Happy Valentine's Day! You belong to somebody

♬    I AM HIS AND HE IS MINE
         by. Jackson Taylor


Loved with everlasting love, led by grace that love to know;
Gracious Spirit from above, Thou hast taught me it is so!
O this full and perfect peace! O this transport all divine!
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.
In a love which cannot cease, I am His, and He is mine.

Heav’n above is softer blue, Earth around is sweeter green!
Something lives in every hue Christless eyes have never seen;
Birds with gladder songs o’erflow, flowers with deeper beauties shine,
Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.
Since I know, as now I know, I am His, and He is mine.

Things that once were wild alarms cannot now disturb my rest;
Closed in everlasting arms, pillowed on the loving breast.
O to lie forever here, doubt and care and self resign,
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.
While He whispers in my ear, I am His, and He is mine.

His forever, only His; Who the Lord and me shall part?
Ah, with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart!
Heav’n and earth may fade and flee, firstborn light in gloom decline;
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.
But while God and I shall be, I am His, and He is mine.

I Commit My Love To You

A song that tells it like it is about what friendship
and love should be about

Stand from A Friendly Human Being on Vimeo.

With the hard winter we're having and the stress over the coming election, we need to hold onto our faith.

Lent is coming

OK. Apparently the season of Lent is coming up. Does everyone know what the season of Lent is, or otherwise called "the Lenten season"? Well, I'm sure there are numerous people who may not know, because quite honestly I grew up Jewish, and for many many years, I didn't have the vaguest idea what Lent was.

Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, and I believe ends on Good Friday, or else Easter Sunday. I really do not know much about it even now, but I only know that some Christian denominations, and definitely the Catholic Church, see the weeks of Lent as a time to humble ourselves. A time to be aware of how weak we are, and how very easily the pressures of the world influence us to do things that are not in line with our view of ourselves as servants of God. And therefore, the Church calls upon us to give up something specific, to serve to remind us of our sorrow for our lack of ability to be faithful to Jesus.

I liked these words of Pope Francis about Lent so much that I copied them, and I will now paste them here:

Our beloved Pope Francis offers the following wisdom on the penitential season of Lent:
“As a way of overcoming indifference and our pretensions to self-sufficiency, I would invite everyone to live this Lent as an opportunity for engaging in what Benedict XVI called a formation of the heart (cf. Deus Caritas Est, 31). A merciful heart does not mean a weak heart. Anyone who wishes to be merciful must have a strong and steadfast heart, closed to the tempter but open to God. A heart which lets itself be pierced by the Spirit so as to bring love along the roads that lead to our brothers and sisters. And, ultimately, a poor heart, one which realizes its own poverty and gives itself freely for others”.

I am sharing this with you just to maybe open your eyes to some thoughts on religion and spirituality that people have established over the years. I took a little quiz they offered to help someone figure out what to give up, and I was told to serve the poor. So, many years ago, before I was here in this nursing home, I taught literacy, and that would be something I would have really liked to do. As things stand now, I would like to give some more deep thought to how I could best deepen my service to God for Lent. A good one for me might have to do with waiting a little longer before I put my buzzer on, or holding my tongue when I feel indignant.

Here is the link to the quiz to help people think about what they should give up, in case you're interested.

♬.  Amy Grant: O Sacred Head

My Life Is In Your Hands

Staying connected: The testimony unfolds

I have been in church circles before. I've been a part of various prison ministries, street evangelism, and basically what I'm referring to is groups that go out and share about the offer of Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. And going out to talk to different kinds of people about Christ, there was always a strategy we prepared: what verses in the Bible to talk about, what to tell people about ourselves and how we had changed after believing... stuff like that.

But what I notice happening over a span of time is something very much more powerful. As I live my life before my friends and people who have known me over time, they have seen me repeatedly die, and then come to Life. And those who have observed me die, and resurrect, have learned what is really important to me, and what God has validated. As those of you who have been reading my blog over a course of time have seen me make my mistakes, you have also seen when, how and why Jesus Christ has sustained me.

We have stayed connected. Recently, I even got a phone call from my boyfriend of 14 years, Andre. It was not the best choice he could have made, but he had to move from the facility we lived in together. And it seemed that for a while he and I were thinking "good riddance". But as we spent time away from each other, we realized how necessary we had become to one another. It was the span of time that we had become familiar with one another that became important. The comfort level we had achieved together. And we saw that Christ's life within our relationship was refusing to die.

So we watch one another live, die, and live again. We see each other mess up, and we see what the Lord resurrects, and what He allows to get left behind. As we stay connected, we see how very important love is. We recognize the caring which is the balm that fits each one of us for the Resurrection.

♬      Dallas Holm: Rise Again

Say Once More, a song of appreciation by Amy Grant

♬      SAY ONCE MORE
          by Amy Grant

(Ohhh....)

Let me say once more that I love you,
Let me say one time, maybe two,
That I love the way that you love me,
And I wish I knew more of you.

Let me say once more that I love you,
Let me say one time, maybe two,
That I love the way that you love me,
And I wish I knew more of you.

Tell me that time can't erase
This look of love on your face.

Let me say once more that I need you,
One more time or just maybe two.
Oh, my life will always be richer
For the time I've spent here with you.

Let me say once more that I love you,
Let me say one time, maybe two,
That I love the way that you love me,
And I wish I knew more of you.

Tell me that time won't erase
The way that my heart sees your face.

I call your name,
You look my way,
It's clear you trust each word I say.
When life is long and problems come,
You'll always be my only one.
So now we're standing face to face,
And with one look your eyes embrace me.
Squeeze away each haunting fear,
And say the words I long to hear.

Tell me that time won't erase
This look of love.

Ohhhh....

Let me say once more.
I love you.
I do, I do, I do, I do, I do.

Let me say once more that I love you,
Let me say one time, maybe two,
That I love the way that you love me,
And I wish I knew more of you.

Let me say once more that I love you,
One more time or just maybe two,
That I love the way that you love me,
And I want to know more of you.