Tag: Blessings

Rose Garden?

In 1973, I remember hearing a Lynn Anderson song with the lyrics, “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden.”

And while writing five blogs a day, I never want to promise you any thing that can’t be delivered to you.

The Tiger Woods saga was noteworthy at jeff noel.org because it challenged all of us to decide one way or another. (And even if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice)

A jeffnoel.org reader emailed a valuable insight – none of us are in a position to forgive Tiger Woods. God and Tiger must handle this.

However, a point you may want to consider – the one that came immediately to mind – as you live your daily life, is this:

God will not withhold forgiveness to anyone who asks to be forgiven.

And if this is so, who is it in our lives that needs to be forgiven, but we have never offered them hope and encouragement?

What Inspires You?

What inspires you to pray?

To give thanks?

To help others?

To help yourself?

If ever there are times when we ask, “Where’s God, I’m not feeling close to God, where is God?”

Humbly, and I must emphasize the word humbly, may I leave this unknown quote for you to contemplate?

“If you don’t feel close to God, guess who moved?”

What Do You Want?

“Daddy, what do you want for Christmas?”, my son asked me yesterday morning.

“I’d like for all of us to enjoy the real reason for celebrating Christmas”, I replied without hesitating, and then paused, thinking, for a few moments.

“If we can do that, then any other gifts we might receive would just be a bonus”, I added as a followup.

“It would be great to simply enjoy the spirit of giving”, seemed to be my final answer.

And that about sums it up. Have you thought what you’d like for Christmas this year?

Odds are stacked against anyone actually adding any comments, but please know that you are indeed welcome to comment. You always have been.

PS. Comments aren’t why I write, and yet there is something colorful about comments that has the same effect as photos or video clips. A state change if you will.

And yet something a photo or video may never add – a sense of community. And isn’t that what Christmas is really about? Merry Christmas.

The Joy of Living

The Joy of Living is one of the most elusive of all endowments.

Why? Just watch a child and you’ll find your answer. Having a child (9-year old boy) in our home is a daily reminder.

We all, at least I do, need daily reminders of this simple fact, don’t we? Why? Because life is hard, especially in today’s challenging and uncertain world.

Every day is an opportunity to count our blessings. Anyone need a calculator?