Presuming that God has Immeasurably Blessed Us

Image via Wikipedia

Jean Purcell

Twitter @opinaripeople

Christmas is a special time to reflect on God making Himself available to the world. Without trust in God, individuals, tribes, and nations are left with no more than human knowledge, tradition, experience, reasoning, and wits to figure life out... to try to make life--and, for nations, the world--work well and peaceably; yet, natural reserves are not enough: there is no sense of gratitude toward God or thankfulness beyond self-accomplishment or the good deeds of others; and a direct connection between good from others and God's help stays out of mind.  
     In a natural state of mind, every new day brings a precarious position in a spiritual desert. Maybe that's why unbelievers or those on the fence tend to be angry about religion and to feel defensive about open professions of belief. Minds may open, however, at Christmas. 
     Otherwise, phrases like "God has blessed them" and "God is blessing us" can seem like pictures of presumption: "to go beyond what is right or proper and excessively forward. 
     Having walked in the dry fields of unbelief, I know the terrain. I remember Christmases without prayer or church. Thanks be to God for the many years on the green side by faith in God through Jesus Christ. Each Christmas is a time of rejoicing as Christians together and individually give thanks to God for sending Jesus, marveling at the fact that He came, and as the child of a virgin, made known by holy decree and possible in a hidden mystery.   
     I think that God's inspired, written Word shows that we can be presumptuous about what He has said through the prophets and apostles. Prophets inspired by God foretold One who would come. God so loved the world that He did give that One, Jesus, to come, to live, and to die...among weak men and women during time of an outwardly powerful yet inwardly dying empire, Rome. 
     His love is never ending. The spirit within us rises to praise Him in amazement: Bless the Lord, oh, my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name! (Psalm 103)    
     God allows us to presume that He is always faithful, based on His assurances of truth. He will never fail His own; He fulfills every promise to save, redeem from sin's power, to love, guide, bless, and help; He has pledged Himself to meet every need through belief, faith in Him.

How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put 

their trust under the shadow of thy wings (Psalm 36.7). 

     Jesus Christ is true. This is sacred trust from God to us. The weak are strong in Him, the commonplace made holy. With amazement and need we lean upon the intrinsic giving within the mercies of God. His loving-kindness is forever. Man's desire for wholeness, safety, and security brings him to this divine love and faithfulness. What manner of mind would refuse God's grace?
     What a work of grace, that God would leave the glories of heaven to come to earth, to walk among men and women, children and natural creation! Face to face: what a marvel, that God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus to become its Redeemer!     

    Here's wishing a joyous Christmas and a blessed New Year for you and yours through Jesus Christ our Lord, the adored Messiah, who is the Savior of the world. Alleluia.  

Copyright (c)2011 Opinari Writers

Related articles

• Mystery of Christ (traskman.wordpress.com)

Are They Changing Our Minds?

Image via Wikipedia

We know about mind-altering drugs. What about mind-altering attitudes, assumptions, beliefs, and emotions? What happens when a normal brain's chemistry is twisted by habitual emotions of anger, bitterness, envy, or revenge? What happens to the normal brain's chemistry when it is full of the love of God and mercy, forgiveness, love, and justice according to law?   

Each person's beliefs, thoughts, and emotions are affecting the chemistry of the mind. The question is: Are they--these beliefs, thoughts, and emotions--such that they are changing our minds for the better, or for the worse?
(c) 2011

Personal narrative author, Jane Bullard, about pen name decision

by Jean Purcell, aka Jane Bullard

Opine, USA, 2004 edition

It is important to think carefully before assigning a pen name, because it needs to be a name you can feel comfortable with for a long time. It needs to be more than a creative whim. Not All Roads Lead Home is a love story, a personal narrative, that Highland Books UK published under my pen name, Jane Bullard.

The first name, Jane, is an anagram of a given name, Jean. Some people, when introduced to me, call me Jane, and I am comfortable being addressed by either name. 

The last name for the pen name, Bullard, is a family name of my maternal grandmother and one of which I am proud. She was widowed when my mother was very young (the last of five), during the early 20th century, when most women did not work outside the home. My grandmother did tailoring and was a salesperson in a local haberdashery. 

After the pen name for the Not All Roads Lead Home manuscript came into being, I noticed an unexpected change in my writing perspective. I was more willing to edit out sections or chapters that I liked, but that did not serve the story, centrally. I felt the story more important, for example, than side-line interests I had in those years.   

Highland Books UK, took on the book for publication, when many publishers were discouraging authors of personal narratives. Later, after I formed a publishing company to enable U. S. distribution of my book, I ended up bring the story up to date 16 years later. That became the second edition. I decided to keep the pen name, for continuity. A coming of age, fictional story I've been working on will have my real name.   

Highland Books, UK, 1996 edition

Related articles by Zemanta

• Publishing Know-how (opinariwriters.blogspot.com)
• Pen Names (feirett.com)

Writer of Exile

You shall leave everything you love most: this is the arrow that the bow of exile shoots first. You are to know the bitter taste of others' bread, how salty it is, and know how hard a path it is for one who 

goes ascending and descending others' stairs.

Dante Alighieri

Reflections of a son-Sacrificial Love

Mary Helen Purcell—In Memory - by Jim Purcell

Mary Helen was my mother. Reflecting on her life is difficult and complicated because she resonated so many valuable qualities in her life. Let’s see: there’s strength, courage, perseverance, loyalty, patience, tolerance, stubbornness, kindness, toiling, forgiveness, acceptance, forbearance, to mention just a few.

Here’s what two of her many friends said:

“She reinforced my belief that, while loving people is a wonderful goal, allowing them to love you is an even loftier aspiration. She made herself a very loveable person, and it was my pleasure to know and love her.”

“Even though this message made us feel sad and grieve the death of Mom Purcell, we want to let you know that our family from abroad are joining your family to celebrate Mom Purcell’s exemplary life which taught us so many important lessons.

“How wonderful it was to witness Mom Purcell’s peace, serenity, acceptance, patience, tolerance, kindness to us, showing appreciation and praising others around her. We never doubt that Mom Purcell’s faith in Jesus as our Savior made her the marvelous human being she was.

“Mom Purcell has left a legacy among us on how to be a special child of God holding an immense amount of peace and joy in her heart in complete contrast with her situation.”

That’s so true. For the last few years of her life, Mom was totally blind and suffered from many physical ailments. Yet, she never lost that spark, that spirit, that enthusiasm, that endurance that was her trademark.

Today, I want to concentrate today on one of her life qualities: sacrificial love.

Let me demonstrate that love in very personal way.

By the age of 18, I had attended three high schools, graduated, and was a major breadwinner for a family struggling with illness and uncertainty. I had visions of a future, but they were quickly vanishing. I was concerned about my family’s survival without my continued work and support.

I was at the point of giving up the notion of advancing beyond the present. I felt like George Bailey in the movie, It’s a wonderful life: I’ll never get out of Bedford Falls.

Mary Helen sensed my sagging spirits and came to me one night and said: Jimmy, the Lord has a plan for your life and it is my mission to help you get there. With few employable skills at the time, she vowed to support my next stage. And, she did.

Together, we took the first step: college. For me, that was a break-through step. Many succeeding steps followed, each building on the other. Eventually, I ended up, not too surprisingly, I guess, like my mom and dad, helping the less fortunate: refugees, migrants, and others of the least among us.

Over time, organizations I worked with assisted many millions of the less fortunate throughout the world. Several colleagues who worked with me in these endeavors are with us today.

As I look back now, the building blocks, starting with Mary Helens’s sacrificial offering to me, led, in large part, to these outcomes.

This reminds me again of “It’s a wonderful life”. Clarence, George Bailey’s angel, decided to show him what the world would have missed without him. In the same sense, I can now see what would have been missed if Mary Helen’s dreams and desires for me had not been there and had not led to the next building blocks.

Dear Mary Helen, you made a difference. Many hurting people around the world were helped because of your sacrifice.

Her sacrifice, in this instance, was for me. My brother Chuck and my sister Billie could tell similar stories of Mary Helen’s sacrificial love.

But, we should not have been surprised. The Bible verse she adopted early on as her “life verse” foretold of such qualities. It’s Romans 12: 1: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”

Mary Helen, you modeled Jesus Christ’s sacrificial love by your life. May we as your family, with all humility, follow your example.

Mom, for Billie, Chuck and myself, we love you, we will miss you, but we now release you fully to your Heavenly Father’s kingdom. We know you are already there but probably concerned about arrangements for our trip: where will we stay, will we be safe? Mom, as your best friend, Carole, said to you many times over the past year: “Don’t worry.” “Every thing will work out OK.”

“Say ‘hello’ to Dad, Donald, Waldo and Treva for us. We’re gonna meet you all in Heaven.”