May you bless each of us each day

 Lord, creator and owner of time and eternity. Yours is today, and tomorrow. I want to thank you for all I got from you.
   
Thank you for the Life, the love, the flowers, the sun, the light, the wind, for the happiness and sadness for everything that was successful and for what was not.

I offer you everything I was able to do and accomplish, the job I did, the things my hands touched and all I was able to create with them.

 I introduce you to all the people that passed by my life all these months: The ones I loved; The new friends I made; The old friends; The ones that are still close to me; The ones that are far now; The ones that gave me a hand and support; and All those I was able to help; The ones that I cried and laughed with; The ones I shared this time of my life in good and bad times; and all those that spent time with me.

 Lord, I want to ask for your forgiveness. Please forgive me for all the time I wasted, for the money bad invested, for the cruel word, for the good I didn’t do, for the love I didn’t share, for the things I didn’t do right, for not giving and sharing more, for not being fair, for the times I complained; and for not living with enthusiasm.  

Also, for not thanking you and trusting you enough; for the prayer I didn’t say; for being weak, careless, selfish, and distracted by the things that get me away from you; for the times I got away from you forgetting that you are the way, the truth and the life.

I take the time to look at the calendar to present the next days to you cause only you know if I get to live them. 
May you bless each of us each day and let us live in the glory of Your grace showing us the right path. May Peace Prevail On Earth. May the ones that don’t know you get to know you. May we get to live in peace, harmony, and love.

 Lord, grant me acceptance, serenity, courage and wisdom. I want to live each day with Faith, optimism and kindness; be understanding, patient, caring, compassionate and transmit this to others.

 Lord, close my ears to all unfaithfulness, dishonesty and Lies; Close my lips to negativism, selfishness, and hurtful words.

 Lord, may I be opened to good and may my spirit be full of blessings that I can spread around as I go. May I be full of kindness and happiness so that everyone I meet in life finds you in me.

 Lord, grant us blessed and happy days; and teach us how to pass faith and happiness along.

Love and compassion

Much love and compassion to every person who may read this.

LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS - NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE. 

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only a few  will leave footprints in your heart
 
To handle yourself, use your head...  To handle others, use your heart.
 
God provides food for every bird, but He does not throw it into their nests.

Thank you for Your Love!

Father, I just want to Thank You for this Year. What a year!
It was a very long year with each day bringing something new, something unknown; yet you sustained us.
Teach us to draw closer to You, to find out what Your perfect will is for our lives.
Teach us and show us step by step how You want Your agenda
to flow using us as messengers and instruments.
Teach us humility and give us the ability to forgive and to love purposefully.
Strengthen our hearts with compassion and unselfishness.
Allow us to grow spiritually.
Show us how to be quick to repent continually and teach us that we are not perfect.
Thank You for the continual demonstration of Your Love!

Show us how there are many ways and not just our way as individuals interlocked in friendships, relationships and partnerships.
Give us an allowance and understanding so that we may enter into Your rest consistently and continually.
Teach us diligence so that we know it oh so well.
Father we have seen remnants of all of these things and we are ever thankful and please allow us to move to new levels of knowledge, wisdom, understanding and revelations.

Thank You for forgiveness. We thank You for corrections and peace in this.

For those who have had it tough we send ministering angels
out before them to prosper their way.
We pray Blessings over all of Your children and we pray for enlightenment and not deception in this earth.
Thank You that our hearts are not faint and that our strength is renewed!
Thank You Father for keeping us focused and Kingdom minded.

It is our prayer that every believer begins to see that we are all pieces of the same pie and that we all will begin to exhort one another and to seek wisdom on what we can learn from one another.
We pray that the Body of Christ will receive the Comforter that Jesus left for them and all spiritual gifts that you have for them plus a greater knowledge of The Power of The Blood of Jesus.

In Jesus Name We Pray. AMEN!

You are not depressed, just distracted

You are not depressed... just distracted, distracted of this
life that populates in you. Distracted of the life that surrounds
you, dolphins, forests, seas, mountains, rivers.

Don't fall for what your brother did, who suffers due to a human
being when there is more than millions. Furthermore, it is not so bad to live alone.
I have fun deciding what I want to do at every moment and thanks
to solitude, I know myself, which is constitutive for life.

Don't fall for what your father did, feeling old when he is sixty but
forgets that Moses lead off the Exodus when he was eighty and
Rubinstein played Chopin like no other when he was ninety, just to
quote two renamed cases.

You are not depressed, you are just distracted. That is why you think
you have lost something, which is impossible since everything has been
given to you. You didn't even make a hair on your head, therefore you
can't own anything. Furthermore, life doesn't take things
away from you but it relieves you....lightens you so you can fly higher
to achieve plenitude. It is a school from the cradle to the grave,
therefore, what you call problems are just lessons.

You didn't lose anybody, the ones who passed away
simply got ahead of us because we are just voyeurs headed in
that direction. And, the best part of him, his love, will always stay
in you heart.

Who could say that Jesus is dead? There is no dead.. there is
"moving". And on the other side there is great marvelous people:
Gandhi, Miguel Angel, Whitman, St Agustin, Mother Theresa your and
grandpa among them, who believed poorness is closer to
love since money distracts us with plenty of things and draws us
apart since it makes us grow distrusted.

Do whatever you love and you will be happy. Who does what
he loves is blessedly condemned to success, which will arrive in
the moment it must arrive since all that is to be will be, and will
arrive naturally. Avoid doing things for obligation or engagement
but for love. Then, you will reach plenitude and among all that plenitude
anything will be possible with no effort, because it is moved by the natural
force of life, the one that kept me going when
the plane with my daughter and my wife felt down, the one that kept me
alive when the doctors said I had only three or four months of life.

God gave you the task of taking care of one human being, yourself.
Only you will be able to make yourself free and happy. Only then you
will be able to fully share your life with others. Remember these
words: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Reconcile with yourself, sit in front of a mirror and think that the
creature you see is a master piece of God, choose right now
to be happy because happiness is an acquisition. Furthermore,
happiness is not a right, but a duty because if you are unhappy,
you will make unhappy everyone else around you. One single man
without talent nor spunk to live, ordered the death of
six millions of fellow Jews.

There are so many things to enjoy and our journey in this land is so short
that suffering is just a waste of time. We must learn to enjoy the coming snow, the spring flowers, the Perusa chocolate, the French baguette bread, the Mexican tacos, the Chilean wine, the Colombian coffee, the oceans, the rivers, the Brazilian football, the One Thousand and One Nights, books as the Divine Comedy, The Quixote or Pedro Paramo, romantic boleros by Manzanero, and for the intellectual poetry by Whitman, classical music by Mahler, Mozart, Chopin and Beethoven, paints by Rembrandt, Caravaggio, Velazquez, Picasso and Tamayo among other wonders.

If you happen to have HIV or cancer, there is two things that could
happen and both of them are good. If it beats you, it will liberate
you from the bothersome body (I am hungry, I am cold, I am
sleepy, I feel like..., I am right, I have doubts)... and, if you beat it,
you will be humbler, more grateful...therefore you will be happy and
pleased easily, relieved from any guilt, responsibility and vanity,
ready to live every moment profoundly as it should be.

You are not depressed, you are just unemployed.

Help that child that needs you, that child who will be partners with
your son. Help the elders so the youngsters will help you when you
grow old. Remember that serving others is a certain happiness,
like when you care for nature for those to come. Give without limits
and you will receive much more than you expect. Love until you
become the most loved, even more, until you become the pure
essence of Love.

Do not be confused by those few homiciders and suiciders. Goodness
is bigger although you can see it because it is silent. A bomb makes
more noice than a caressing but there are millions of caressings feeding
life per each destroying bomb. Isn't it worth it?

If God had a freezer, He would have your picture on it; if He had a
wallet, He would have your picture in it. He sends flowers to you every
spring. He sends you a sunrise every morning. He is ready to listen
every time you are willing to talk. He could live every place in the universe
He likes but He choose your heart. He loves you!!
Face it up, my friend!!

God never promised you days without pain; Laughter without sorrow,
sun without rain but He did promise strength for your every single day,
consolation to your tears and light in your way.

"When life gives you one thousand reasons for crying, show that you have
one thousand and one reasons to brake into a smile".

There is no better place to meet yourself

An Interview with Moussa Ag Assarid

MOUSSA AG ASSARID: I don't know my age. I was born in the Sahara desert, with no papers! I was born in a nomadic camp of Touaregs, between Timbuktu and Gao, in the north of Mali. I have been a shepherd of camels, goats, sheep and cows for my father. Today I study Management in the University of Montpellier. I am a bachelor. I serve as an advocate for the Touareg shepherds.

VICTOR-M. AMELA: What a beautiful headdress!

MAA: It is a fine cotton fabric: it allows me to cover my face in the desert when the wind blows sand, and allows me to continue to see and to breathe through it.

VMA: It is a beautiful blue color.

MAA: We Touaregs have long been called "the blue men" because of this color. Interestingly the fabric loses the color and transfers some of the blue ink onto our skin.

VMA: How do you get this intense blue?

MAA: From a plant called indigo, mixed with other natural pigments. The blue, for the Touaregs, is the color of the world.

VMA: Why?

MAA: It's the dominant color, of the sky, the roof of our home

VMA: Who are the Touareg?

MAA: Touareg means 'abandoned', because we are an old nomadic tribe of the desert. We are lonely and proud: masters of the desert, they call us. Our ethnic group is Amazigh (or Berber), and our alphabet is the tifinagh.

VMA: How many are there of you?

MAA: Approximately three million, the majority still are nomadic. But the population is decreasing. A wise man said it is necessary for a tribe to disappear to realize they existed. I am working to preserve this tribe.

VMA: What do they do for a living?

MAA: We shepherd camels, goats, sheep, cows and donkeys in an infinite kingdom of silence.

VMA: Is the desert really so silent?

MAA: If you are on your own in that silence you hear your heart beat. There is no better place to meet yourself.

VMA: What memories do you have of your childhood in the desert?

MAA: I wake up with the sun. The goats of my father are there. They give us milk and meat, and we take them were there is water and grass. My great-grandfather did it, and my grandfather, and my father, and me. There was nothing else in the world than that, and I was very happy!

VMA: Really? It doesn't sound very exciting.

MAA: It is. At the age of seven you can go alone away from the compound, and for this you are taught the important things—to smell the air, to listen, to see, to orient with the sun and the stars...and to be guided by the camel if you get lost. He will take you where there is water.

VMA: This sounds like valuable knowledge, no doubt.

MAA: Everything is simple and profound there. There are very few things, and each one has enormous value.

VMA: So your world and this one are very different.

MAA: There, every little thing gives happiness. Every touch is valuable. We feel great joy just by touching each other, being together. There, nobody dreams of becoming, because everybody already is.

VMA: What shocked you most on your first trip to Europe?

MAA: I saw people running in the airport. In the desert you only run if a sandstorm is approaching! It scared me, of course.

VMA: They were going after their baggage.

MAA: Yes, that was it. I also saw signs with naked women. Why this lack of respect for the woman? I wondered. Then at the hotel I saw the first faucet of my life: I saw the water run and wanted to cry.

VMA: Because of the waste, the abundance?

MAA: Every day of my life had been involved in seeking water. When I see the ornamental fountains here and there, I still feel an intense pain.

VMA: Why?

MAA: In the early 90s there was a big drought, animals died, and we became sick. I was about twelve years old and my mother died. She was everything to me! She used to tell me stories and taught me to tell stories. She taught me to be myself.

VMA: What happened to your family?

MAA: I persuaded my father to let me go to school. Every day I walked fifteen kilometers, until one teacher gave me a bed to sleep in and a woman gave me food when I walked by her house. I then understood what was happening; my mother was helping me.

VMA: Where did you get interested in school?

MAA: A few years before the Paris-Dakar motor rally came through the compound and a journalist dropped a book from her backpack. I picked it up and gave it to her. She gave it to me and talked to me about that book: "The Little Prince". I promised myself that I would be able to read it one day.

VMA: And you did.

MAA: Yes, and because of that I won a scholarship to study in France.

VMA: A Touareg going to college!

MAA: Ah, what I most miss here is the camel milk. And the wood fires. And walking barefoot on the warm sand. And the stars. We watched them every night, every star is different, just as every goat is different. Here, in the evenings, you watch TV.

VMA: That is true. What do you dislike the most here?

MAA: You have everything, and it is still not enough for you. You complain. In France people complain all the time! You chain yourself to a bank; everyone is anxious to have things, to have possessions. Everyone is in a rush. In the desert there are no traffic jams, and do you know why? Because there nobody is interested in getting ahead of other people.

VMA: Tell me about a moment of deep happiness for you in the desert. 

MAA: It happens every day, two hours before sunset. The heat decreases, there is still no cold air, and men and animals slowly return to the compound, and their profiles are painted against a sky that is pink, blue, red, yellow, green.

VMA: That sounds fascinating.

MAA: It's a magical moment. We all get into the tents and we boil tea. Sitting in silence we listen to the sound of the boiling water. We are immersed in calmness, with our the heart beating to the rhythm of the boiling water, potta potta potta......

VMA: How peaceful.

MAA: Yes...here you have watches; there, we have time. 

Love is Unconditional; accept people as they are.

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco. "Mom and Dad, I'm coming home, but I've got a favor to ask. I have a friend I'd like to bring with me." "Sure," they replied, "we'd love to meet him."

"There's something you should know," the son continued, "he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mine and lost an arm an leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us."

"I'm sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live."

"No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us."

"Son," said the father, "you don't know what you're asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us. We have our own lives to live, and we can't let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He'll find a way to live on his own." At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him.

A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide. The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn't know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don't like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable. We would rather stay away from people who aren't as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there's Someone who won't treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are. Tonight, before you tuck yourself in for the night, say a little prayer that God will give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us!!!

The Manger

In 1994 two Americans accepted an invitation from the Russian Department of Education to teach morals and ethics (based on Biblical principles) in the public schools. They were invited to teach a large orphanage. It was nearing the holiday season for the orphans to hear for the first time the traditional Christmas story. They told them about Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem and finding no room in the inn, the couple went to a stable, where Jesus was born and placed in the manger.

Throughout the story, the children, according to one of the Americans, “sat in amazement as they listened. Some sat on the edges of their stools, trying to grasp every word.” As a follow-up activity to the story, each child was given three small pieces of cardboard to make a crude manager. Each child was also given a small paper square, cut from yellow napkins which the children tore into strips the paper and carefully laid them in the manger for straw. 

As they made their way around the room to observe the children this is what one of the Americans noted, “All went well until I got to one table where little Misha sat. He looked to be about 6 years old and had finished his project. As I looked at the little boy’s manger, I was startled to see, not one but two babies in the manger. Quickly, I called for the translator to ask the lad why there were two babies in the manger.” The observer goes on to note that Misha very accurately recalled the story that had been told until he came to the part where Mary put Jesus in the manger. “Then Misha,” it is noted, “started to ad-lib. He made up his own ending to the story as he said:

“And when Maria laid the baby in the manger, Jesus looked at me and asked me if I had a place to stay. I told him I have no mom or dad, so I don’t have any place to stay. Then Jesus told me I could stay with him. But I told him I couldn’t because I didn’t have a gift to give him like everybody else did. But I wanted to stay with Jesus so much, so I thought about what I had that maybe I could use for a gift. I thought maybe if I kept him warm, that would be a good gift. So I asked Jesus, “If I keep you warm, will that be a good enough gift?” And Jesus told me, “If you keep me warm, that will be the best gift anybody ever gave me. So I got into the manger, and then Jesus looked at me and he told me I could stay with him – for always.” 

As little Misha finished his story, his eyes brimmed full of tears that splashed down his little cheeks. Putting his hand over his face, his head dropped to the table and his shoulders shook as he sobbed and sobbed. The little orphan had found someone who would never abandon or abuse him, someone who would stay with him – FOREVER

Proven Ways To Get Along Better With Everyone :-)

Before you say anything to anyone, ask yourself three things:

1.) Is it true?
2.) Is it kind?
3.) Is it necessary?

* Make promises sparingly and keep them faithfully

* Never miss the opportunity to compliment or say something encouraging to someone

* Refuse to talk negatively about others don't gossip and don't listen to gossip

* Have a forgiving view to people. Believe that most people are doing the best they can

* Keep an open mind: discuss, but don't argue.
(It is possible to disagree without being disagreeable)

* Forget about counting to 10. Count to 1,000 before doing or saying anything that could make matters worse

* Let your virtues speak for themselves

* If someone criticizes you, see if there is any TRUTH to what he is saying; if so, make changes.
If there is no truth to the criticism, ignore it and live so that no one will believe the negative remark

* Cultivate your sense of humor, laughter is the shortest distance between two people. Do not seek so much to be consoled, as to console; do not
seek so much to be understood; as to understand; do not seek so much to be loved as to love

From my heart to your lonelines

* To you that many times looked for me without finding me, and heard me   without listening.

* Many times you promised to follow me and not knowing why you got lost instead.

* I’m always with you even though you doubt sometimes.

* You look for me without finding me and lose your faith trying.

* Sometimes you think I’m a memory and don’t understand that I’m alive.

* I’m the way the truth and the life.

* The way for you not to get lost

* The truth for you not to get confused

* The life for you not to die

* My favorite theme is Love. That was my reason to Live and to die.

* I was free till the end. I had a clear ideal and defended it with my blood

* I was a teacher and a servant.

* I’m sensitive to friendship and I have been waiting for yours.

* No one knows your feelings, your thoughts, your heart like I do and I know how valuable you are.

* I know you have a hidden treasure in your heart full of Love to give and share.

* Dedicate some time to learn about yourself and you’ll make a place for me in your heart.

* I’ve been knocking the door of your heart for a long time and I still don’t get an answer from you.

* It hurts me that you Ignore me; Condemned me like Pilate; Deny me like Peter and Betray me like Judas.

* I ask you to have:

 Patience with your parents; Love to your significant other; Responsibility to your children; Understanding to your brothers; Compassion with the ones who suffer; Kindness and Assistance to everyone.

* I wish I don’t have to see you being selfish, greedy, proud, rebel, dissatisfied and pessimist.

* I wish your life was full of Joy, Happiness, Gratitude, Faith, Trust, Hope, Humility, Principles, Moral, Politeness and Optimism.

* Don’t ever think you are worthless, don’t get depress. Every time you feel sad, weak, tired, hopeless look for me, talk to me.

* Let me handle all your problems. Be grateful and believe in me. Let me know every day how thankful you are and how much you trust me.

* Don’t forget I only needed a donkey to arrive in Jerusalem; and I only need your simplicity and humbleness to enter in your brother’s soul.

* Don’t ever feel alone remember I’m always with you.

* Don’t get tired of praying I won’t get tired of listening and providing.

* Don’t quit following me I won’t stop giving you company.

* I will never leave you alone. I’m here to help you.

* I’m always here waiting for you to open up your heart and let me in.

I love you very much,

Jesus

Prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, Light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, 
Grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love:
For it is in giving, that we received, 
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying to self that we are born to Eternal Life.

A Reason, a Season or a Lifetime

* People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
* When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person..
* When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
* They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support.

* To aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
* They may seem like a God send and they are.
* They are there for the reason you need them to be..
* Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
*Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
*Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
*What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. 

*Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
*They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
*They may teach you something you have never done.
*They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
*Believe it, it is real.. But only for a season. 

 * LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
*Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
*It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant. 

Thank you for being a part of my life, whether you were a reason, a season or a lifetime :-)