An unwrapped gift

An unwrapped gift

Each and every day is an unwrapped gift given to us by God. We have to open the gift with care and see, what is there for us.

We often love to get a gift or present from someone, especially our loved ones, and God gives us this gift every day in special ways. We have to know that whatever God brings into our life is for good. Take the example of Mother Mary who was virgin, but was able to give birth to Jesus through Holy Spirit. Even the angel greeted her and blessed her, which mother Mary accepted joyfully. It is we who have to accept the gift, according to his or her choice. In fact, we should not see the sender, or the size, and packing of the gift, but what is inside and; accept it happily and joyfully.

When I first, unwrapped the gift one morning, long back in 2003 on the hospital bed, with gift of a rare disease; I was not grateful. I did not smile and say, oh! Such a beautiful gift… in fact, I was upset and tears rolled down my cheeks. But like Joseph, who said God has intended everything for my good. He used it to strip me of self-support and self-satisfaction and my egos etc. He revealed me that without Him I am nothing. He turned my sorrows into peace and joy.

In our trials we face hardship and do not feel good at all but all that is used by God for His glory.  We should understand that God doesn’t give good only but bad also good only, we have to receive it with open arms. They don’t come wrapped in beautiful covers to satisfy us. The use of our God-given skills and abilities in turn gives us self-esteem.  Being able to do something and do it well, so that it makes us feel good about ourselves.  Not in a prideful way, but in a way that makes God proud.

Famous Quotes:

“Use your unique gifts and talents to make a difference in the world.” - Lailah Gifty Akita

Quarantine Period

Quarantine Period

Quarantine means a time to be separated from normal involvement to a certain period. It is the time to remain completely separated from others.

When a person is suffering from contagious or infectious disease, he has to go into a quarantine period. It is a time to remain alone or apart from others.

I remember, once when I was small, I went in quarantine for few days but that was because of chicken pox. Almost for 21 days I was in quarantine and I was not allowed to come out of my room that time. My mother used to take care of me and no one was allowed to meet me.

When a person wants to experience a deeper relationship with God, he needs a quarantine period. So as to listen to the voice of God. And to cut off from the worldly matters or to isolate oneself and spend your time with God. Even the matter which is involved with others can affect your life. So, it is better to have a separation from them.

That is the time when you draw closer to Him, He refines and molds you, to take away what isn’t needed, and to shape you into who we need to be.

 During this period of quarantine, thoughts can arise in our mind that we are alone, lonely, which can make us sad and depressed. But when one spends time in quarantine, he develops certain good qualities like seeking, listening, praying, tuning your ears to hear from God, submitting to Him, feeling of joy, intimate relationship with God.

God is there for you and, He is drawing you to himself, protecting, healing and giving you strength. He is revealing you to yourself, the real you, with all your weakness, strengths, flaws, but even more importantly your potential.

Famous Quote:

I never said I wanted a 'happy' life but an interesting one. From separation and loss, I have learned a lot. I have become strong and resilient, as is the case of almost every human being exposed to life and to the world. We don't even know how strong we are until we are forced to bring that hidden strength forward. - Isabel Allende

Stained eye lens.

 Stained eye lens

Is your eye lens stained? Are you having a clear vision?

 Whatever a person sees or visualize with his eyes that is reflected in the behaviour of the person.

The eyes are the doors to the mind. Good eyes mean, eyes that not only see well, but also perceive well. It is not only what we see, but how we see and perceive. What we see; that makes the difference between godliness and ungodliness, between light and darkness. Bad eyes lead to bad perception, and darkness; but if our eyes are good, the whole person will be illuminated. The eyes are the entrance to our heart, body and mind.

Just like the lamp’s purpose is to provide light or illuminate the path at night or in darkness. eye illuminates our whole body While the types size, shape, colour, of the lamp may differ but the purpose remains the same. Everyone’s eye is of different size shape, colour so much so that identification of a person can be done by his or her iris; but their function remains the same of lighting up the world removing the darkness around, at the same time its our duty not to let the darkness enter our heart and mind by seeing all that which is not healthy and can lead us to sin.

Prayer is one of the ways that we can guard our eyes. God changes our eyes from being dark to light.  If we want to be filled with the true light, we should turn from sin and repent and ask God to forgive and cleanse us and open our spiritual eyes. We should aware of what we see and perceive whether its good or evil.

Famous Quotes:

The world only exists in your eyes. You can make it as big or as small as you want. - Scott Fitzgerald

When the darkness comes, keep an eye on the light - whatever that is for you - no matter how far away it seems.-Jan Berry

Appetite for God's Presence

Appetite for God’s Presence

After a heavy, tiresome work, did you ever had a craving or desire to eat a favorite dish prepared by your mother ? or had a longing to eat delicious food after a long tiresome journey?

Our appetites dictate the direction of our lives, whether the craving is for food, or for some possessions or, is it to seek his presence? Do you have an appetite to seek the presence God?   Hunger for God is the longing for His presence. To have an encounter with Him, to be with Him, and to be filled with His Spirit.

When we are hungry for God and His Presence, we will do whatever is needed to get close to Him. We can know His heart, also we can have an intimate relationship. God longs to have an intimacy with his children.

My Doubts and Quires

During my tough times, when my life was like a dry and parched land, I had a close encounter with my God. He let the streams of water flow and moistened it with his immense presence. I longed for His presence. He came close to me, hearing all my doubts and solving them. I felt his presence for quite some time. For when God is the supreme hunger of your heart, he will be supreme in everything. And when you are most satisfied in him, he will be most glorified in you.

As John Piper puts it, “If we don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great.” If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or even increase, our soul's appetite for God.

There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread. -Mahatma Gandhi

When you are hunger for God, He will fill you. -Jentezen Franklin

Unity is God's beauty.

Unity is God's beauty

One day, I was admiring the beauty outside, when my eyes fell on a line of ants. I saw few of them doing, gymnastic by taking, each other on their back. They all had a desire to suck the nectar from the flower. They, with great efforts succeeded in their mission. A great lesson can be learnt from the illustration I shared.

That is unity, it’s just the act of getting on together, let us go little deeper to it.

Unity is, not a metaphysical idea, but something essential and ordinary. It is found in every breath, be it a winged butterfly, or any bird or an animal. It is for each of us to live and celebrate this oneness, to participate in its beauty, and wonder. God’s blessing is commanded to come where there is unity. To have unity with others, live a life with:  Humility or lowliness, Meekness or gentleness of attitude, Patience or long suffering.

We can see the unity in any choir. The beauty of the choir is felt when sung in unison. When their diversity unites in worship to God, the beauty of their praise will echo the depth and greatness of God’s beauty. God calls his people to live in unity with one another, so it is important to make every effort to live together in harmony.

 A small story will surely motivate you. 

 Once a deer, a crow, a mouse and a turtle were great friends. One day, the deer went to graze. He was caught in a hunter net. In the evening the deer did not return to his friends. The mouse said to the crow, ‘Will you fly over the trees and find the deer?  The crow flew away. He came back after half an hour. He said, ‘Our friend, the deer is in the hunter’s net. ‘What shall we do’? said the mouse and the turtle. ‘I will take mouse on my back,’ said the crow. ‘The mouse will bite through the net and set the deer free. ‘Yes,’ said the mouse. I will do that. “I will show the way, turtle said.” The crow took the mouse on his back and flew with him to the deer. The mouse bit through the net. The deer was free. All the friends were happy together.

Moral of the Story: Unity is Strength. Friends should act together, and then they will be happy.

Famous quotes:

The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Circumstances cannot hinder your growth.

Circumstances cannot hinder your growth

In life, when you experience problems, difficulties, and tensions all around. How is your attitude at those times in life?

Growth is a natural phenomenon which happens in the life with correct circumstances. Even the man has to face similar problems as of plants. If there is four essential things, nothing will hinder or stop the growing process. There should be proper nourishment for the plant, there should be sunlight, good rain, and no hindrance of weeds in the life of plant.

Few days before, in our backyard, I saw a plant growing in between few stones. It was a curry leaf plant. I saw it growing beautifully, quite healthy, with many leaves coming from it. The plant even though, was having hindrance in its growth, but because of proper nourishment, rain, and sun it’s growth spurts were remarkable.

Sometimes problems which come are unpredictable, inconvenient, not planned and come in different forms. In those time how is your attitude to face the problems? If you accept the circumstances and have a gratitude towards everything then for sure no one can be an obstacle for your growth. May be the problem which is present, was not at all predicted by you, still your growth should not stop.

God, will walk with us, through our trials like, a good friend, He will always help us, from whatever we are facing beyond our current situation. In order, to actually trust God, we must first understand the nature of God and how wonderfully He works in our lives.

Famous quotes:

The journey is never ending. There's always gonna be growth, improvement, adversity; you just gotta take it all in and do what's right, continue to grow, continue to live in the moment. -Antonio Brown

The best thing is to accept the circumstances, not take them personally, deal with them, stop complaining, and give everything your best. - Sushant Singh Rajput 

You are born to do great things.

You are born to do great things

What happens, when sometimes we do a certain work, try hard but find failures only, in our lives and get disheartened? Do we try again? Or do we become like, the squirrel having a definite focus in life, though the squirrel is faced with a difficult task it goes around jumping, from one tree to another happily.

You are not ordinary, but each and every one is unique. I thank my God, for creating this universe around me, to learn many things from my surroundings.

 Lately, I had a desire to study about squirrel. We can learn a lot many things from it. I have seen them, getting food by jumping on trees with nuts in mouth. They run effortlessly from branch to branch, sometimes even cross road and hang on electric wires. They remain focused to their goal and work with full vigor to reach the destination of attaining food.

The squirrels help a lot in cleaning the environment. They eat the plants, eat it’s fruit, nuts, seeds, leaves, roots, it’s bark; whatever is there, sometimes, they catch insects and caterpillar too. Along with all of that, they help in planting a tree as they dig holes to hide their nuts and seeds and they usually forget where they had hidden it. After many days a new tree emerges where they had hidden those seeds and nuts. Indirectly, they do great job in our lives.

 In the same way you should consider yourselves extraordinary. You are born to do “GREAT things”! Success can be yours, regardless of your present situation or circumstances. Tap into the discipline, perseverance and mindset of determination to create a new future for yourself. Affirm to yourself that no excuse is acceptable to keep you from achieving your goal.

We are here to live a good life, to love God, to love people around us, to work hard, to laugh and smile often and thus be great achievers in our life.

Famous Quotes:

You have the ability to choose which way you want to go. You have to believe great things are going to happen in your life. Do everything you can, prepare, pray and achieve, to make it happen. - Ben Carson