Opening my Heart to God's Blessings

Today’s first Scripture reading, Isaiah 58: 9b-14, continues to challenge us to look at our behaviors.  Are they such that God’s light and blessings and mercy  and love have an opening to enter our lives in abundance is the question, I think, Isaiah is asking indirectly.  Through Isaiah, the Lord says to us: If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech; if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted; then light shall rise for you in the darkness, and the gloom shall become for you like midday; then the Lord will guide you always and give you plenty even on the parched land. He will renew your strength, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.”

I think it behooves me to ask myself: how have I oppressed others with whom I live and work? In what ways do I entertain others by falsely accusing someone or exaggerating a weakness about them or stretching the truth to get other's attention? Do I  engage in juicy  gossip, some of it, perhaps, malicious in nature?  With whom do I have contact on a daily basis who is hungry for a listening ear, hungry for love, hoping to be understood, starved for affirmation, who wants to feel safe to reveal a hurt that is gnawing away his/her faith in humanity, in oneself, in you or me; or simply wants to talk honestly about something that is on his/her mind?

“If you bestow your bread on the hungry’and satisfy the afflicted, then light shall rise for you in the darkness and the gloom shall become for you like midday.”

Happy Fourth of July

I received the following email and am passing it one here:

Happy 4th of July!....     
   

Let' s get this started ,NOW! 
    
   

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE
   

FLAG, 
   

OF THE UNITED 
   

STATES OF AMERICA ,     
   

AND TO THE REPUBLIC, FOR 
   

WHICH IT STANDS, 
   

ONE 
   

NATION UNDER GOD ,
   

INDIVISIBLE, 
   

WITH LIBERTY    

AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!      
   

   

For all of our other military
personnel, where ever they may be. 
   

Please 
   

Support all of the troops
defending our Country.     
   

And God Bless our Military 
   

who are protecting our
Country for our Freedom. 
   

Thanks to them, and their
sacrifices, we can celebrate the 4th of July.     
   

We must never forget who gets
the credit for the freedoms we have, 
   

of which we should be eternally
grateful.     
   

I watched the flag pass by one
day. 

   

It fluttered in the breeze.     
   

A young Marine saluted it, 
   

And then he stood at ease.    
   

I looked at him in uniform; 
   

so young, so tall, so proud.
   

With hair cut square and eyes
alert, 
   

he'd stand out in any crowd.    
   

I thought how many men like him
   

had fallen through the years.
   

How many died on foreign
soil; 
   

how many mothers' tears?     
   

How many pilots' planes shot
down?
   

How many died at sea? 
   

How many foxholes were
soldiers' graves? 
   

NO, FREEDOM ISN'T FREE !    
   

I heard the sound of Taps one
night,
   

when everything was still. 
   

I listened to the bugler play
   

And felt a sudden chill.     
   

I wondered just how many
times 
   

That Taps had meant 'Amen.' 
   

When a flag had draped a coffin
   

of a brother or a friend.     
   

I thought of all the children, 
   

of the mothers and the wives,
   

of fathers, sons and husbands
   

With interrupted lives.     
   

I thought about a graveyard

   

At the bottom of the sea. 
   

Of unmarked graves in Arlington.
   

NO FREEDOM ISN'T FREE 

   

Enjoy Your Freedom 

   

and

   

God Bless Our Troops.     
   

When you read this, 
   

please stop for a moment    

and say a prayer for our
servicemen 

   

Of all the gifts you could
give a U.S. Soldier, prayer is the very best one.