Today’s a new day! Sometimes I think I should stay silent and just keep the peace. But then I think if I choose to stay silent, will I cease to do good. I believe if we adhere to respectful silence, we provide space to those who are pushing forward false and harmful ideas. We create greater opportunity for the voices of error and harm to be heard and believed. God has gifted some of us with prophetic voices, ones that can issue a clarion call to the things that are true and good and pure and right and beautiful. We need to pray for those with this gift and encourage them to be brave and bold, yet marked by grace, love, humility, and kindness as they seek God for how to steward this gift. For others, we can each be loving truth tellers in the relationships and situations in which we have a platform. That may be within our families or our friend groups, within our schools, churches or our work places, and even on social media. No doubt, we will sometimes be met with criticism or rejection, even if we speak prayerfully and intending to speak peaceably. Jesus, who is the ultimate truth (John 14:6), likewise experienced rejection (Isaiah 53:3, 1 Peter 2:4). But if our goal is the well-being of others, then we will lovingly speak truth to them and risk offending them, for true life and blessing only come by way of truth. Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” In keeping silent, we say nothing. And in our silence, perhaps we have ceased doing good. You and I have a voice. We have a platform, be it large or small. May God give us wisdom to know how to use our voices to bring honor to him and to bring good to others with wisdom, love, and kindness. ~OC
Rise Above It All
Today’s a new day! Tragedy is written into every human story. Not a single one of us will escape it. We will all experience hardships that will test us on this journey called life. People will shock you with their capacity for cruelty. But be sure of this: speaking truth will be most challenging when life is the most difficult. Courage is necessary to remain a faithful witness despite the hardships of life. Cynicism will always be ready to creep into our hearts. But through it all, I encourage you to rise above it. ~OC
A Friday Prayer
Dear God, today’s a new day, a chance for a new start. Yesterday is gone and with it any regrets, mistakes, or failures we may have experienced. Today’s a good day to be glad and give thanks, and we do, Lord. Thank you for today, a new opportunity to love, serve and be all that you desire us to be. Use us today to be peacemakers. We pray all this in the powerful name of Jesus. ~Amen
Not Your Enemy
Today’s a new day! You may consider me your enemy. But I am not your enemy. I do not hate you. I do not wish you harm. I do not foster harmful designs against you.
At the same time, we may not be able to be friends. If you deny people the right to have their own opinions, to freely share their opinions, attack them when they do, you may not be a safe person for my friends, family or myself to be around and we may not be able to be friends. If you want to deny people the right to freely worship in their own way, you may not be a safe person for my friends, family or myself to be around. We may not be able to be friends. If you want to share hate and spread lies, we may not be able to be friends. I could go on, but hopefully you get the point. These statements do not mean that I wish harm to you. And this doesn’t necessarily mean we can never talk over a meal. If you are willing to engage in good faith, we can try and we will see how things go. We may be able to be acquaintances and perhaps even friendly, but it will take a lot of time and effort before it’s possible for us to be friends.
Even though we may not be able to be friends, I am not your enemy. And so know that If you are hungry or in need, I will do my best to help you find food and have your needs met. I will work for a society where you have access to affordable health care, and a job that pays a living wage. I want you to have access to a good education, and to clean water and air. I want you to have freedom of religion and speech. I want you to read the books you want to read. I do not want you unjustly detained or imprisoned. I do not want you to be harassed when you walk down the street or go into a store. I want you to be able to flourish. I do not wish you harm. I am not your enemy.
If you can manage to not do harm to the people I love and care about; if you can work for these same things for the people I care about, we can begin a relationship. We do not need to agree on exactly how we solve our society’s problems, but we need to be able to speak with respect and kindness. Because I am not your enemy. ~OC
A Thursday Prayer
Good Morning! A Thursday prayer for my friends:
Dear God, I lift up my friends to you. I pray you would give their hearts rest in the things that are weighing heavy on their lives this morning. I pray you would open their eyes to see how amazing they are and how much they mean to the people that love them.
I pray you would bless their families, their homes, that their households would flourish and that they would have more than enough to meet all of their needs.
I pray you would bless them in their pursuit of their hopes and dreams and that you would open doors that they need opened to get there.
I pray you would bless their relationships: their friendships, their marriages, their connections with their kids and their family members.
I pray you would cover my friends with your presence and your peace, that you would draw them close to you and that they would feel your love.
I am so thankful for each of them oh Lord. Thank you for bringing them into my life. My heart is full. ~Amen
I Can…
Good Morning! Here is another “Lost Writings of OC.” I originally wrote this in 2018. Have a wonderful day.
Today’s a new day! There are a lot of things I cannot control in this world, but there is plenty I can do…
I can choose to pray for people.
I can choose to help feed and shelter the homeless.
I can choose how I treat people.
I can choose to be a mentor.
I can choose to show kindness to everyone I come in contact with.
I can choose to show respect to everyone around me.
I can choose not to judge people.
I can choose not to hate.
I can choose to Love.
There is plenty we can choose to do to help make this a better world. ~OC
Do Not Limit God
Good Morning! I hope you take the time to read and reflect on these words today. I wrote this back in 2010. It does not appear I ever posted it. “Lost Writings from OC.”
Today’s a new day! Welcome to a new week. I pray that everyone had a wonderful and memorable weekend. My challenge for you this week is to Not Limit God!
I must admit there have been times in my spiritual journey that I have limited God. Yes, me. I did not always do this intentionally, but subconsciously I would begin stuffing God into a little box. I was putting limits on Him and not even realizing that I was doing so.
I would go to God with a prayer request and step out on faith that He would see it through. Now when things in the natural didn’t work out according to my plan, I would assume they were not going to work out and move on. But how many people actually realize that God is more than capable of doing exceedingly and wonderful things in every area of our lives? He can do more than we could ever imagine, hope for or ask for… in God’s timing. Not our timing. Did you catch that?
Another way we limit God is by thinking that in order for a blessing to manifest that He has to operate the way we think things should be done. We sometimes forget that our thinking is limited, but God’s is not. We forget how powerful He really is. The scripture says, He is ALMIGHTY GOD. There are no limits on what God can and will do in our lives.
How many of us are guilty of limiting God? Well do not beat yourself up, God is not finished with you yet. We need to remind ourselves daily of who God is. When we spend time studying God’s word, we can be confident that God is able to do all things. But we must acknowledge that we do not have everything under control, but that God is always in control. We must stop limiting God to what we can see in the natural and trust that He can move mountains in the supernatural. Today, let’s live out our faith and know that God is able to blow our minds.
As you face challenges this week, I encourage you to not limit God. I know the medical scan shows one thing, but I double dog dare you to not limit God. I know it looks like your money is gone before the month has ended, but I triple dog dare you to stop limiting God. When we take God out of that box we stuffed Him in, He will expand our faith and take us to new and beautiful heights.
So this week, stop limiting God and watch Him do new and exciting things in your life. Have a great week! ~OC
Seasons of Life
Today’s a new day! The seasons of life bring change.
They bring good. They also bring new challenges. But as each season before always prepares for the next…. So does the seasons of life. Storms and droughts will come. But so does Spring and sunshine and rain clouds.
It’s often darkest before the dawn. And although we won’t forget the dark and hard times… they are what get us ready for the next season.
The night gets ready for day.
And day gets ready for night.
Such is life.
Each season has a storm of its own kind. But it also has it’s beauty. Don’t miss either!
Such is Life. ~OC
A Greeting
Happy Sunday! A morning prayer as we welcome this new day. ~OC
Dear God, we greet this morning with a sense of awe and gratitude. Whether we woke up refreshed or with a little extra sleep in our eyes, we give You thanks for this new day. Dear Lord, we know you can refresh every part of our lives. You can revive us. You can give us new hope and sense of purpose. So on this new day, we give you thanks for new breath. We breathe in the fresh moments of this day. Dear God, we thank you for new opportunities. For new beginnings. Use us today to bring peace and love to our small part of the world. Dear God, thanks again for this new day. ~Amen
A Saturday Prayer
Happy Saturday Morning! Let us pray before we start another day. ~OC
Dear God, thank you for another day. Another day filled with challenges and beautiful opportunities. Refresh us this morning. Allow us to live in your presence. Allow us to welcome and encourage every person we encounter today. Allow us to be present in every situation today. Dear God, teach us when to speak and when to listen. When to ponder and when to share. In moments of challenge allow us to lean into the whisperings of your heart. Dear Lord, feel us with the simple gift of your peace today. Allow us to celebrate your joy this day. When our day goes well, may we rejoice. When life grows difficult, surprise us with new possibilities. When life is overwhelming, call us to rest. Dear God, restore your Peace and Harmony in each of our hearts. May our lives reveal your goodness. Dear God, we pray all of this in your precious name. Amen
