“Gratitude makes us feel bursting with delight, just to remember the gifts we have received. Thus we are doubly blessed when we receive something: for the gift itself and later, in recall, for the miracle of having been given it.” – M.J. Ryan
Part of the Picture
“In the end, it cannot be doubted that each of us can see only a part of the picture. The doctor sees one, the patient another, the engineer a third, the economist a fourth, the pearl diver a fifth, the alcoholic a sixth, the cable guy a seventh, the sheep farmer an eighth, the Indian beggar a ninth, the pastor a tenth. Human knowledge is never contained in one person. It grows from the relationships we create between each other and the world, and still, it is never complete.” – Paul Kalanithi
Jesus Loves Me – The Senior Version
While watching a little TV, I saw a church in Atlanta honoring one of its senior pastors who had been retired many years. “When I was asked to come here today and talk to you, your pastor asked me to tell you what was the greatest lesson ever learned in my 50-odd years of preaching. I thought about it for a few days and boiled it down to just one thing that made the most difference in my life and sustained me through all my trials.
The one thing that I could always rely on when tears and heartbreak and pain and fear and sorrow paralyzed me – the only thing that would comfort was this song verse -”
Jesus loves me this I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong. We are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so
“Here for you now is a Senior version of Jesus Loves Me -”
Jesus loves me, this I know. Though my hair is white as snow. Though my sight is growing dim. Still He bids me trust in Him.
Though my steps are oh, so slow. With my hand in His I’ll go. On through life, let come what may. He’ll be there to lead the way.
When the nights are dark and long. In my heart He puts a song. Telling me in words so clear. Have no fear, for I am near.”
When my work on earth is done. And life’s victories have been won. He will take me home above. Then I’ll understand His love.
I love Jesus, does He know? Have I ever told Him so? Jesus loves to hear me say, That I love Him every day. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. The Bible tells me so.
Sprinting Up the Ladder, Missing the Blessings of Today
The issue is that when we are so focused on the next rung, the next step, the next goal, that we become blind to the blessings of today. Here are some powerful words shared by a patient I was working with, ‘John, I spent a lifetime sprinting up the ladder only to discover after making it to the very top, I had the thing leaned against the wrong wall.’ Climbing the ladder isn’t the problem. The problem is when the effort to ascend higher keeps us from noticing where we are and why we’re climbing in the first place. Our greatest fear should be succeeding at the stuff in life that does not matter. Don’t put the ladder away, but pay attention to how you spend your days and where exactly we are climbing. Ensure you have it leaned against the right wall.” – John O’Leary