Faith is not making incessant demands.  Faith does not “tug the tulips” to help them grow.  They will come up in their own time.  Faith is at peace with God, and just knows that God is at work and always on time.  God is in charge of awakening the crocuses each spring.  God moves the chick to break its shell and be hatched.  God will feed the sparrow.  The birds will have to hunt for worms, or seeds, or bread crumbs, but they will not worry.  It is the bird’s responsibility and job to sing.  May I sing today the praises of God’s goodness and thank Him for giving me a chance at this amazing thing called life. 

 1.  Believe instead of Beg-  God wants to give.  It is what He does.  Wishful thinking or hoping, does not help.  God wants to give us our daily bread.  The asking is simply holding open an expectant hand and accepting God’s abundance.   Into our open hand God may place a loaf of  bread or a hoe with which to break up fallow ground.  Faith just accepts and thanks.   

2.  Don’t hang on to the past.  It is like the wake of a boat.  Perhaps the ripple goes on, but where you have been in not necessarily where you are going. 

 3.  Always be kind.  Putting it another way, always be the kind of person you would like others to be to you.  Love is kind.

 4.  Always be grateful.  Smile back at the face of God’s wisdom.  God gives us what we need at the moment.  Even that rebuke can be a positive thing if we see it as a wake up call or a call to focus.  Be grateful. 

 5.  Always be humble.  We are not it, only a part of it.  God plays the leading role.  Put ego in its place.  It is an illusion that either speaks too highly or too lowly of our self.  What God thinks of us is more important than what ego or others think. 

 6.  Be alert.  God is trying to tell us, or give us something.  He shows up in our life everyday and often in disguise.  “I was thirsty and ye gave me drink.”

 7.  Be open.  Closed minds are land mines.  Be open to learn, experience, view the same world from the other person’s perspective. 

 8.  Be a healer.  Harm no one intentionally.  Be a peacemaker.  Jesus called them “blessed.”  Every day we will brush by the sick, the suffering, the broken hearts of humanity.  Sometimes we can heal with a smile, or a few minutes of listening or with sympathetic silence.  Sometimes a hand on a shoulder can make a broken spirit whole. 

 9. Be positive.  Don’t be negative, as it will only attract negative.  In the realm of the spirit, opposites do not attract.  God has not given us the spirit of fear.  Fear is a spiritual charge that attracts negative forces.  Positive praise not only repels negative, it attracts positive, and pleases God.   

                                                                                                              id