Thursday, May 26, 2016

Obstacles and Opportunities




The story is told of an old Scottish fisherman who
was having afternoon tea with some friends in a
little tearoom by the sea.
As he was describing some of his fishing exploits
of the day, his hand accidentally knocked over 
his cup of tea.
An ugly brown tea stain appeared on the
freshly whitewashed wall beside him.
"Never mind about the stain," said a friend
as he rose from his chair and drew from his
pocket a brown crayon.
There emerged from that ugly brown tea stain
a magnificent stag with antlers spread and
back arched. 
The friend of the fisherman was one of
England's most famous painters.
Life is full of ugly tea stains that splash
against whitewashed walls. 
Reality often seems to be
more obstacle than opportunity,
more pain than pleasure,
more chaos than calm,
more hurt than happiness,
more tension than tenderness.
But, if I interpret
 Romans 8:28 correctly,
I must believe that as God's woman,
God is using everything in my life
to make me more like Himself.
Together, He and I can
take the tea stains of my life
and make something out of them.
We can take the chaos and be calm,
take the tensions and be tender,
take the hurts and be content,
take the obstacles and
build opportunities.
That is what God offers me
from life.
And when God says that's what He can
do for me, only my unbelief keeps me
from experiencing it.
If the Christian life is
worth living, then God is worth believing.
And if I believe God, 
there is no end to the possibilities.
-Ruth Senter 






 Poetess Anne Bronte was the
sister of novelists Emily and Charlotte Bronte

 

Believe not those who say
The upward path is smooth,
Lest thou should stumble in the way,
And faint before the truth.

It is the only road
Unto the realms of joy;
But he who seeks that blest abode
Must all his powers employ.

To labor and to love,
To pardon and endure,
To lift thy heart to God above,
And keep thy conscience pure.

Be this thy constant aim,
Thy hope, thy chief delight,
What matter who should whisper blame
Or who should scorn or slight.

What matters—if God approve,
And if within thy breast,
Thou feel the comfort of His love,
The earnest of His rest?
-Anne Bronte 
(1848)

The beautiful, windswept English Moors of
 the Bronte sisters childhood

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