Dearest brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus our Lord,

What wonderful readings the Church has chosen for today. Let's drink of them fully. "Come to Me all who are weary and find life burdensome and I will give you REST" Jesus tells us. And Isaiah calls out "you will run and not grow weary, you will walk and not grow faint" when we HOPE in the Lord.

This month can drive us to weariness, celebrating Christmas and all the things we THINK we need to do. Jesus protects us, His little sheep, from the darts of the wicked one who wants to zap our energy, and lead us around by a ring in our noses.

Let's take time to drink in the rivers of living water our Lord has for us. He will restore us, and keep us at PEACE, while the world is running in circles. He will lead us to those individuals who will need a WORD of refreshment, of healing, of comfort in the midst of the storm.

Thank You Jesus, Prince of Peace. Bless all our dear ones here on this forum. amen, Theresa

-- Theresa Huether (Rodntee4Jesus@aol.com), December 11, 2002

Answers

MARANATH!!!

-- Theresa (Rodntee4Jesus@aol.com), December 11, 2002.

"...and all the things we THINK we need to do. Jesus protects us, His little sheep, from the darts of the wicked one who wants to zap our energy, and lead us around by a ring in our noses."

Ain't that the truth! Thanks Theresa.

-- Emerald (emerald1@cox.net), December 11, 2002.

Amen, Theresa! It always calms and refreshes me to just sit in the presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, or when that's not possible just to think of Him and ask Him to be with me. He is really the center of EVERYTHING - and when you remember that the whole point of our lives is to get to Him, it helps put things into perspective! :-)

-- Christine L. :-) (christine_lehman@hotmail.com), December 11, 2002.

Dear Theresa,

Thank you so much for that beautiful post!

"The things we THINK we need to do" reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend yesterday. Her mom is recovering from open-heart surgery and my friend doesn't know what to do about Christmas - to cancel her company; she is concerned that she hasn't done any shopping yet, etc...

I suggested that she open her Bible and see what Jesus has to say about it all, that she pray about it and let God work out the details.

I also suggested that maybe Jesus is telling her to focus on the real meaning of Christmas as so many of us get caught up in the gift- giving, which if nice, of course and a part of Christmas. However, maybe Jesus wants us to give gifts from the heart, our presence to someone in need, invite lonely people over for the holidays to celebrate with us, instead of buying that 'special' present for the rich relative who really doesn't need anything, make a donation in his/her name to a favorite charity, include Jesus in on the celebration of His birthday.

She kind of liked the idea and said she would think about it. Maybe one gift per family member instead of 4 or 5...there are thousands of ways to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas. I wish the entire world would start focusing on that instead of all this materialism that we get so caught up in...

May we think of the gifts we can give to Jesus too. Yes, Theresa, we need to start thinking about the things we "THINK WE NEED TO DO" AND DO THEM FOR JESUS! May we keep our gift-giving simple and from the heart.

Love, MaryLu

-- MaryLu (mlc327@juno.com), December 11, 2002.

Theresa thanks for those beautiful words,I've not been at this forum long but, long enough to feel the goodness of the people here.What a great source of information and inspiration.We are all blessed to have such a place.

PAX

-- Andrew m Tillcock (Drewmeister7@aol.com), December 12, 2002.