This is not a dress rehearsal. This is the real thing.

Good morning to each of you, I pray your day is off to a great start and that it gets better and better as the moments tick away! It is a beautiful morning here in Utah, the sun has just come up over the mountain, the skies crystal clear, a slight breeze and 61 degrees. We are forecast for the mid 80's today and will have to resort back to the air conditioner but for now the windows are open wide and I am being serenaded by a beautiful choir of birds singing delightful tunes for this wonderful morning. God's beauty is all around me and I am so very thankful that I am alive to stand witness to it. 

Please join me in prayer asking God to see our needs and allow us blessings to cover them, asking God to see the needs of others and the provide for them, asking God to give mercy, grace, healing, peace, calm, and comfort to all. 

Dear kind and loving Father, as I arise and bend on my knee to pray I ask that you place your guiding hand upon this busy day.

Father allow me knowledge that yesterday is said and done and that tomorrow is not promised, lead me to where you need me today, guard my eyes that they only see what you want me to see,  and show me what is required for me to do my part to make you pleased with me.

 Support me that each word I speak is filtered through your love and guide me that all my thoughts might be connected to your unconditional love for me.

Give me a heart that wants only to show others your beauty and the way to you.

I love you Father and am so thankful for the gift of today. I ask for an abundance of blessings in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

This Is Not A Rehearsal

Taking life for granted is one of the worst mistakes any of us can ever make. We can end up sleeping through most of life, as if we thought it would somehow just go on forever. For many of us, life has a certain air of unreality and sometimes it seems that someone had better issue the warning: This is not a dress rehearsal. This is the real thing.

Jesus made it clear to us when He said ‘I’ve come to light a fire on earth,’ and ‘and how I wish the blaze were ignited!’ What exactly does He want to set afire? Us! All of us! He wants to fire us up with enthusiasm for the marvellous possibilities that life holds out to us - both here and in the hereafter. Specifically, He wants to see us commit everything we’ve got to making God’s kingdom of love and peace come here and now. A task of that magnitude requires total commitment and admits of no ambivalence.

So what does the Lord see when He looks at us? A heart ablaze? Smouldering embers and a little smoke? A pile of dead ashes? Jesus had some hard words about folks who tried to get away with minimal commitments. ‘Be either hot or cold,’ He said. ‘If you are lukewarm, I will vomit you out of my mouth.’

That’s what He said.

It would probably be wise to take Him at His word!

     Christ Jesus, You have given us the gift of life and the freedom of spirit to celebrate our lives. Teach us to recognize when we are taking these gifts for granted and at the same time, hold our hands as we re-light our flames within. It is through You and with You that we regain our sure footing and rekindle our lives. And it is without You that there is nothing but darkness. You Are the light! Amen