friend ridiculed this practice as cold and

uncaring. However, not a year passed but what I did not receive a warm and

thoughtful note from my first friend on my "special days." I have yet to

receive my first card from my second, spontaneous friend.

The discipline of my first friend was the key. Because he loved and cared, he

did not leave his acts of thoughtfulness to the whim of the moment.

#2158

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Persuading Parishioners They're Appreciated

Six ways to show appreciation to members: birthday letters, family of the week, slide show, thank you letters to contributors.

Hi, Cornelius

Luke 17:11

I had been writing a newspaper column for almost 20 years. As part of my

work I had seen some of the darkest and unhappiest aspects of human nature,

and I had written about them. It was beginning to get to me.

There were nights when I would go home from work and question the very nature

of humanity, and wonder if there was any answer to the remitting cruelty I

was observing and writing about so often. Part of this had to do with a

particular case I had been covering. The case involved one of the worst

crimes I had ever encountered.

A beautiful, bright-eyed, four-year-old boy name Lattie McGee had been

systematically tortured over the course of a long Chicago summer. He had

been beaten, he had been starved, he had been hanged upside down in a locked

and darkened closet for nights on end.

All that summer his life dwindled agonizingly away in that closet, and no one

knew he was there; no one heard his muffled cries. After his death, when the

police discovered what had been done to him, I wrote column after column

about the people who had murdered him. So many cases of impoverished

children from forgotten neighborhoods get lost in the court system. I wanted

to make sure that Lattie McGee received justice, or something close to it.

With all the public interest in Lattie because of the columns, the story of

his brother, whose name was Cornelius Abraham, did not receive as much

attention. The same things that were done to Lattie were done to Cornelius,

too. Somehow he survived. He watched his brother slowly being killed and

was unable to stop the killers. Cornelius' brave testimony in court is what

helped to convict them.

By the end of the trial Cornelius had just turned nine. He was a thin,

extremely quiet boy; with his little brother dead and his mother and her

boyfriend in prison, he was living with other relatives. The two great loves

of his life were reading and basketball.

In one of the columns I had written about Lattie, I had mentioned Cornelius'

passion for basketball. Steve Schanwald, a vice president of the Chicago

Bulls, had read the column and left a message at my office.Though tickets to

Bulls' games were without exception sold out, Schanwald said that if

Cornelius would like to come to a game he would be sure there were tickets

available. Jim Bigoness, the Cook County assistant state's attorney who had

delicately prepared Cornelius' testimony for the trial, and I took him to the

game.

To every Chicago youngster who follows basketball, the stadium was a shrine.

Think of where Cornelius once was, locked up and tormented and hurt. And now

he was in the stadium, about to see his first Bulls game.

We walked down a stairway, until we were in a lower-level hallway.Cornelius

stood between us. Then a door opened and a man came out.Cornelius looked up,

and his eyes filled with a combination of wonder and awe and total disbelief.

Cornelius tried to say something; his mouth was moving but no words would

come out. He tried to speak and then the man helped out by speaking first.

"Hi, Cornelius," the man said. "I'm Michael Jordan."

Jordan knelt down and spoke quietly with Cornelius. He made some jokes and

told some stories about basketball and he didn't rush. You have to

understand - for a long time the only adults Cornelius had any contact with

were adults who wanted to hurt and humiliate him. And now Michael Jordan was

saying, "Are you going to cheer for us today? We're going to need it."

Jordan went back into the locker room to finish dressing for the game.

Bigoness and I walked Cornelius back upstairs to the court. There was one

more surprise waiting.

Cornelius was given a red shirt of the kind worn by the Bulls' ball boys. He

retrieved balls for the players from both teams as they warmed up.

Then, as the game was about to begin, he was led to Jordan's seat on the

Bulls' bench. That's where he was going to sit - right next to Jordan's

seat. During the minutes of the game when Jordan was out and resting,

Cornelius would be sitting with him; when Jordan was on the court, Cornelius

would be saving his seat for him. At one point late in the game Jordan took

a pass and sailed into the air and slammed home a basket. And there, just a

few feet away, was Cornelius Abraham, laughing out loud with joy.

I wanted to thank Jordan for taking the time to be so nice to Cornelius. The

meeting between them, I had learned, had been something that Jordan had

volunteered for; he had been aware of the Lattie McGee case, and when he had

heard that the Bulls were giving Cornelius tickets to the game, he had let it

be known that he was available.

After the game, in the locker room after the last sportswriter left, Jordan

got up to retrieve his gym bag and head for home. As he walked toward the

door of the locker room he saw me and stopped, and I said, "I just wanted to

tell you how much Cornelius appreciated what you did for him."

For a second I had the strange but undeniable impression that perhaps this

was a man who didn't get thanked all that often - or at least that there were

so many people endlessly lining up to beseech him for one thing or another

that all he was accustomed to was the long file of faces in front of him

wanting an autograph, a favor, a moment of his time, faces that would

immediately be replaced by more faces with more entreaties. He stood there

waiting, as if he was so used to ceaselessly being asked for things that he

thought my thanks on Cornelius' behalf might be the inevitable preface to

petitioning him for something else.

When I didn't say anything, he said, "That's why you came back down here?"

"Well I don't think you know how much today meant to Cornelius," I said.

"No, I'm just surprised that you came back down to tell me," he said.

"My mom would kill me if I didn't," I said, smiling. "She tried to raise me

right."

He smiled back, "Mine, too," he said.

We shook hands and I turned to leave and I heard him say, "Do you come out to

a lot of games?"

"First one," I said.

"Well, you ought to come back," he said.

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By Bob Greene

from A 4th Course of Chicken Soup for the Soul

Hanoch McCarty & Meladee McCarty

#4521

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One day a man stopped into the convenience store to get a newspaper like he normally does. Today he noticed that the owner of the store had tears in his eyes and kept looking out the window. He asked what was going on.

The store owner said, "Do you see that bus bench over there? There's a woman who comes there every day around this time. She sits there for about and hour, knitting and waiting. Buses come and go, but she never gets on one and no one ever gets off for her to meet. The other day, I carried her a cup of coffee and sat with her for awhile.

"Her only son lives a long way away. She last saw him two years ago, when he boarded one of the buses right there. He is married now, and she has never met her daughter-in-law or seen their new child. She told me, "It helps to come here and wait. I pray for them as I knit little things for the baby, and I imagine them in their tiny apartment, saving money to come home. I can't wait to see them.

The owner continued, saying, he had looked out just now and there they were, getting off the bus. The look on her face when they fell into her arms and when she saw that grandchild for the first time was the nearest thing to pure joy he had ever seen. He said, "I'll never forget that look as long as I live."

The next day the same man returned to the convenience store. The owner was again behind the counter. Before he could say or do anything, He asked, "You sent her son the money for the bus tickets, didn't you?"

The store owner looked back with eyes full of love and a smile that was the nearest thing to pure joy this man had ever seen. He replied, "Yes, I sent him the money. I'll never forget that look as long as I live."

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Missing the View

Psalms 103

Few people captured the American imagination like America's first astronauts - that's why, for many of us, names like John Glenn are on a list of 20th Century heroes. John Glenn was, of course, one of the first men to ride a rocket into space. Then, years later, as a “senior citizen,” he amazed the world by doing it again. So when John Glenn gives advice to today's space shuttle astronauts, he's got credentials! I love what he is reported to have told the Columbia astronauts before what turned out to be their last flight. He said, “Hey, don't forget to look out the window!”

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Missing the View.”

Once they were in space, the Columbia astronauts - and other astronauts - expressed their appreciation for John Glenn's advice. They confessed to being so busy doing what they were doing that it was all too easy to miss the spectacular view all around them. A tendency, by the way, that isn't just limited to astronauts. Those of us who are highly task-oriented or goal-oriented (that's me), can easily get so consumed that we “forget to look out the window” - we miss the beautiful things happening right in front of us and all around us.

In our word for today from the Word of God, David seems to be addressing our tendency to miss or forget a lot of life's blessings. In Psalm 103, beginning with verse 1, he says, “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits - who forgives our sins and heals our diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things...”

When you take time to enjoy the beauty “out the window” you'll see the new beginnings the Lord has given you after you've blown it: the health that He's preserved or restored, the pits that He's rescued you from, the little and big things He's doing right now to show you His love, and the good things you wanted that He has provided. When you fail to stop and “smell the flowers” as some have said, you start to get all stressed, brittle and overwhelmed and even negative. But taking a timeout to catch your breath, regain your perspective, and appreciate all the good things around you will renew your joy, your energy, and your attitude.

Maybe in your hurry to get it done or to get to your destination you've inadvertently been running over people - including people you should stop and enjoy, stop and listen to. Maybe you're missing all the blessings in your situation because all you focus on is your burdens. You need to take some timeouts to let your soul catch up with your body. Enjoy the scenery. Stop the rat race long enough to just take a leisurely walk, take time to listen to a child (they often help us see the world as we ought to see it). Stop to give a hug, look for things you can compliment in the people around you, and consciously, intentionally thank God for specific blessings of the past 24 hours, or the past 24 minutes.

The Bible reminds us that God's “mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23), which means there's new God-stuff to appreciate each new day for those who are looking for evidence of God in their day. Now, if you're tired and tense and feeling overwhelmed, it could be that you've been so absorbed in your mission that you've forgotten to look out the window.

In the best of times, in the worst of times, no matter what universe you're in right now, there is always something beautiful to see - because of the awesome God who's always doing something new and something good.

________________

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[Original illustration at this number was a duplicate of HolwickID #15953]

Yesterday He Spent An Hour With Me

Thomas Carlyle had married his secretary, whom he dearly loved, but he was thoughtless and absorbed in his own interests and activities, treating his wife as if she were still his employee.

Stricken with cancer she was confined to bed for a long time before she died. After her funeral, Carlyle went back to his empty house. Disconsolate and grieving deeply, he wandered around aimlessly downstairs, engrossed in thinking about the woman he had loved. After a while he went upstairs to her room and sat down in the chair beside the bed on which she had been lying for months. He realized with painful regret that he had not sat there very often during her long illness.

He noticed her diary. While she was alive, he never would have read it, but now that she was gone he felt free to pick it up and thumb through it pages. One entry caught his eye: “Yesterday he spent an hour with me. And it was like being I heaven. I love him so much.” He turned a few more pages and read, “I listened all day to hear his steps in the hallway. And now its late. I guess he won’t come to see me.” Carlyle read a few more entries and then threw the book on the floor and ran out into the rain back to the cemetery. He fell on his wife’s grave in the mud, sobbing, “If only I had known...if only I had known.”

If Tomorrow Never Comes

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If I knew it would be the last time

that I’d see you fall asleep,

I would tuck you in more tightly

and pray the Lord, your soul to keep.

If I knew it would be the last time

that I see you walk out the door,

I would give you a hug and kiss

call you back for one more.

If I knew it would be the last time

I’d hear your voice lifted up in praise,

I would video tape each action and word,

so I could play them back day after day.

If I knew it would be the last time,

I could spare an extra minute or two

To stop and say “I love you,” instead

of assuming you would KNOW I do.

If I knew it would be the last time

I would be there to share your day,

Well I’m sure you’ll have so many more,

so I can let just this one slip away.

For surely there’s always tomorrow

To make up for an oversight,

And we always get a second chance

To make everything right.

There will always be another day

To say our “I love yous”,

And certainly there’s another chance

To say our “Anything I can dos?”

But just in case I might be wrong,

And today is all I get,

I’d like to say how much I love you

And I hope we never forget,

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone,

Young or old alike,

And today may be the last chance

You get to hold your loved one tight..

So if you’re waiting for tomorrow,

Why not do it today?

For if tomorrow never comes,

You’ll surely regret the day,

That you didn’t take that extra time

For a smile, a hug, or a kiss

And you were too busy to grant someone,

What turned out to be their one last wish.

So hold your loved ones close today,

Whisper in their ear,

Tell them how much you love them

And that you’ll always hold them dear,

Take time to say “I’m sorry,” “please forgive me,”

“Thank you” or “it’s okay.”

And if tomorrow never comes,

You’ll have no regrets about today.

People Like To Be Asked

The late Tip O'Neill, longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives, passed on some of the lessons he learned over his political career, in his autobiography MAN OF THE HOUSE.

His first campaign as a very young man was for a place on the Cambridge (Massachusetts) city council. He was not elected, and one of the reasons he lost was that he took his own neighborhood for granted. He worked hard speaking and meeting folks elsewhere, but neglected his own backyard. Out of that came an adage that has long been associated with O'Neill: His father told him, “Son, all politics is local. Don't forget the people back home.”

The night before that election, he ran into Mrs. O'Brien, his former elocution and drama teacher in high school, who lived across the street. “Tom,” she said, “I'm going to vote for you tomorrow, even though you didn't ask me.” “Mrs. O'Brien,” he came back, “I've lived across the street from you for 18 years. I cut your grass in the summer and shoveled your walk in the winter. I didn't think I had to ask you for your vote! “She responded, “Tom, let me tell you something -- people like to be asked.”

So, over the years ahead across a long career in Congress, Tip and his wife Millie would always go to the polls together on Election Day. Before leaving the house he would always say to her, “Honey, I'd like to ask you for your vote.” And she would always reply, “Tom, I'll give you every consideration.”

(untitled)

Fred and Bill were having

their weekly round of golf at the Land o' Sky Golf

Course and as they were walking down the fairway on the long par-five

number

six hole a funeral process drove by them along River Road. Fred paused

and

took off his golf hat, held it over his heart and stood motionless,

watching

the cars drive slowly by with their lights on. Bill was touched. He

didn't

know Fred was so religious, or sensitive, walked up to him and said,

"That was

a nice thing to do, Fred. Was that somebody you knew that died?"

"Yes," Fred

said, wiping away a tear as he pulled a four wood from his bag, "she

was my

wife. We'd a-been married twenty-eight years today, if she'd lived."

Birds Pointed Him To the Creator

Andrew Jackson Grayson was caught drawing birds instead of doing his lessons, so his schoolmaster walloped him over the head. Young Grayson in turn broke his slate over the schoolmaster's head and was forbidden by his father to draw birds again. He obeyed for 20 years. In 1853, at the age of 35, he resumed drawing. He wanted to study and paint all the birds of the Pacific coast and publish them in a grand portfolio. So he began to collect and paint all the birds with which he came into contact as he moved from St. Louis to the West Coast, where he died from yellow fever in 1869 without having seen his paintings published.

So what sustained this illustrator who did not receive recognition while he was alive? Grayson had commented that, when his spirits became darkest, “Something comes in like a bird with glad tidings whose melody often... has given me a greater love for my creator whose works shine forth in all things... so beautiful and mysterious.”

________

Joseph Kastner, “When Everything Became 'Too Tame In His Native Land'," SMITHSONIAN, May 1988.

(untitled)

A large dog walks into a butcher shop carrying a purse in its

mouth. He puts the purse down and sits in front of the meat case.

What is it, boy? the butcher jokingly asks. Want to buy some meat?

Woof! barks the dog. Hmm, says the butcher. What kind? Liver,

bacon, steak ... Woof! interrupts the dog. And how much steak?

Half a pound, one pound ... Woof! The amazed butcher wraps up the

meat and finds the money in the dog's purse. As the dog leaves he

decides to follow. The dog enters an apartment house, climbs to the

third floor and begins scratching at a door. With that, the door

swings open and an angry man starts shouting at the dog. Stop! yells

the butcher. He's the most intelligent animal I've ever seen!

Intelligent? says the man. This is the third time this week he's

forgotten his key.

(untitled)

A man was playing a piano in a local restaurant one night and had

just finished playing Send in the Clowns. As he finished a woman

approached him. "Can you play Send in the Clowns?" she asked. He sadly

shook his head and replied. "Apparently not."

2 Peter 3:16 versus Touting the Twisting Tutor

Jude 1:3

My Source: NORTH MARSHALL MESSENGER

Volume 4, #3, November 15, 1998

2 Peter 3:16 tells about some who pervert the scriptures--As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. Attached to this statement about wresting the scriptures is a bold and concise WARNING to those who do so. Those who wrest the scriptures do so unto their own destruction. As I read those words, it would seem to me that the very last thing in the world I would ever want to do would be to encourage someone who is guilty of scripture-twisting to think that what they are doing is in any way good or helpful. Please help me to see wherein I would be wrong in making such an observation.

However, in a recent publication of an area paper, which goes into thousands of homes in our area, brother Dan Owen of the Broadway church of Christ does exactly what I would never wish to do. Lest I be accused of taking out of context what I am affirming, I am reproducing the entire article here and then will make a few comments about why I find the article utterly offensive. Under the heading, “Things I have Learned from Our Religious Neighbors,” brother Owen writes these words--each of his paragraphs marked off with triple brackets...

>>

There are two or three things I would like to point out about this article which many in our area have been enabled to read. I certainly have nothing personal against brother Owen. I do not think I have ever met him; I have heard his voice on the radio and heard from others about his work at Broadway.

One thing that has to be kept in mind when reading such a statement as this is the general climate and atmosphere in which it is made. If we were talking about a Bible passage, we would use the word CONTEXT. The Lord’s church is right in the midst of some very serious attempts to change the body of Christ. Self-styled “change agents” among us are searching for ways to criticize the Lord’s church and to say that we need to be more ecumenical in spirit. I freely confess that I am just about “sick to death” of the criticisms of the Lord’s church by her own members and preachers. Now brother Owen is very sophisticated and subtle in his attack, nevertheless, I see his words as an attack upon the church. I am left to wonder from whom Dan would have learned his lessons had he been living in the first century. None of these tutors he mentioned were in existence at that time.

The idea that the churches of Christ don’t teach about GRACE began to be proclaimed with much vim and vigor by brother Rubel Shelly back in the early 80’s. I’ve been a member of the church since 1961 and I have heard lots of teaching about grace and never have come up with the thought that I needed to go to the Baptists to learn about it. I’ve never heard it taught that I am saved by meritorious works.

Another area of deep trouble in the church today is that of the role of the Holy Spirit. I fail to see what the pentecostals have to offer except perverted or TWISTED ideas of men. Men like brother Joe Beam are telling us that the Holy Spirit’s help will allow you to sit in a counseling session and be able to know which one of the two marriage partners in front of you is telling a lie. I would not deny that he got that concept from pentecostal tutors, but he certainly didn’t find it in the Bible. Is that the kind of thing Dan speaks of when he writes: “to empower me with gifts for ministry?” If so, please save us from such tutors! How can it be said that the error of the pentecostals contributes to something GOOD, my learning???

Dan also heaps praise upon the Catholics for helping him to appreciate “God ordained rites,” and upon the Methodists and Episcopalians for helping him to know that we are supposed to be a compassionate people.

What is wrong with letting the Bible teach us what God would have us to know? Is it really a good idea to tell religious groups that are responsible for the damnation of millions of precious souls that they are helping me to understand my Bible better? I disagree with the entire spirit of such an idea. I will tell you plainly--I HATE FALSE TEACHING!!! I love the souls of men that are deceived by it, but you will never find me writing an article that praises those responsible for religious error. You will never hear of me THANKING those who teach error!

Romance Doesn't Have To Cost A Lot

Q: My wife likes romance, but since we've been on a tight budget, there's not enough money left after paying the bills and saving to splurge on a dozen roses or a romantic restaurant. My wife is great, and I don't want to deprive her of these things that she enjoys so much. What should I do?

A: Romance is important, and it is a critical item in the budget. Wives and husbands need to be reminded in special ways that they are appreciated - and not just on the holidays invented by greeting card companies. According to Stephen Covey, women look at romantic gestures differently than men do. Men see themselves as making a deposit into an "emotional bank account" when they give their wife a card or flowers. Men see each item as carrying a different value. For example, a card might have a value of a $1 deposit, and flowers or dinner might have a value of $20 in this emotional bank account. Women, however, tend to see almost all gestures and gifts as having relatively the same $1 value in the account. So the bottom line here is that a romantic gesture does not have to cost a lot to carry equal value in her eyes: Dinner versus a card are going to do as much for each of you in her mind. The good news is there are endless possibilities when it comes to ways to "light her fire" at little or no expense. Use your imagination. Here are a few suggestions.

Strategically place little heart-shaped notes where she will find them when you are not around. Place them in her purse, her briefcase, her car, her shoe, in the refrigerator or in her make-up bag. In these notes simply say "I love you" or "I'm thinking of you."

Another excellent gesture is an unexpected, short phone call in the middle of the day that begins with "I appreciate all that you do for me."

On another occasion when you have some blow money, buy her a single rose or a small bouquet of daisies or carnations for around $2 to $4.

A massage from you with soft lighting and soft music and the telephone turned off can be a romantic surprise.

You can give her handmade coupons that are redeemable for some of her favorite free activities, such as "one evening-sunset stroll" or "one evening cuddled quietly before the TV" (of course, this means she gets possession of the remote control for the entire evening).

One woman in our office received pearl earrings and a poem her husband wrote for Valentine's Day. She went on and on about how much she loved the poem and barely made mention of the earrings. When I asked her about it, she said that she liked the earrings, but the poem required him to dig deep and give from the heart, not the wallet.

Being romantic does not have to cost a penny. Of course, when you do have a few dollars to spare on romance, consider it an excellent investment in your spouse's emotional bank account, one that no mutual fund could ever match.

Building up each other's self-esteem and sense of security is key to the survival of a marriage through times when money is tight and emotions are raw.

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To Quip

Appreciation

The Daily Vidette, student paper of Illinois State University, ran the following correction: "It was incorrectly reported that today is T-Shirt Appreciation Day. In fact, it is Teacher Appreciation Day."

It's often said that teachers don't get enough appreciation. Now we know why.

-Parade (12/31/95)

Committees

Rules for committee membership:

Never arrive on time; this stamps you as a beginner.

Don't say anything until the meeting is half over; this stamps you as being wise.

Be as vague as possible; this avoids irritating others.

When in doubt, suggest that a subcommittee be appointed.

Be the first to move for adjournment; this will make you popular.

--Vern McLellan, Speaker's Digest (7/96)

Criticism

The Arizona Republic reported, "As Terry Mikel was speeding toward Tucson, he passed a car, an unmarked Arizona Highway Patrol car. The officer pulled Terry over. When Terry explained that he was late for a class he was teaching at the University of Arizona, the officer took pity on him and let him off with a warning. Before he went back to the car he said, "Slow down and drive safe."

Terry felt obligated to correct him. "Excuse me, Sir, but it should be 'Slow down and drive safely. You said 'Drive safe.'"

The officer walked back to his car and wrote him a $72 speeding ticket.

--Rik Danielsen, Show Low, AZ

Evangelism

After listening to Chuck Swindoll on the radio, 8-year-old Debbie asked 6-year-old brother David, "Do you know about Jesus?"

Expecting a new slant on the old gospel story, David replied, "No."

Big sister continued: "Sit still, 'cause this is real scary." After explaining the gospel as only an 8-year-old could, she popped the question: "Now David, when you die, do you want to go to heaven to be with Jesus, God, your mommy and daddy and big sister, or do you want to go to the lake of fire to be with the Devil and bank robbers?"

David thought a moment, then replied, "I want to stay right here."

--Jim Abrahamson, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Giving

For years we lived in a small town with one bank and three churches. Early one Monday morning, the bank called all three churches with the same request: "Could you bring in Sunday's collection right away? We're out of one-dollar bills."

--Clara Null, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

God's Love

For a brief time in the 1980s, Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs enjoyed popularity as exotic pets. Unfortunately, the pigs did not live up to their reputation as ideal pets, often becoming aggressive and weighing up to 150 pounds. What do you do with an unwanted pig? Pork roasts are not the answer; the meat is tough and stringy.

Fortunately, Dale Riffle came to the rescue. Someone gave Dale one of the pigs, and he fell in love with it. The pig, Rufus, refused to use its litter box and developed a craving for carpet, wallpaper, and drywall. So Riffle sold his suburban home and bought a five-acre farm in West Virginia. Before long, the guy was living, literally, in hog heaven.

Rufus has been joined by 180 other pigs who, according to U.S. News & World Report, snooze on beds of pine shavings, soak in plastic swimming pools, and listen to piped-in classical music. They socialize in age-graded affinity groups. They never need fear they will one day become bacon or pork chops.

Dale Riffle told the reporter, "I think we're all put on earth for some reason, and I guess pigs are my lot in life."

It's amazing that anybody could fall so in love with pigs. Even more amazing is that an infinite, perfectly holy, majestic, awesome God is passionately in love with insignificant, sinful, sometimes openly rebellious, frequently indifferent people like you and me.

--Jim Nicodem on Preaching Today

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Winter 1997, Vol. XVIII, No. 1, Page 79

Thankful For A Leaf

Luke 3:14

A little thing can be enormously significant. Retired Brigadier General Robinson Risner was a prisoner of war in North Vietnam for more than seven years. He was in solitary confinement for five of those years. He suffered from cold, heat, malnutrition, and lack of fresh air.

He was totally deprived of any human comfort. He jogged in his cell by the hour. When he became so frustrated he had to scream, he stuffed his underwear into his mouth to muffle the scream. He would not give his captors the satisfaction of knowing his frustration.

One day, in the depths of despair, General Risner lay down on the floor and looked all around his small cell. He put his eye next to the cinder blocks, hoping that there would be a crack in one of them. Fortunately, there was a minute opening and he saw a single leaf. Later he stated that seeing that evidence of life outside was a tremendously uplifting and life-changing event.

When I heard this story, most of my complaints in life suddenly fell into context, and I resolved to be more appreciative of the many blessings I had instead of complaining about what I did not have.

Fact: A quiet glance around you will reveal many blessings that you have already received and will continue to receive. Expressing appreciation for these blessings is a winning approach to life.

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Appreciative Love (part 1)

During one of my travels a few years ago, a colleague and I found ourselves at Cape Point in South Africa. We stood at the tip of the triangle at Land’s End gazing at that vast open body of water which had tested the best of the early explorers and which reached as far as the eye could see. From one side surged the Atlantic Ocean and from the other, the Indian Ocean. As the two oceans met, swirling with an awesome force, we looked literally into the wild blue yonder. I will never forget that moment. The sight was breathtaking. As we watched the magnificence in silence, there was an overwhelming desire to respond in some way. But how do you do that?

In his book, "The Four Loves," C.S. Lewis makes a brilliant case for a love that longs to express gratitude, or what he calls Appreciative Love. Here is how he underscores what appreciative love is.

Need-love cries to God from our poverty; Gift-love longs to serve, or even suffer for, God; Appreciative love says: "We give thanks to Thee for Thy great glory." Need-love says of a woman, "I cannot live without her"; Gift-love longs to bring her happiness, comfort... But Appreciative love gazes and holds its breath and is silent, rejoices that such a wonder should exist even if not for him, will not be wholly dejected by losing her, would rather have it so than never to have seen her at all.(1)

That is it, my friend. Appreciative love endures because it is rooted in the very source of our being, not merely in behaving. Gratitude is indispensable to the highest form of love, and I believe it is the cornerstone of the answer for loneliness. Appreciative love springs forth out of gratitude to God for the very cause of my being. It is a love that bends the heart and the will in worship, and it fills the loneliness or the "beyond" in our lives. I have often wondered if that is why atheism is so barren-it has nobody to thank. A thankless life loses gratitude and wonder.

If you ever find yourself in a place like Cape Point, you certainly do not have to stop to hug a mountain, nor leave a gift at the bottom of a rock configuration. But you can pause and say thank you to the one who made it and love him with all of your heart.

_____________

1. C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1960), 192.)

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Appreciative Love (part 2)

I have a dear friend who is a renowned preacher. He's now in his sixties, but as a newborn he was given up by his parents for some very personal reasons. Through the years he wondered if he would ever find his parents. Then a few years ago, after much searching, he was able to locate his mother. She is obviously in her senior years, and when he asked if he could visit her, her heart overflowed with a joy she could not contain. This was a pleasure she thought she would never experience in her life, which had now been almost completely spent. She could hardly wait for the day to arrive.

The day came, and it was blustery and snowy day. As the son drove slowly down the unfamiliar street, he saw a woman standing outside in the cold, waiting. Their reunion after these five long decades was something too tender to describe. But he told me that when he was leaving, he asked her, "Mom, is there anything I can do for you?" With tears running down her face she said, "Just love me, son. Just love me."

Why that plea? Because in her heart she had to have wondered how it was possible for him to love her when she had given him nothing. "How could he love her without having any reason to love her?" she must have thought. But to him, she had given the gift of life, and that was enough of a gift to cause Appreciative love to find a way to express itself. This was more than needing love. It was the need of a particular love toward whom the heart was bent, born out of an appreciation for being.

May I suggest that the ultimate object and resource of that kind of love is God Himself, who has formed us, and the culminating response from us is more than just love. That response of appreciation, of awe, of surrender, of hunger to be consummated in the spirit is what we, in Christian terms, call worship. And until we have found Him who alone is worthy of worship, the heart searches in loneliness. Just like the salmon that determinedly swims against rock and tide to return to where it was spawned and, having returned, gives birth to its own, so also does life spring from the one who has returned to his or her very source of being in worship, to God Himself. It is in turning to Him, dear friend, that you will find the fulfillment for which your heart longs.

_________________________

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Indiana Housewife Goes On Strike

An Indiana wife looking for a little more appreciation went on strike at home - and found instant celebrity.

Kathy Thompson quit doing housework Sept. 25, refusing to do laundry, cook or make the bed. She said she was tired of working, going to school and caring for the house while her husband Gary went out fishing.

When her unconventional campaign made it into The Star Press of Muncie, calls from around the world started pouring in, she said.

"It'll be something I can tell my grandkids," the 45-year-old said Friday.

Thompson has appeared on television shows including "Inside Edition," "Good Morning, America" and Indianapolis television stations. She was expecting an interview with CNN, and a television crew from Germany was due Saturday.

"I've got those women in Germany in an uproar," she said.

Friday, the booking chief for Dr. Phil McGraw, late of Oprah Winfrey's show and now the star of his own daytime show, called from Los Angeles to ask a newspaper staffer for help contacting Thompson.

Holding correspondence from a woman who had seen her story, Thompson read a passage from the letter, asking that she keep her in her prayers.

Other women have driven past and honked.

Probably nobody has been more surprised by all this than her husband. "He thought it was pretty amazing," Thompson said. "I think he was a little shocked."

While her story has taken on a life of its own, Thompson is quick to remind people that it started as one woman's campaign for appreciation.

"Like I keep telling people," she said, "This wasn't for publicity. This is a personal thing."

One thing is for sure; she is appreciated now.

But the roses and an offer of a Las Vegas vacation she received this week came from the folks at "Inside Edition," not her husband.

"He's going to buy those flowers and take me on vacation," she insisted.

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Beautiful Flowers

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,

“Oh excuse me please” was my reply.

He said, “Please excuse me too;

I wasn’t watching for you.”

We were very polite, this stranger and I.

We went on our way and we said good-bye.

But at home a different story is told,

How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,

My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.

“Move out of the way,” I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.

I didn’t realize how harshly I’d spoken.

While I lay awake that night in my bed,

God’s still small voice came to me and said,

“While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use,

But the children you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,

You’ll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.

He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,

And you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.”

By this time, I felt very small,

And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;

“Please wake up, little one,” I said.

“Are these the flowers you picked for me?”

He smiled, “I found ‘em out by the tree.

I picked ‘em because they’re pretty like you.

I knew you’d like ‘em, especially the blue.”

I said, “Son, I’m very sorry for the way I acted today;

I shouldn’t have yelled at you that way.”

He said, “Oh, Mom, that’s okay. I love you anyway.”

I said, “Son, I love you too, and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.”

Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our own family — an unwise investment indeed, don’t you think? So what is behind the story? Do you know what the word FAMILY means?

FAMILY = (F)ather (A)nd (M)other, (I) (L)ove (Y)ou!

My Father

• When I was: Four years old: My daddy can do anything.

• When I was: Five years old: My daddy knows a whole lot.

• When I was: Six years old: My dad is smarter than your dad.

• When I was: Eight years old: My dad doesn’t know exactly everything.

• When I was: 10 years old: In the olden days, when my dad grew up, things were sure different.

• When I was: 12 years old: Oh, well, naturally, Dad doesn’t know anything about that. He is too old to remember his childhood.

• When I was: 14 years old: Don’t pay any attention to my dad. He is so old-fashioned.

• When I was: 21 years old: Him? He’s hopelessly out of date.

• When I was: 25 years old: Dad knows about it, but then he should, because he has been around so long.

• When I was: 30 years old: Maybe we should ask Dad what he thinks. After all, he’s had a lot of experience.

• When I was: 35 years old: I’m not doing a single thing until I talk to Dad.

• When I was: 40 years old: I wonder how Dad would have handled it. He was so wise.

• When I was: 50 years old: I’d give anything if Dad were here now so I could talk this over with him. Too bad I didn’t appreciate how smart he was. I could have learned a lot from him.

No Sound Comes Out of A Baton

Although you may have missed her, actress Kathy Bates played the vital role roles of heiress Molly Brown in the 1998 movie TITANIC.

Bates became known as the “mom” to the crew and became known as well as one who continually encouraged the crew and cast. Bates told a story in a recent interview to explain her perspective.

“There’s a great story I always remember when I think about crews and directors. There was a guest conductor who was rude to everyone in the symphony. Everyone hated him. Finally, at the packed dress rehearsal, he lifts his arms and nothing happens. Not a sound. He’s stunned. He draws himself up and gives the down beat again. No sound. Finally, the first-chair violinist stands up and says, ‘That’s just to show you that no sound comes out of that baton of yours.’ I always think about that when I am making a movie.”

________

Adapted from USA TODAY, May 1998; secondary source: Weekend Encounter, by Dick Innes

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[Original illustration at this number was added to HolwickID #11424]

How Much Is A Customer Worth?

Let’s pretend I’m a customer and I spend $20 every time I visit your business. You might say I’m a customer who’s worth $20. But let’s assume I visit your business twice a week. Now my value has doubled, so I’m worth $40.

But look: I visit your business eight times a month. So I’m worth $160, am I not?

Actually I’m worth much more. I visit your business eight times a month, every month of the year. So I’m worth $1,920 to your business!

And just imagine. If I continue to be satisfied with your goods and services, and you treat me right, I’ll continue patronizing your business for a lifetime. If that lifetime were as short as ten years, that means I’m worth $19,200 to your business.

Oh, but wait a minute. I’m really worth more. I like your business so much that every year I bring you at least two new customers. They are also worth $19,200 over ten years!

Wow! All that value from what looked like a $20 customer.

What a shame, then, that so many business owners do not think of their customers in terms of lifetime value. They think of their customers in terms of a transaction. It’s a lot easier to treat a $20 customer poorly than it is to treat a customer who’s worth a couple of hundred thousand dollars or more (over a lifetime) poorly. And yet it goes on every day in business. Studies show that small businesses lose 10 to 30 percent of their customers annually!

Why?

Simple. Many business owners do not understand the value of a customer. Furthermore, it’s probably fair to say most employees do not understand the value of a customer. And that hurts.

The best way to maximize the profit potential of your business is to keep the best (most valuable) customers coming back time and again. That’s why it’s important to answer the question: How much is a customer worth? It’s equally important to know which customers are your most valuable customers.

Have You Hugged Your Pastor Today?

Ephesians 4:11

Have You Hugged Your Pastor Today?

“It was he who gave some to be … pastors and teachers.” Ephesians 4:11, NIV

Pastoring a congregation is a gift that takes a rare combination of administrative, spiritual, and leadership skills.

Trust me when I say rare. During my first year at seminary, I had all but convinced myself that I wanted to be a pastor. I even went so far as to interview for an assistant pastor position (at the ripe old age of 22!), and I very nearly got the job. I continue to thank God that he saw fit to endow that congregation with the wisdom to turn me down. I wasn’t then, and am not now, fit to lead God’s people as a pastor.

It seems to me that pastors tend to be an underappreciated lot. If we lay people tend to think of our pastor at all, it’s usually only during Sunday mornings when the sermon goes too long — and those thoughts aren’t any I’d care to repeat! But, in honor of Clergy Appreciation Day, I’d like to suggest that we take the time to see our pastors as true servants of God who are called to lead us as we live out our Christian lives.

Pastors will tell you that leading God’s people hasn’t changed much since biblical times — it has its highs and lows, its thrilling moments and its excruciating pain. But through it all, God is there, walking beside the pastor as he or she brings a Sunday message from God to his people, helps heal a hurting marriage, and hits a stand-up double during a church softball game. It truly is an awesome task to be the public face of God to so many inside and outside the church.

So, the next time you see your pastor, say thanks for making a difference in your life. Sure, they’ll probably think you’re a little crazy, but then again, they might also choke back the tears and say, “You’re welcome.”

Take Time To Smell the Flowers - [poem]

Take some time to smell the flowers

As you walk the paths of life.

Take some time to ease the tensions

From the challenges and the strife.

Take some time to hear the birds sing

As they usher in the dawn.

Though the day be just emerging,

Too soon it will be gone.

Take some time to watch a sunrise,

Now and then a sunset too.

Just be sure that seeking pleasure

Isn’t all you ever do.

Take some time to count your blessings,

Though you feel they’re not that great.

You will find they’re more abundant

Than you thought, at any rate.

Take some time to banish hatred

When and where you can.

Just detest man’s evil ways

And not your fellow man.

Take some time to love your children

Every moment you are free.

The benefits exceedeth

A university degree.

Take some time to love your neighbor

And even more important still,

Take some time to love yourself

Or not many others will.

And if you don’t like that image

Of yourself that others see,

Take some time to make some changes,

Be the best that you can be.

Take some time to help another

Who you think might need a hand.

You will find the satisfaction

Leaves you feeling sort of grand.

Take some time to live by virtue

In the best way that is known,

And respect the rights of others

As equal to your own.

Take some time to just appreciate

The fact that you are here,

And to know that Higher Power

And to trust it without fear.

If you do these things with diligence

You will eventually be glad.

If you don’t attempt to do them

You may one day wish you had.

Although this no doubt could impose

Upon your time for seeking wealth,

There should be little question

That it could improve your health.

And though you might not be as wealthy

Nor drive so fine a car,

You’ll find you will be richer

In other ways by far.

Slow Dance - [poem]

Have you ever watched kids

on a merry-go-round

Or listened to the rain

slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down

Don’t dance so fast

Time is short

The music won’t last

Do you run through each day

on the fly

When you ask “How are you?”

do you hear the reply?

When the day is done,

do you lie in your bed

With the next hundred chores

running through your head?

You’d better slow down

Don’t dance so fast

Time is short

The music won’t last

Ever told your child,

We’ll do it tomorrow

And in your haste,

not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,

Let a good friendship die’

Cause you never had time

to call and say “Hi”?

You’d better slow down

Don’t dance so fast

Time is short

The music won’t last

When you run so fast to get somewhere

You miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,

It is like an unopened gift… Thrown away…

Life is not a race.

Do take it slower

Hear the music

Before the song is over.

Unappreciated Gifts

James 1:17

My young son had gone to the trouble of making a card and a gift for me for Father's Day. And there are no gifts more special than those that have been made by the person giving them. Unfortunately, my son tried to give his creations to me at a time when I was really busy. So I said, “Can you wait a few minutes? I want to have time to appreciate it.” To which he said wistfully, “Oh, you mean like the candleholder?” Some months before, he had given me a handmade candleholder one day and I was, as usual, on the run. And I totally neglected to show any appreciation. I'd forgotten about it. My son hadn't.

Well, I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about “Unappreciated Gifts.”

It hurts to make something special for someone you love - and then to give it and have it go unnoticed and unappreciated. God knows that feeling. There's not a day that goes by that He doesn't give us special gifts from His hand. As James 1:17 says, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father.”

Sadly, we are often too busy, or too focused on what's wrong to notice and say thanks for the endless good things He's doing. No matter how hard it is right now, John 1:16 is the reality check you need to remember: “From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another.” Do you see them? Are you looking for them? Have you stopped to appreciate what your Father is giving you?

We're at our happiest when we choose to be preoccupied with God's goodness. Notice - we choose to be. Sure, you can aim your lens at today's trash, today's worries, today's unanswered questions. Or you can aim your lens at all the beautiful things God is doing - the people He's giving you, the opportunities, the provision for your needs, the grace, the little encouragements, the answers to prayer.

That prevailing attitude of gratitude is wonderfully expressed in Ephesians 5:19-20, our word for today from the Word of God. Paul has just talked about understanding “what the Lord's will is” and being “filled with the Spirit.” What does Spirit-filled, God's will living look like? “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Did you get that? Giving thanks for everything - even the stuff we don't like or we don't understand. Why? Because we know that nothing has come into our life without it first passing through our Father's hands, and He's decided it can bring us good and Him glory.

This discipline of looking for God's gifts and consciously thanking Him for them is a powerful cure for discouragement, for negativity - which, of course, is the opposite of entering “His gates with thanksgiving” (Psalm 100:3). Frustrations and problems seem smaller as your God gets bigger (or, actually, as you see how big He is) which He does as you continually focus on being His grateful child.

A friend went through the awful ordeal of watching her young husband slowly waste away and ultimately die from cancer. Every day she went to that hospital to be with the man she loved, and to slowly watch him die. She told me how she got through that long dark night of the soul. She said, “I just blasted praise music in my car, all the way from home to the hospital and from the hospital home. I realized there's only one place Satan will never be -- in praises to the Lord!” She's right. Your praise not only elevates you; it banishes your enemy!

It hurts to make something special for someone you love and then have them not care about it. Even now your Father has put in your hands some gifts He's made just for you. Don't miss them. Don't miss the joy you give Him and yourself when you thank Him for what He's done.

________________

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The Story of Soo Park

It was a bitterly cold Christmas eve in Korea in 1952. A pregnant young mother, Bak Yoon, hobbled through the snow toward the home of a missionary friend where she knew she could find help. Tears of sorrow froze on her face as she mourned her husband. He had recently been killed in the Korean War, and she had no one else to turn to. A short way down the road from her missionary friend’s house was a deep gully spanned by a bridge. As Bak Yoon stumbled forward, birth pains suddenly overcame her. She fell, realizing that she could go no further, and crawled under the end of the bridge. There, alone, under the bridge, her baby boy was born.

Bak Yoon had nothing with her except her heavy, padded clothes. One by one she removed all pieces of her clothing and wrapped them around her tiny son, still connected to her body by his umbilical cord. Then feeling exhausted she lay back in the snow beside her baby.

The next morning Miss Watson, long-time missionary, drove across the bridge in her car to take a Christmas basket of food to a needy Korean family. On her way back, as she got near the bridge, the car sputtered and died — out of gasoline.

She got out of the car and started across the bridge. Through crunching snow under her feet she heard another sound – a baby’s faint cry. She stopped, unbelieving, and heard the cry again. “It’s coming from beneath this bridge!” She crawled under the bridge to investigate and there she found a tiny, bundled baby, warm but hungry, and young Bak Yoon frozen in death. With a knife from her tool box she cut the cord and took the baby home with her. After caring first for the child, she, along with some helpers, brought Bak Yoon’s body back to near where she lived and buried her there.

She named the baby Soo Park, and adopted him. He was strong and healthy and so grew up among many other orphan children that Miss Watson cared for. But to her, Soo Park was special. She often told him, “Your mother had great love for you, Soo Park,” and about how she had proved that love. He never tired of hearing of his beautiful mother.

On Christmas day, his 12th birthday, snow was falling. After the children had helped Soo Park celebrate his birthday, he came and sat beside Miss Watson.

“Mother Watson, do you think God made your car run out of gasoline the day you found me?” he asked.

“Perhaps He did,” she answered. “If that car hadn’t stopped, I would not have found you. But I am so glad it stopped. I love you and am very proud of you, Soo Park.” She put her arms around him.

He rested his head against her. “Mother Watson, will you please take me out to my mother’s grave? I want to pray there. I want to thank her for my life.”

“Yes, but put on your heavy coat. It’s very cold.”

Beside the grave, Soo Park asked Mother Watson to wait at a little distance. She walked aside and waited. As the astonished missionary watched, the boy began to take off his warm clothing, piece by piece. Surely he won’t take off all his clothing! she thought. He’ll freeze! But the boy stripped himself of everything, laid it all on his mother’s grave, and knelt naked and shivering in the snow.

She waited one minute, two minutes. Then she put her gloved hand on his snow covered shoulder. “Come, Soo Park. Your mother in Heaven sees how much you love her. I will help you dress.”

Then in deep sorrow he cried out to the mother he never knew: “Were you colder than this for me, my mother?” And he wept bitterly because he knew of course, she was.

Jesus stripped himself of his royal garments to come and live among us. Was he that cold for us? Surely we never have to wonder if he loves us, or even how much he loves us. He demonstrated that to us nearly 2000 years ago. Celebrate in his love.

There's Sunshine In A Smile [poem]

Life is a mixture of sunshine and rain,

Laughter and pleasure, teardrops and rain.

All days can’t be bright but it’s certainly true,

There was never a cloud the sun didn’t shine through.

So just keep on smiling whatever betide you,

Secure in the knowledge God is always beside you.

And you’ll find when you smile your day will be brighter

And all of your burdens will seem so much lighter.

For each time you smile you will find it’s true

Somebody, somewhere will smile back at you,

And nothing on earth can make life more worthwhile

Than the sunshine and warmth of a beautiful smile.

Gifts of Love

John 4:7

Reflecting on the gift of love this Valentine’s Day, a warm family memory comes to mind. After dinner one evening, my five-year-old daughter wrote a note that said, “I love you!” She came around the table with a smile, showing each of us her precious message.

Our four-year old daughter didn’t want to be left out, and came around the table softly whispering to each of us, “You are special.”

Our youngest, a three-year-old boy, decided he had to get in on the act. He came around with his own special blessing. In a not so quiet whisper he told each of us, “You can have ice cream any time you want!”

All three children demonstrated love in their own special way. Valentine’s Day is a great time to celebrate the gift of love in our lives.

The greatest gift of love occurred when God looked upon a lost world with compassion and sent His one and only Son into the world as a sacrifice for our sins. That is the very highest definition and demonstration of love.

But that should be no surprise, for God is love. May your Valentine’s Day be a celebration of the gift of divine love that gives life, power, and hope to all our human expressions of love.

“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.” I John 4:7 KJV

Appreciative Love (part 2)

I have a dear friend who is a renowned preacher. He's now in his sixties, but as a newborn he was given up by his parents for some very personal reasons. Through the years he wondered if he would ever find his parents. Then a few years ago, after much searching, he was able to locate his mother. She is obviously in her senior years, and when he asked if he could visit her, her heart overflowed with a joy she could not contain. This was a pleasure she thought she would never experience in her life, which had now been almost completely spent. She could hardly wait for the day to arrive.

The day came, and it was blustery and snowy day. As the son drove slowly down the unfamiliar street, he saw a woman standing outside in the cold, waiting. Their reunion after these five long decades was something too tender to describe. But he told me that when he was leaving, he asked her, "Mom, is there anything I can do for you?" With tears running down her face she said, "Just love me, son. Just love me."

Why that plea? Because in her heart she had to have wondered how it was possible for him to love her when she had given him nothing. "How could he love her without having any reason to love her?" she must have thought. But to him, she had given the gift of life, and that was enough of a gift to cause Appreciative love to find a way to express itself. This was more than needing love. It was the need of a particular love toward whom the heart was bent, born out of an appreciation for being.

May I suggest that the ultimate object and resource of that kind of love is God Himself, who has formed us, and the culminating response from us is more than just love. That response of appreciation, of awe, of surrender, of hunger to be consummated in the spirit is what we, in Christian terms, call worship. And until we have found Him who alone is worthy of worship, the heart searches in loneliness. Just like the salmon that determinedly swims against rock and tide to return to where it was spawned and, having returned, gives birth to its own, so also does life spring from the one who has returned to his or her very source of being in worship, to God Himself. It is in turning to Him, dear friend, that you will find the fulfillment for which your heart longs.

_________________________

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Ring the Bell

2 John 1

Ring The Bell

Read: 2 John 1-6

I urge you to reaffirm your love to him. -- 2 Corinthians 2:8

The story is told of a king who had a silver bell placed in a high tower of his palace early in his reign. He announced that he would ring the bell whenever he was happy so that his subjects would know of his joy.

The people listened for the sound of that silver bell, but it remained silent. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, and months into years. But no sound of the bell rang out to indicate that the king was happy.

The king grew old and gray, and eventually he lay on his deathbed in the palace. As some of his weeping subjects gathered around him, he discovered that he had really been loved by his people all through the years. At last the king was happy. Just before he died, he reached up and pulled the rope that rang the silver bell.

Think of it -- a lifetime of unhappiness because he didn't know that he was warmly loved and accepted by his loyal subjects.

Like that monarch, many lonely souls live out their days without the joy of knowing they are loved and appreciated by others. Do you know people who need an encouraging word? If so, tell them how much they mean to you. It may be just what's needed to bring joy into their lives. -- RWD

Someone gave me a cheering word

Of which I was in need,

And faith was bolstered once again

By just that tiny deed. – Sheldon

The human spirit rings with hope at the sound of an encouraging word.

Quotes On Creativity

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation."

-- Herman Melville (1819 - 1891), writer, Bits & Pieces

"Creativity is so delicate a flower that praise tends to make it bloom, while discouragement often nips it in the bud. Any of us will put out more and better ideas if our efforts are appreciated."

-- Alexander F. Osborn (1888 - 1966), advertising executive, (B&P)

"I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world."

-- Albert Einstein (1879-1955), physicist, Bits & Pieces 9/27/02