We've all read lists of advice for consumers. Here's a summary of some main points:

• Resist impulse-buying.
• Read labels; don't be persuaded by slick packaging or jingles.
• Consider your budget, not just the price of an item.
• Give attention to the quality and probable life of the product.
• Compare and shop for price when it's reasonable to do so.

Now let's apply these principles to the Christian life, remembering that according to Isaiah 55, it is possible to be unwise spiritual consumers.

• Respond to God's faithfulness rather than to impulse.
• Read God's Word to evaluate the contents of your spiritual food and to find fulfillment in life.
• Take into account the "budget" the Lord has put you on by not taxing yourself beyond the grace He supplies.
• Don't settle for temporal pleasures and superficial relationships.

The wise man always compares the price of material values with the cost of spiritual values and concludes that only one brand is worth buying. It is the life produced by the Ultimate Manufacturer and...

This truth we all one day must face

Before the die of life is cast:

All things of time and things of space

Are temporal goods that will not last.

Wish you blessed days ahead Bloggers!

Sincerely,

Ophelia Jane Julia

Acknowledgement:

Featured Photo by jimforest on FLICKR

Solitude, try it sometimes

Hola bloggers! The world is a place of vanity and fleeting desire. We can lose everything we own in the blink of an eye. But here's one thing that can never be taken from us and that's our brain. Let's make our life a great intellectual challenge and let our riches be those of the heart, mind and the soul. People all over the world fight and long for peace. The Lord Jesus said, " Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." (John 14:27) My dear friends, there can never be attainment of peace unless the peace that the Lord Jesus gives reigns in the hearts of men! (Ophelia)

Amid the hustle and bustle of everyday living, we all need to be alone sometimes.....to unwind and relax our minds and at the same time to examine our priorities in life. Oftentimes, we tend to lose our perspectives to the pressures of everyday existence and the occurrences of unexpected circumstances. As for me, whenever i start to feel even the slightest pinch of pressure I would immediately go to nature for comfort. I love going down to the river or lake at sunset. I feel so elated as I watch the sun set looking through the river at it and feeling the warm summer breeze or the cold winter winds touch my face. Or sit down on the green grass while reading a book under a tree on top of the hill. When we are pressured and troubled we usually go to our family and friends for comfort but we also can find it in nature and solitude in much more soothing ways. Try it sometimes.....(Ophelia)

"The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation. From the desperate city, you go into the desperate country, and have to console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in them, for this comes after work. But it is characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things."
~~From Walden by Henry David Thoreau~~

I set out on a narrow way many years ago

Hoping I would find true love along the broken road

But I got lost a time or two

Wiped my brow and kept pushing through

I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you

Every long lost dream led me to where you are

Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars

Pointing me on my way into your loving arms

This much I know is true

That God blessed the broken road

That led me straight to you

I think about the years I spent just passing through

I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you

But you just smile and take my hand

You've been there you understand

It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true

Every long lost dream led me to where you are

Others who broke my heart they were like northern stars

Pointing me on my way into your loving arms

This much I know is true

That God blessed the broken road

That led me straight to you

~~God Bless The Broken Road, Recorded and Sung by Rascall Flatts~~

Broken lives, broken homes, shattered dreams and broken hearts are but parts of life's journey. But do not fear dear fellow traveler, do not fear at all today: for God has given us His promise that He'll be with us all the way. Let us face the New Year with a renewed faith in God's ability to handle everything that we entrust to Him.

I Wish Everybody A Most Blessed and Prosperous New Year!

Ophelia

Broken Road Photo by hope21 on FLICKR

The Sacrifice of Iphigenia by Timanthes


Many years ago, a promising Greek artist named Timanthes was under the instruction of a well-known tutor. After several years, the young painter created an exquisite portrait. He was so thrilled with what he had painted that he sat day after day gazing at his work.

One morning, however, he was horrified to discover that his teacher had deliberately ruined his painting. Angry and in tears, Timanthes ran to him and asked why he had destroyed his cherished possession. The wise man replied, "I did it for your own good. That painting was retarding your progress. It was an excellent piece of art, but it was not perfect. Start again and see if you can do even better." The student took his advice and produced a masterpiece called "Sacrifice of Iphigenia," regarded by some as one of the finest paintings of antiquity.

Like the teacher in the story above, God never wants us to be content with our accomplishments. He wants us to reach even higher plateaus of service. My dear friends, let us not be satisfied with our spiritual attainments. In this world decaying with immoralities, let us keep pressing on ....

When you've reached a plateau,

And your strength almost gone,

But the Lord still says, "Go,"

That's the time to press on!

~~Hess~~

I wish you the best of the season Bloggers! Amidst the festive mood and celebration this season, let us not forget that the Babe of Bethlehem is the Savior at Calvary.

Have a blessed day one and all!

Sincerely,

Ophelia

Meditative Rose, 1958 by Salvador Dali

THE ROSE

Some say love, it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger
An endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower
And you, its only seed
It's the heart, afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It's the dream, afraid of waking
That never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul, afraid of dying
That never learns to live
When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter
Far beneath the bitter snow
Lies the seed
That with the sun's love, in the spring
Becomes the rose

~~Lyrics and Song Music by Amanda Mc Broom~~

HOLA BLOGGERS! The song above, The Rose, is one of my perennial favorites. I love the song, i love the melody. I love the lyrics. It echoes classic emotional upheavals on love, life, hope and inspiration. Yet, there is one thing about the rose which we can ponder upon whenever we see a rosebud.....

Unfolding The Rose

It is only a tiny rosebud,

A flower of God's design;

But I cannot unfold the petals

With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I.

GOD opens this flower so sweetly,

When in my hands they fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,

This flower of God's design,

Then how can I think I have wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust in Him for His leading

Each moment of every day.

I will look to him for His guidance

Each step of the pilgrim way.

The pathway that lies before me,

Only my Heavenly Father knows.

I'll trust Him to unfold the moments,

Just as He unfolds the rose.

~ © Bryan T. Burgess ~

Hola bloggers! I can still remember once on a flight from London to New York, I was seated next to a nervous passenger. It was his first time to board a plane and he admitted to me that he felt he was keeping our plane airborne by sheer willpower. He couldn't relax for a moment, for fear that gravity would drag us down.

Even though the law of gravity would keep us earthbound, there's a law of aerodynamics that overcomes the pull of gravity. If this passenger had trusted that principle when he boarded the plane, he would have saved himself a lot of needless worry.

In a similar way, many believers, including myself, are trying to reach and maintain spiritual heights by sheer willpower. But by ourselves, we're bound to the downward drag of the law of sin and death. However, in Romans 8:2, Paul wrote about a higher law - the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which sets people free from the law of sin and death.

If we are living by sheer willpower, our Christian life hasn't really, "taken off." But the moment we entrust ourselves fully to Christ, we're freed from the body of death, and we begin rising on the wings of His Spirit. And I m Ophelia sharing with you this thought...

"Our spirit fails us unless God's Spirit fills us."

Have a blessed day Bloggers!

Sincerely,

Ophelia

Life's Clock

The clock of life is wound but once,

And no man has the power

To tell just where the hands will stop —

At late or early hour.
To lose one's wealth is sad indeed,

To lose one's health is more,

To lose one's soul is such a loss

As no man can restore.
The present only is our own,

Live for Christ with a will;

Place no faith in tomorrow,

For the clock may then be still.

~~Robert W. Wesley~~

Hola bloggers! It's the start of the Christmas season (at least here on my page....lol). Let me thank all of you who sent messages...it's always a delight to hear from you and I cherish all your shared thoughts. I am happy to blog in the midst of migraine attack ...migraines are my miseries in life lol. Here's something for all of you....A BALLAST FOR MY SOUL!

A Ballast for My Soul

Life is like a stormy sea

That tosses to and fro,

But God's Word will ever be

A ballast for my soul.

By its truth I'll be held fast

Till I reach heaven's shore

Where I will be home at last

And sail life's sea no more!

—Perry Boardman

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND BLESSED WEEKEND BLOGGERS!!!

SINCERELY,

OPHELIA