The Riches of His Grace

/

In my blog meanderings I came across this wonderful, thought provoking quote about the Holy Spirit at the blog "Of First Importance". So often I fall into this same trap...forgetting about the intense love Jesus feels for me and focusing only on my short-comings and how I have disappointed Him. I want to focus on the "riches of His grace", and pass on this same grace to everyone I come in contact with. I long to have that "childlike confidence in Him"...trusting in Him fully for all of my needs. Thanks to Samantha at She Dabbles for the link!

“Perhaps much of our slow progress in the walk of faith is to be traced to our overlooking the love of the Spirit.

We do not deal with Him, for strength and advancement, as one who really loves us, and longs to bless us, and delights to help our infirmities (Rom 8:26). We regard Him as cold, or distant, or austere; we do not trust Him for His grace, nor realize how much He is in earnest in His dealings with us.

More childlike confidence in Him and in His love would help us on mightily. Let us not grieve Him, nor vex Him, nor quench Him by our untrustfulness, by disbelieving or doubting the riches of His grace, the abundance of His loving-kindness.”

—Horatius Bonar, “The Holy Spirit”

What Counts?

/

When we were in San Francisco, I picked up the May 2008 edition of Common Ground magazine and found this interesting list of stats compiled by Jenny Rough. I found them really interesting and in some cases quite crazy (like the 2nd one!). They will make you think.

1.4 million Americans who suffer from hoarding or clutter.

80 Percentage of things Americans own that they never use.

300 Million Number of shoes thrown into landfills in the U.S. each year (donate them to www.giveshoes.org instead).

11 Percentage of retired personal computers that were recycled in 2001 (visit www.techsoup.com for info on donating computer hardware).

75 Percent of employed people of recycle at home (yet only 49 percent recycle at work).

5 Number of items needed for "zen-cleansing" (baking soda, borax, lemon, salt, and white vinegar).

25 Percent more headaches experienced by pregnant women who use air fresheners and aerosol cans at home.

92 Billion Number of plastic bags grocery stores and pharmacies go through each year (San Francisco was the first U.S. city to ban large grocery stores and pharmacies from using them).

Sources: treehugger.com, soles4souls.org, techsoup.org, Rastad USA survey, The Humble Art of Zen-Cleansing, New Scientist, Newsweek.