Author Steven

Many years ago, Miriah (our daughter) was in her early teen years.  One day she came to us and declared “I have 68 shirts in my closet!”* I was shocked that she had over two months worth of tops.  So we instituted a policy of one in – one out for the whole family.  Every time that anyone got anything new, something else had to go.  

Being merciful is just about being nice to others.  When we look around the world at the people that we interact with I know that sometimes I’m focused on ‘me’ and how I can get ahead in this life by not letting anyone take advantage of me.  I’ve sometimes too focused on Justice. I find that showing people mercy is generally easy – as long as we are willing to take the first step.  We are rewarded immediately for our efforts.

I was in a Sunday School lesson a few years back.  We were studying some of the teachings of Christ.   The Scripture in Matthew 6:21 come up for discussion.  After the discussion, I came to have a greater understanding of this scripture.   

The things that we treasure – are the things that we set our heart upon.  This scripture applies to everyone – old and young, rich and poor.  The things that we focus on are what we treasure.  

There have been times in my life that I have lost my focus and my treasure got set on things of the world.  One of the great blessings of this Christmas season is the ability to adjust our treasure.  If you feel you have too much Scrooge and Bah Humbug in you – I would encourage you to reach out to the tiny Tim in your life that needs you.

When we moved into my current home and started to attend our current church, we felt that we had moved into a very unfriendly congregation.   After a few weeks of nobody reaching out to us, we decided to make a goal to reach out to one person that we did not know each week.  This helped us greatly to get to know our congregation.

When loss happens in our lives – and it will happen – we sometimes want to just give up.  As we look to our friends and family for strength we can feel comfort through their morning.   Now is the time to reach out to someone that is going through a loss in their life.  There are people around us all right now that need our help – all we need to do is look and open our eyes.

Doing something as simple as saying hi to someone that you don’t know, or eating lunch with a co-worker that is new are ways to help strangers. There are many people around us that are strangers – a lot of them blend into the background.  When I look for opportunities to help people I’m always amazed to find ways to help that leave me feeling incredibly blessed.

How will you #LightTheWorld?   Jesus said: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.” -St John 5:39         Only in Jesus Christ can we… Continue Reading →

Many years ago while my small family was still very young and still growing, I was put into a position that I could not fulfill the needs of my family or myself.  It was very difficult for me to ask for help.  A dear friend from my church was talking to me one day and told me some advice that I will never forget. He said that “it is more important that we allow people around us to help us than we receive the help.”  When we allow others to help us, two lives are blessed!

Love your enemies is one of those things that is very easy to say, but incredibly hard for me to do.   In today’s social media connected world, there are many people out there that we may feel are just out to hate us, hate our positions, and hate everything that we hold to be dear. For me, it is easier to see the sliver in others eyes than the moat in my eye.  As we reach out to others and seek out the good in people that we might perceive to be our enemies – we will enrich our own lives and we will become happier!