Prayables | surprising gratitude

Published: Mon, 04/23/18

Fill what's empty, empty what's full, scratch where it itches.

Monday April 23, 2018

Your Daily Blessing

Your family is like branches on a tree. You grow in different directions, a branch snaps off, a new one grows. May your family be blessed to provide fruit for the hungry, shade for the weary, and a place where the little birdies feel at home.

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Today's Prayer

I start this day with a happy heart. Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, whatever is excellent, whatever is worthy of praise - I will think about
these things. There is no room in my mind for dark thoughts and no space in my heart for unhappy feelings. My relationships will be harmonious. Every condition will improve. Every task will be easier.

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Today's Feature

THE SURPRISING WAY GRATITUDE CONNECTS YOU TO OTHERS

by Diana Butler Bass

Strange thing about gratitude—it always comes with a preposition. We are grateful for something, grateful to someone, and, often, grateful with others. Even in untargeted gratitude and when you are completely alone, prepositions show up. Imagine you need to get away, perhaps to struggle with a decision or a grief. During the winter, a friend loans you her beach house. It is the off-season, and you are alone. One morning, you wake up and walk at the water’s edge. The sun is rising, colors shimmer off the waves, painting them shades of blue, pink, and silver unlike any you have ever seen.

All of a sudden, your heart opens up. You feel grateful for the beautiful sunrise, grateful to your friend, and grateful with the soaring seabirds. There are no other human beings, but you experience gratitude. And, surprisingly enough, you also make community. In that moment, no matter how isolated the shore, gratitude connects you to nature’s rhythms, to a distant friend, and to other creatures. The sun and sea offer their gifts—indiscriminately, as they always do—but you still say “thanks” to them, to your friend, perhaps to God. There, on a deserted beach, gifts are given and received, praise returned, and a new awareness of connection comes alive. When it comes to gratitude, “me” always leads to “we.” “Gratitude takes us outside ourselves,” insists Robert Emmons, “where we see ourselves as part of a larger, intricate network of sustaining relationships, relationships that are mutually reciprocal.”

On November 22, 2015, Pastor Jason Micheli stood in the pulpit at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia, and preached a sermon on gratitude. It was right before Thanksgiving, and it was the church’s stewardship season, a time when congregations are urged to consider gifts and generosity. In the autumn, a gratitude sermon was nothing out of the ordinary.

But this was not an ordinary day. Jason, a forty-something father with young children, was preaching for the first time in nearly a year—since being diagnosed with and treated for a rare and incurable form...READ MORE

Bible Affirmation

Proverbs 15:4 Gentle words are a tree of life, a deceitful tongue crushes the spirit. Top 10 Most Expressive Words: The most bitter word, ALONE The most tragic, DEATH The most reverent, MOTHER The most beautiful, LOVE The most
cruel, REVENGE The most peaceful, TRANQUIL The saddest, FORGOTTEN The warmest, FRIENDSHIP The coldest, NO The most comforting, FAITH

I will choose my words carefully for the betterment of the human spirit and with reverence for the Holy Spirit.

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Prayer Listing

RESTORATION

I asking for prayer that my relationship of 10 years is restored ... we were engaged to be married .... we have 3 kids ... but she called it off... and started to go down a bad path... I’m asking that god renews her mind... and brings us back together..I need a supernatural miracle... I want us to be back together and love and honor each other and god... please pray for me I need a miracle ... please...

-Anonymous