Today’s Reflection
LOVE GOD’S GOODNESS within yourself, and his immeasurable charity, which you will find in the cell of self-knowledge. In this cell you will find God. . . . I tell you, you will also find there the gentle mercy of the Holy Spirit, the aspect of God that gives and is nothing but love. Whatever the Spirit does is done because of love.
And this movement of love you will find within your own soul, because our will is nothing but love, and its every affection and movement comes from nothing but love. … Within the cell of your soul you will find the whole of God.
– edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe
Writings of Catherine of Siena
From pages 29-30 of Writings of Catherine of Siena, edited by Keith Beasley-Topliffe. Copyright © 2000 by Upper Room Books. All rights reserved. Used by permission. http://bookstore.upperroom.org/ Learn more about or purchase this book.
Today’s Question
Contemplate God’s presence, near as your next breath. Share your thoughts.
Today’s Scripture
So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 4:6, NRSV
This Week: pray for patience. Submit your prayer to The Upper Room Living Prayer Center or share it in the comment section.
Did You Know?
In need of prayer? The Upper Room Living Prayer Center is a 7-day-a-week intercessory prayer ministry staffed by trained volunteers. Call 1-800-251-2468 or visit The Living Prayer Center website.
This week we remember: Boniface (June 5).
Lectionary Readings
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
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13 Comments
Father – thank You for Your Presence and Love – always with us. I just need to be open to Your Spirit, to still myself and become more aware of how I am cloaked in You.
Father – please provide an extra measure of Your Peace to Julie. Each moment, every hour – tenderly surround her. You are near to the broken hearted.
Thank You for Your promises, Your Word, the hope which we have.
Thankful for today’s reflection. I found many helpful lines, words here, but this line sums it up best for me, “Within the cell of your soul you will find the whole of God.” Thank You, Lord. You are always with us. Very reassuring words that express a truth.
I am very thankful for the tremendous prayers and pray-ers here at the UR. I read one prayer in particular yesterday that just was so comprehensive, all encompassing, but then all of the prayers together often focusing repeatedly on particular concerns or needs also are beyond imagination. We are all lifted up!
May those who need God most be cared for first today and always. Peace, calm, strength and confidence for Gloria, Julie, and Marcy. Support to Andrea, April, Becky, Betsy, Jill, Larry, and Mary. Blessings to all. Thank You Lord.
Lord, your spirit is all around us. I hear you today in the birds chirping, I feel you in the soft morning breeze, I see you in the morning shadows off of the trees. Offer all your gift of love so we may send that out to a hurting world. In your precious name, Amen
Thank you to all for praying for me. I appreciate your prayers and I need them. I try very hard to trust in the Lord and even succeed at times. I am on edge currently due to my husband just coming down aand sitting across from me. Things have been deteriorating. I also have been unable to reach my lawyer and this concerns me immensely.
Prayers for Jill and her family as they travel a new and unfamiliar road.
Prayers for Robert and his railroad research.
Prayers for Betsy and for unity within her church. Today’s UR devotional addressed just this topic.
Thank you for keeping me company while my husband was in the room.
He has not left the house yet though and this worries me.
Blessings and prayers and please pray for success in reeaching my lawyer today.
Julie, a wise counselor told me that in a fast- flowing river, there are spots – in small grottoes, in the crooks of river bends – where the water is still. I picture such a spot, where the water is quiet as the churning river rushes by. I pray you are able to calm your soul as much as possible in the assurance that God is with you every single moment through the current turmoil in your marriage and home. I pray for you to find ready communication with your lawyer when you are in need of counsel. I have seen how abusive your husband is and I will be relieved when you are free of the abuse. I pray for your support, both emotional and financial. I pray for your daughter’s support, too. I am glad you are reaching out here at UR and hope you do not hesitate to do so as you continue to go through this challenging time. God bless you, dear Julie.
Oh yes, Lord! I pray this for Julie as well. Have seen many of those quiet pools right here on Gold Brook. God will help you with wisdom and support.
Blessings Julie!
O Lord, please stay near me. This is the third day of worsening breathing issues. I am unable to do breath prayers, but silently, closing my eyes, trying to center on God, I endeavor to attain His peace. I’m using the oxygen full-time, which wasn’t necessary until now, breathing treatments and Symbicort inhaler twice daily, and my O2 continues to sink. Now in the upper 70’s to low 80’s. Should be in the 90’s. Please pray for me to make it to the June 11th Pulmonary specialist appointment. Please forgive me for asking, especially when you are facing challenges of your own.
I am praying for you all, dear UR family and wish I could be more helpful today. Thank you for your prayers for me and I really don’t know how I would go on without our Triune God and each of you. It would be impossible! I wish I could articulate the Love I feel for you, family. I wish I didn’t live alone, physically.
Prayers going out to Jill, Robert, Betsy, Julie and Connie!
Still praying and believing….
And these three remain: Faith, Hope and Love, and the greatest of these is LOVE!
Prayers for you, Marcy. Long ago I had allergies, bronchitis , and a couple of times asthma. Breathing is essential, Lord be with Marcy and do what the medicine doesn’t do to help her breathe. Help her make it to her appointment.
Garden planted, some plants have come up already. That’s always exciting.
Have the motor and running gear for the Bismarck steam locomotive model.
Working on a way to have an HO scale cab and boiler made from nickel-silver etched plates. Have all the detail parts needed for completing the model.
Not many Bismarck engines built, only 90, they were an improvement on the 1500 T3 engines. Most of the Bismarcks worked on small branchline railroads, mining operations, or industrial sites. Built at the time Otto von Bismarck was a powerful Prussian leader and after the take over of most of what today is Hessen.
Breathe on Marcy, breath of God, and make her well.
Thank you, Robert, for your comment and prayers. Thank you for talking about trains today, you know my interest in all things trains. Praying my friend can get here after work to help make a decision.
Love all of you!
A lady who comes to the heart/lung maintenance program I attend is on oxygen 24/7 and she gets winded doing the exercises, but makes her way through them.
Working now on painting the trucks for the St.J&LC (Saint Johnsbury and Lake Champlain later Lamoille County) combine #113. It’s quite possible I rode on this car. for sure I rode on one of the combines this railroad had.
They’re a grimy black. Installed a roof ladder rest, looking for an extra roof grab iron. Have the rain gutters to finish and it too can be painted grimy black. Many years of smoke and cinders and the St.J&LC was not a high maintenance railroad left this old wood car functioning but a rustic sight to see.
Neo-antergen and later sudafed got me through allergy season when ragweed was the main culprit. Wheezing, runny nose and eyes, and feeling tired were all a part of it. Made it through, prayers for you too. And Jesus said, “Woman, your faith has made you well.”
Marcy, you are in my thoughts and prayers every day. I pray your breathing will quickly become easier and your oxygen saturation will improve. I pray you will get to your appointment with the pulmonoligist. I pray you feel our prayers surrounding you with love and support. I pray for you to feel comfort and ever-increasing strength. You are God’s beloved child. I picture you held safely in God’s everlasting arms. Please share your concerns with us when you are able, without any embarressment or reluctance. You have gifted us with your prayers. It is our desire to pray with you and for you.
Your home state is so beautiful. Today we were at Bear Butte State Park. What a feeling of peace there is in that sacred place. Other memorable sites in the past week include seeing two baby pronghorns stand up right after their birth, in Custer State Park; beautiful sunsets and bighorn sheep on top of a pink and yellow striped ledge in the Badlands; wild mustangs in a horse sanctuary in the craggy hills and valleys near Buffalo Gap; wide open grasslands; waterfalls and sharp rock spires in the Black Hills; and so many other scenes of incredible beauty. I think of the line from one of the Psalms: “Enter into His courts with thanksgiving and praise.” And: “The earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof.”
Take care, dear sister in Christ. God is ever beside you.
Thanks for sharing that description of Marcy’s home state, am sure Marcy appreciates that as well as we all do.
Marcy, i am keeping you in prayer.
May your breathing issue improve and get back to normal.
Blessings
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