BLESSINGS UPON BLESSINGS!

It's Thanksgiving and so much to be thankful for---sweet fellowship in the household of faith & shared times with family and friends. 

Blessings---a real mixed bag----shared with family, friends & faith friends!

So I had to share a Blessing Mix recipe from sweet friend Ellen.

BLESSING MIX

Bugles--Shaped like a cornucopia, Horn of Plenty, a symbol of our nation's abundance.

Pretzels--Arms folded in prayer, a freedom sought by those who founded our country.
Candy Corn--The sacrifices of the Pilgrims' first winter. Food was so scarce that settlers survived onjust a few kernels of corn a day.
Nuts or seeds--Promise of a future harvest, one we will reap only if seeds are planted and tended with diligence.
Dried fruits--Harvest gifts from our bountiful land.
M&Ms--Memories of those who came before us to lead us into a blessed future.
Hershey's Kiss--The love of family and friends that sweetens our lives.

Click here for---Recommended Recipe Amounts for those "exact" cooks.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL! (1 Thessalonians 5:18)

MEDITATION: A REMINDER TO BENEFIT AND BLESS OTHERS

4/29/13 Lots of food for thought from yesterday's sermon about my "vocation" in life, coupled with scripture, results in Monday Meditation. 

Vocation: I am called by God as His child, a wife, a mother and nowadays, a grandmother. Everything I do in life whether at work or play gives context to that purpose as I love God & love others.

Love God! Love others!

Truly loving God and loving others will result in both my work and play benefitting and blessing others.

BUT GOD....shows the flip side of that in the book of Ezekiel. A reminder that we can get off course, especially in times of prosperity and ease. (Conviction!!!! I'm all about ease.) Same convicting verse, or snippets thereof, in five different translations

Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. (Ezekiel 16: 49, NIV) 

....this... guilt....arrogance, abundant food and careless ease,... not help the poor and needy. (NASB) 

Behold, ....the iniquity, pride, fulness of bread, and abundance of idleness ...neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.(KJV) 

The sin...was this: She lived..... in the lap of luxury—proud, gluttonous, and lazy...... ignored the oppressed and the poor. They put on airs and lived obscene lives.  (The Message) 

Behold, this...guilt .... had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. (ESV)

Is this what happens when life gets too cushy (ie prosperous ease)----when there is more self-love than love of God? Does pride set in?

Does complacency begin to take "root" in our lives?

Does pleasure become our idol and our hands the personification of idleness? 

Do these traits benefit and bless others in any way? (Of course NOT!)

Simply put:

BENEFIT AND BLESS OTHERS AS YOU LOVE GOD & LOVE OTHERS!