Morning Coffee - Food for Thought

Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing. 

-- John of the Cross

Some good food for thought with my morning cup!  It's been a busy two weeks with moving and emptying a home.  A quiet moment with a fresh cup of coffee is very much needed - along with a perfect thought to contemplate!  

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Morning Coffee - Give God a Chance

"And he shall bring it to pass." Psalm 37:5

"It takes God time to answer prayer. We often fail to give God a chance in this respect. It takes time for God to paint a rose. It takes time for God to grow an oak. It takes time for God to make bread from wheat fields. He takes the earth. He pulverizes. He softens. He enriches. He wets with showers and dews. He warms with life. He gives the blade, the stock, the amber grain, and then at last the bread for the hungry.

All this takes time. Therefore we sow, and till, and wait, and trust, until all God's purpose has been wrought out. We give God a chance in this matter of time. We need to learn this same lesson in our prayer life. It takes God time to answer prayer." --J. H. M.

Streams in the Desert
Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman

I can be a very impatient person.  If I decide to move in a particular direction, I am often on my way before my thoughts are even finished.  Yet there are times when I know the value of patience.  I know that a good cup of coffee does not come from instant crystals; it comes from a slow and full brew of freshly roasted beans.  Now if I would apply that same principle to my prayer life I would realize that "Instant Prayer Crystals" are not the answer either.  God's response to our prayers is a much richer brew than that! 

Time for a second cup and a prayer for patience.  "And he shall bring it to pass."

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Morning Coffee - Weights and Wings

"All things work together for good to them that love God"  Rom. 8:28

Opposition is essential to a true equilibrium of forces. The centripetal and centrifugal forces acting in opposition to each other keep our planet in her orbit. The one propelling, and the other repelling, so act and re-act, that instead of sweeping off into space in a pathway of desolation, she pursues her even orbit around her solar centre.

So God guides our lives. It is not enough to have an impelling force--we need just as much a repelling force, and so He holds us back by the testing ordeals of life, by the pressure of temptation and trial, by the things that seem against us, but really are furthering our way and establishing our goings.

Let us thank Him for both, let us take the weights as well as the wings, and thus divinely impelled, let us press on with faith and patience in our high and heavenly calling.

A. B. Simpson

Streams in the Desert

Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman

Romans 8:28 is a verse I have on my refrigerator; it's a favorite of mine.  That's probably why this particular devotion this morning really struck home with me.  I love the analogy of weights and wings, impelling and repelling.  These are what our days are made of and each push and pull, whether big or small - has a very important part in our spiritual growth. 

Time for a second cup and a second reading of this message.

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Morning Coffee - A New Pattern

Thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons.

2 Kings 4:4

There are times and places where God will form a mysterious wall around us, and cut away all props, and all the ordinary ways of doing things, and shut us up to something Divine, which is utterly new and unexpected, something that old circumstances do not fit into, where we do not know just what will happen, where God is cutting the cloth of our lives on a new pattern, where He makes us look to Himself.

Streams in the Desert
Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman

God is cutting the cloth of our lives on a new pattern.  As a quilter and a sewer of cloth, I like that image; a rearranging of the fabric of my life to create a new and better design.

Time to pour a second cup and begin to fully accept and appreciate this newest emerging pattern.

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Morning Coffee - Counting Silver Linings

"They looked … and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud" (Exod. 16:10).

“Get into the habit of looking for the silver lining of the cloud and when you have found it, continue to look at it, rather than at the leaden gray in the middle.”

“All the marvelous attributes of the Godhead are on the side of the weakest believer, who in the name of Christ, and in simple, childlike trust, yields himself to God and turns to Him for help and guidance.”

Mrs. Chas. E. Cowman
Streams in the Desert

It can be so easy, if we are not vigilant,  to let grayness seep into our daily outlook when in reality there are abundant silver linings. Time to refill my cup and tally all the silver linings in my life today.

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Almond Blossom Journal - Brenda's Giveaway

Brenda, who writes at It's A Beautiful Life , is giving away this beautiful Almond Blossom Journal (photo by Brenda).  Visit her inspiring and uplifting web site and enter her giveaway. 

How great to begin Spring with a brand new beautiful Journal to record your thoughts and dreams.

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