Dear readers,
In morning prayer this morning we got a wonderful reading. I don't know exactly where it was from but it went something like this "the spirit who raised Jesus from the dead will bring your mortal bodies to life." And I started to think. You cannot bring something that is alive to life, in order for something to be brought to life it must be dead. And if we need to be brought to life that means we are dead. But, if we have his spirit we can be brought to life, of course eternal life but also to be able to be alive on Earth. If you could be dead or alive which would it be? I highly doubt any of us would choose to be dead. We must live! If God has given us time on Earth let us use it instead of being put to waste. And if our spirit is alive than it doesn't matter if our bodies die because they will continue living. We must live our lives awake and alive and not the opposite because that is what we are made to do. Our souls are made to be as flexible and active and cared for as our bodies and even more! My sister made a wonderful point. Every morning we wake up and worry about what to wear, and sometimes we worry about what we will wear tomorrow or in a week or sometimes even more. But when our loved ones die we don't go to their grave every day and change their clothes! We don't say "I wonder what I will dress my husband in tomorrow." And yet our bodies are as good as dead and we don't worry about our spiritual welfare. Our souls may be suffocating inside of us and yet we worry whether green or yellow looks best with our skin tone or what we will eat or where we will sleep. I am praying for all of you! Thank you so much for reading.
Peace and Love in Christ Jesus,
Alyse
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Rainbows and wonder
Dear readers,
On my caming trip I was surounded with breathtaking beauty. I was totally blown away once more by God's love for us, so much and to the great extent that he created natuer not only to give us life, but to let it create moments that forever encrypt themselves into our memories and rock our worlds! One night I decided to go out to the end of our peninsula and sit on a wonderful rock overlooking the lake. I opened my Bible and read until the light was no longer bright enough to lend itself to that purpose. So I closed my Bible and decided to sit and be with God. After about 2 minutes one of th emost beautiful things I have ever seen happened. The lake turned rainbow, flooding out of the black tree line and creating layers of red, orange, green, blue, and violet. The water was painted in the most radiant beautiful colors that God created. Then, over the tree line, the sky was rainbow as well. The red touching the tree line and the other colors progressing up into the open sky and turning black where one single star glittered brilliantly in the sky. I was going to run for a camera but didn' because I might have missed this glorious scene and because I knew that a picture wouldn't do this justice! So I sat, the sky was held in this beautiful state for about 2 minutes then slowly drifted into a star filled night. I know with utmost certainty that I will remember this for as long as I live. And as I sat there I wondered how any one could look upon this and simply think "Oh what a lovely phenomenon of nature." And not feel deep in their heart the truth that God had painted that scene from the beging of time. As I sat on that rock and stared breathlessly at that lake I knew that, that was one of the most precious memories of my life. I walked away feeling as if I was floating and just writing about it again makes my heart swell.
Our heavenly father loves us! He doesn't love us with leftover love or his surplus, he loves us with his whole heart. And he is dying to show it to us. He is reaching out in every way possible to get that message through! Have a super blessed day!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
On my caming trip I was surounded with breathtaking beauty. I was totally blown away once more by God's love for us, so much and to the great extent that he created natuer not only to give us life, but to let it create moments that forever encrypt themselves into our memories and rock our worlds! One night I decided to go out to the end of our peninsula and sit on a wonderful rock overlooking the lake. I opened my Bible and read until the light was no longer bright enough to lend itself to that purpose. So I closed my Bible and decided to sit and be with God. After about 2 minutes one of th emost beautiful things I have ever seen happened. The lake turned rainbow, flooding out of the black tree line and creating layers of red, orange, green, blue, and violet. The water was painted in the most radiant beautiful colors that God created. Then, over the tree line, the sky was rainbow as well. The red touching the tree line and the other colors progressing up into the open sky and turning black where one single star glittered brilliantly in the sky. I was going to run for a camera but didn' because I might have missed this glorious scene and because I knew that a picture wouldn't do this justice! So I sat, the sky was held in this beautiful state for about 2 minutes then slowly drifted into a star filled night. I know with utmost certainty that I will remember this for as long as I live. And as I sat there I wondered how any one could look upon this and simply think "Oh what a lovely phenomenon of nature." And not feel deep in their heart the truth that God had painted that scene from the beging of time. As I sat on that rock and stared breathlessly at that lake I knew that, that was one of the most precious memories of my life. I walked away feeling as if I was floating and just writing about it again makes my heart swell.
Our heavenly father loves us! He doesn't love us with leftover love or his surplus, he loves us with his whole heart. And he is dying to show it to us. He is reaching out in every way possible to get that message through! Have a super blessed day!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Camping
Dear readers,
I had such an unbeleivably blessed time camping! I can truly say that is was a totally blessed time! I can say this in spite of catching popcorn on fire and almost burning our campsite, sleeping in the freezing cold, swiming in an icy yellowish lake and smelling of smoke the whole time. While I was there I felt an overwhelming sense of peace and love. I came to understand just a little bit better why God loves nature so much! I felt like our time was divinely arranged and was enjoyed to the absolute fullest. There are so many things I could write about, I could tell stories that fill pages or I could just try to capture a little bit of what I felt and fill novels. But since a picture is worth a thousand words I will share some of them with you! I do plan to post on my experience but I will have ot do that later! Have a super blessed day! God bless!
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
Thursday, April 8, 2010
You are all I want
Dear readers,
yesterday at mission formation we sang the song the goes "you are all I want, you are all I ever need..." and something jumped out at me for the first time ever. I have known that song for so many years and yet the line "you are all I want" never meant anything to me. As I was singing the song I was overwhelmed with the sense of truth, the truth that I was singing. And I realized, God is all I want. God has given us free will and hearts that can want and desire things. And the fact that God is all we want is true. In life, as humans our desire is for happiness, love, confidence, security and freedom. Now, with all of those things that we want and search for in so many different, and often times false, ways the thing we long for the most is ultimately God. We add superfluous fluff around the edges and lie to ourselves saying that God isn't complete satisfaction, that maybe if I get that shirt or that house or that car I will be satisfied. And yet we can receive all of these things and thousands more and be totally and utterly miserable. God is all we want, God is all we need! And guess what, he has given it to us! Love, freedom, satisfaction happiness and confidence is ours. Only maybe we have pushed the gift aside and let it gather dust. If you send a person a gift and they let is sit in their mailbox the gift is theirs it is just unused and undiscovered. Why don't you reach out for It? Reach out, receive and be satisfied.
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
Oh I am sorry if I can't post for a couple of days I am going camping with my family!
yesterday at mission formation we sang the song the goes "you are all I want, you are all I ever need..." and something jumped out at me for the first time ever. I have known that song for so many years and yet the line "you are all I want" never meant anything to me. As I was singing the song I was overwhelmed with the sense of truth, the truth that I was singing. And I realized, God is all I want. God has given us free will and hearts that can want and desire things. And the fact that God is all we want is true. In life, as humans our desire is for happiness, love, confidence, security and freedom. Now, with all of those things that we want and search for in so many different, and often times false, ways the thing we long for the most is ultimately God. We add superfluous fluff around the edges and lie to ourselves saying that God isn't complete satisfaction, that maybe if I get that shirt or that house or that car I will be satisfied. And yet we can receive all of these things and thousands more and be totally and utterly miserable. God is all we want, God is all we need! And guess what, he has given it to us! Love, freedom, satisfaction happiness and confidence is ours. Only maybe we have pushed the gift aside and let it gather dust. If you send a person a gift and they let is sit in their mailbox the gift is theirs it is just unused and undiscovered. Why don't you reach out for It? Reach out, receive and be satisfied.
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
Oh I am sorry if I can't post for a couple of days I am going camping with my family!
Monday, April 5, 2010
Easter
Dear readers,
Yesterday was a truly blessed Easter! I love Easter, it is so blessed and wonderful. But something particularly struck out to me yesterday. As I heard the reading of the Resurrection for the second time I realized something I had known before but not always acknowledged. OK, so everyone is born. And of course we celebrate Jesus's birth on Christmas. But look at how few people rose from the dead. very few. And yet Jesus even one upped them because not only did he rise from the dead then he ascended into heaven! It is so beautiful. What a story huh? Easter Sunday isn't about stuffing yourself with pound of chocolate or wearing nice spring colored clothing it is about true joy! It is about the conquer of death, let me repeat that, the conquer of death! Because our God wasn't just hung on a cross to save us he descended into hell and then he rose from the dead! Our God is an awesome God! And Easter is a perfect time to come into perfect happiness and bliss with that knowledge! Praise God for his wondrous deeds alleluia!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Yesterday was a truly blessed Easter! I love Easter, it is so blessed and wonderful. But something particularly struck out to me yesterday. As I heard the reading of the Resurrection for the second time I realized something I had known before but not always acknowledged. OK, so everyone is born. And of course we celebrate Jesus's birth on Christmas. But look at how few people rose from the dead. very few. And yet Jesus even one upped them because not only did he rise from the dead then he ascended into heaven! It is so beautiful. What a story huh? Easter Sunday isn't about stuffing yourself with pound of chocolate or wearing nice spring colored clothing it is about true joy! It is about the conquer of death, let me repeat that, the conquer of death! Because our God wasn't just hung on a cross to save us he descended into hell and then he rose from the dead! Our God is an awesome God! And Easter is a perfect time to come into perfect happiness and bliss with that knowledge! Praise God for his wondrous deeds alleluia!
Peace and love in Christ,
Alyse
Friday, April 2, 2010
Good Friday
Dear readers,
Today is good Friday. It always has struck me as strange as to why the saddest day of the year is called "good". Why no mournful or sorrowful? And then I thought, can't sad things be good as well? Are we in a world where sad=bad or good=happy? It seems so a lot of the time. But it is far from true. Going off into missions, leaving your family and friends is sad but it is also good! And the most generous, good, loving thing happened today about 2010 years ago. Christ died for us on a cross. Humiliated, beaten, bloody and torn to save us and allow us to dwell eternally with him! What is more good than that?
My family and I went to the living way of the cross. And even seeing a college aged student wearing clothes covered with red marker lines and a wooden crown made my heart wring. I am not one for anything cheesy, but yet that was not possibly an adjective that you could place on this. Rather, because I new it was real and it is my love story, everyone's love story, it broke my heart. Thinking about approaching Christ, Jesus, The messiah with whips and nails is beyond something my heart can take. Why have I ever sinned? Why have I let temptation nail my Lord to the cross? Why even though I am painfully aware will I fall into it again? And why, even though he by no means deserved it, did Jesus allow himself to get killed for me?
So many questions I can't truly answer, except the last one. And the answer is Love. Raw, overflowing, pressed down, unmeasurable love, of the purest kind. And in this case a big wooden cross is it's symbol.
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
Today is good Friday. It always has struck me as strange as to why the saddest day of the year is called "good". Why no mournful or sorrowful? And then I thought, can't sad things be good as well? Are we in a world where sad=bad or good=happy? It seems so a lot of the time. But it is far from true. Going off into missions, leaving your family and friends is sad but it is also good! And the most generous, good, loving thing happened today about 2010 years ago. Christ died for us on a cross. Humiliated, beaten, bloody and torn to save us and allow us to dwell eternally with him! What is more good than that?
My family and I went to the living way of the cross. And even seeing a college aged student wearing clothes covered with red marker lines and a wooden crown made my heart wring. I am not one for anything cheesy, but yet that was not possibly an adjective that you could place on this. Rather, because I new it was real and it is my love story, everyone's love story, it broke my heart. Thinking about approaching Christ, Jesus, The messiah with whips and nails is beyond something my heart can take. Why have I ever sinned? Why have I let temptation nail my Lord to the cross? Why even though I am painfully aware will I fall into it again? And why, even though he by no means deserved it, did Jesus allow himself to get killed for me?
So many questions I can't truly answer, except the last one. And the answer is Love. Raw, overflowing, pressed down, unmeasurable love, of the purest kind. And in this case a big wooden cross is it's symbol.
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Die with christ
Dear readers,
Today in Morning prayer a particular antiphon struchk out at me. It reads "If we have died with Christ, we beleive that we shall also live with Christ." -It does'nt have the citation-. That line really got me thinking. Every year, on good Friday especially, I meditate on Jesus's death. But I by no means die with him. Does this reading mean that we should all go out on good Friday and crucify ourselves? No.
But it does mean that we should try to die with christ. And if not in flesh but in heart and mind. If we really put ourselves, not at the foot of the cross, but on the cross with our Christ, then we are able to die with him. The grace of the cross surpasses time, that is why Jesus will never have to come save us again. He didn't just save those who were alive when he died but the power of the cross still applies to us today. And if we can contemplate his death and feel pained by it, knowing that he bore our sins as well, we can die with him as well. The morning prayer antiphons and readings are lenten ones, so it is no coincidence that it applies right now. So what will we do about it? God bless,
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
Today in Morning prayer a particular antiphon struchk out at me. It reads "If we have died with Christ, we beleive that we shall also live with Christ." -It does'nt have the citation-. That line really got me thinking. Every year, on good Friday especially, I meditate on Jesus's death. But I by no means die with him. Does this reading mean that we should all go out on good Friday and crucify ourselves? No.
But it does mean that we should try to die with christ. And if not in flesh but in heart and mind. If we really put ourselves, not at the foot of the cross, but on the cross with our Christ, then we are able to die with him. The grace of the cross surpasses time, that is why Jesus will never have to come save us again. He didn't just save those who were alive when he died but the power of the cross still applies to us today. And if we can contemplate his death and feel pained by it, knowing that he bore our sins as well, we can die with him as well. The morning prayer antiphons and readings are lenten ones, so it is no coincidence that it applies right now. So what will we do about it? God bless,
Peace and Love in Christ,
Alyse
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