It’s Beginning to Look a Lot…

Dear Lord; First off Father, I want to follow up on our conversation yesterday.  Last evening, I went to the local mall to pick up a couple of odds-and-ends.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a significantly better perspective from the shoppers and vendors.  I got smiles, Lord… Lots of them.  And when I wished people there a Merry and Blessed Christmas, I got happy faces and well-wishes in return.  Thank You for allowing me to witness those signs of Your Joy.  It helped my spirits immensely.

Today Lord, my heart is already yearning towards the next couple of days.  Work still holds many stresses for me, money is still extremely short and Shannon and I are still recovering from the bug that hit us last weekend, but the Light of the Blessed Event to come is overwhelming all of that.  I’m very much looking forward to spending quite a bit of “quality time” with You over the next couple of days, and helping spread the Love and Hope the Birth of Your Son brought to us all.  Please help me be an effective emissary of Your Word, and to bring Christ’s Message to as many others as possible.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

Amen.  ~Phather Phil

My Kingdom for a Smile

Dear Lord; Good morning Father!  Today Lord, I’d like to talk about an experience I had last night which made quite an impact on me… I went to the Super Wal*Mart.

I only needed a few items; Some food for dinner, and I wanted to pick up a couple Christmas gifts for the kids so I thought it would be a quick and easy trip.  It was around 4:20pm, so I expected to avoid the truly heavy “after-work” traffic and in fact the parking lot was busy, but not as packed as I’ve seen before.  I grabbed a cart, went inside, looked around at the hustle and bustle and almost immediately it hit me… No one was smiling.

Not the customers, not the cashiers, not the stock people, no one in eyesight had a smile on their faces.  I’m not sure why it hit me so quickly, or affected me so significantly but the whole building suddenly seemed very cold and uninviting.  Now, it wasn’t Wal*Mart itself.  It’s certainly not my favorite place to shop, but I absolutely have nothing against it either.  This was just an overall feeling being given off that pervaded the entire premises.  And as I spent the next 45 minutes gathering what I came for, it only became more apparent to me that the people here simply were not happy.  Even attempts to garner some positive responses from others in the store failed.  I made eye contact, smiled and nodded to countless patrons, and yet all but one ignored my actions completely.  In the end, I paid for my items and left the store feeling almost distraught at the overwhelming level of despair I had just witnessed.  It hung with me for some of the evening, until I got some quiet time to contemplate and pray for guidance.  That helped calm my spirit, but the experience still lingers in my mind.

So Father, this morning my heart is crying out to You for help.  You’ve done so much for us, and yet there are so many who just can’t see past their earthly worries enough to bear witness to Your Glorious Works.  Please fill these lost souls with Your Endless Love; Make it grow and spread so that Your Light shines like a beacon for all around to behold.  Help me be an emissary for Your Word, and spread the Love of Christ and the Miracle of His Birth on to all those I possibly can.  Amen.  ~Phather Phil

There’s a New Kid in Town

Dear Lord; Well Father, I want to start today by thanking You for Your Healing Light; Shannon and I are both feeling much better today.  And more importantly Lord, I got Your point from our illness.  Through all the stresses, difficulties and worries in our lives we are absolutely Loved and Blessed.  What an amazing feeling!  We had such an exceptional outpouring of love and concern that both of us could feel Your Presence in abundance, and we’re very grateful.

Today however, I’ll admit to be feeling a little overwhelmed with my earthly realities.  Between the demands at work and Christmas being only four short days away, Shannon and I are struggling to not allow our time and money constraints to overshadow the amazing Blessing this Season of Celebration brings to us all.  As You know, one of the things I use to keep my spirit focused on what’s truly important Lord, is music.  Today, You kept bringing one specific Artist to my mind; Kathy Mattea.  Her “Good News” Christmas Album has long been one of my favorites, and today this song just spoke to me :

Thank You Father, for all the Miracles You bring us each day.  Help us all lay our worries and burdens at Your Feet and go forward in Love to Celebrate the coming of Your Son, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  ~Phather Phil

Angels Among Us

Dear Lord; First off Father, if I seem to ramble a little this morning, please forgive me.  This nasty bug that Shannon and I came down with Sunday morning has hit us so hard and so fast that I’m a bit disjointed at the moment.  However Lord, although all my body wants right now is to go back to sleep my heart cried out to speak with You about something wonderful that happened to us yesterday.

This was to be a busy weekend for us.  Friday night, we had Jonathan’s 11^th birthday party at the house and a number of his friends stayed overnight with us.  It was a bit on the crazy side with that many pre-teen boys running through the house, but everyone had a good time and we survived the onslaught.  Saturday afternoon, our boys then went to stay overnight with Aidan’s Godparents as Shannon and I had an “Adults Only” Christmas Party to attend, and it was to go quite late.  The party was lots of fun, and we got home somewhere around 2:30am Sunday morning.  Around 4:00am, both of us woke to fevers, chills, severe body aches and coughing.  This lasted throughout the rest of the night, and well into the morning.

As I mentioned, this was intended to be a busy and productive weekend for us, including Sunday.  With the hectic schedules we both have we were behind on all the typical household chores (laundry, dishes, groceries, etc.) as well as helping Jonathan with a school project due Monday and preparing a huge amount of homemade foods for Christmas gift baskets.  Sunday was set aside to be the day to get all that accomplished, and with us both in horrible shape, it was looking very unlikely most of those things would get done.  Being this was the last weekend before Christmas, this was a devastating blow to Shannon and I.

And then You intervened.

We have some friends that we’ve become quite close with over the last couple of months.  They’re good people, but have been dealing with one nightmare after another for some time now.  Their plate is more than full Lord, it’s overflowing.  And yet, when they found out that Shannon and I were down for the count, the next thing we knew the wife of the couple was at our door.

We helped as much as we could Father, but she ran the show.  She took Shannon to the grocery store, helped do the necessary cooking, did a number of loads of laundry, and even found time to help Jonathan with his project; All the while insisting that we rest and try to recuperate.  She was in every way Heaven Sent Lord, and I can’t tell You how much it meant to both of us.

Therefore Father, my prayers today are very focused.  Please bestow Your Love and Blessings on this wonderful lady and her family.  Continue to fill her heart with the Love of Christ, and give her Peace knowing that she is indeed Loved and Appreciated in so many ways.  Amen.  ~Phather Phil

How to Bowl a Perfect Game

Dear Lord; You know Father, it’s fascinating to me where I find inspiration from You these days.  Last night for example, it was in a bowling alley.

As You’re aware, I bowl on a league on Thursday nights.  I’m not particularly good, but I’ve been improving a little at a time throughout the year and no matter what, I enjoy doing it.  Anyways, over the last few weeks I’ve been struggling to find consistency with putting the ball in the “sweet spot” of the pocket to get the stacked strikes I need to improve my score.  It’s been a bit frustrating, but last night I realized that maybe I’d been dissecting it too much, and possibly was missing the forest for the trees.  One of my teammates who’s a much better bowler than I am had said something to that effect the previous week, and for some reason I overlooked it until last night.  He told me I was fighting the ball too much, and that if I just find the correct path and relax, the ball would do the rest.  Now of course, the correct path is different for every ball, lane setup and bowler but the idea is that once you find and follow the proper path, down those pins go.

Then it clicked… That’s also how we find You.

Ok, so maybe comparing a strike in bowling to living in Your Love is a bit of a stretch, but I think the analogy is valid.  We all have different paths to a close relationship with You.  Like adjusting for variances in lane setup and ball characteristics, we all have to find our own connection with Your Grace and follow it diligently, adjusting for changes and learning from our missteps.  By examining our form and practicing we improve our throw, just like reading Your Word and conducting our lives by Your Will improves our ability to be Your Servants.  And as my teammate so aptly stated, once we have the path figured out, as long as we don’t fight the ball’s nature, it will do the rest.

I desperately want that close relationship with You Father, and I’m working every day on finding and following the right path to Your Countenance.  Please help guide us all to that Holy Strike Zone, and help us find the Light in Your Perfect Game.  Amen.  ~Phather Phil

Counting Your Blessings

Dear Lord; Last night, my family settled in to watch our favorite Christmas Movie…White Christmas.  What a wonderful film that is!  No matter how many times I watch it, I still end up with a huge smile on my face and find myself singing the songs for days afterwards.  In the movie, my favorite song by far is “Count Your Blessings” sung by Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney.

Listening to that wonderful music last night, it dawned on me that there’s a great deal of wisdom in those lyrics.  As I discussed in yesterday’s correspondence Father, there seems to be a lot of Your Children who are feeling very overburdened and lost at the moment.  If along with laying those fears and doubts at the Foot of the Cross, we spend our time rejoicing and giving thanks for the Blessings You’ve bestowed on us, we’d all be closer in our walk with You.  Thank You Lord, for all the Blessings both obvious and unseen that surround us all.

“So if you’re worried and you can’t sleep
Just count your blessings instead of sheep
And you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings.”

Amen.  ~Phather Phil