R. Everybody is a work in progress
We have within us the little
child of the past
R. We have the life experiences
in us from the past
In loving my God and others, I
want to know how I have
hurt others and pray for
their healing and
Look at how others have hurt
me forgive them and
work out of these wounds
When we really see ourselves
now, against the backdrop of all
past experiences we see a
big picture
We see how we are far from
perfect in our selfishness
and jealousies etc. and
In the light of today, we want
to pray for those we have
hurt, through ignorance
or willfully for our own
power, affections and/or
wealth.
I remember as a child
milk bottles having
cream on top and milk
underneath
If we live as if today and
the people we interact
with are all we deal
with and remember, it
would be like looking
at the cream living in
the cream and forgetting
the milk below
We have had all these
life experiences recorded
on our brains
In wanting to live and love
I want to be accountable
for my sins and offenses
against others.
The 12 steps has someone make
a fearless inventory
This is humbling when I think
how I have hurt others
in their lives people
God called me to love
to work with, to help
to promote the Kingdom
Seeing how others may have
abused us, mistreated us,
forced issues on us that
robbed us of our power
can help us see how
we are acting against
this backdrop of lost
power, abuses done
to us betrayed lovers,
false promises, etc.
How do we act out with
regards to lost power
when we were forced into
someone lording over us
who abused their power
and mistreated us
We can be triggered from
life long feelings of
lost power and attack
authority over us to
rebel against just
authority now
How we deal with lost
power now, authority
now, can be red flags in
which we control and
act out now on
innocent others for lost
power in our past life
Being our own parent now
to the little child inside
means we are spontaneous,
in touch with our whole
self, but we are
disciplined to do what
is right, in limits for ourselves
and others
I looked into a looking
glass and I saw a woman
with wrinkles and gray hair,
but the childhood spark of
love and life had grown
to such a vibrancy I was
filled inside with life
I know myself, more and
more and I know the life within
my graced baptized soul
Not hidden in dark
corners as a stranger I do not
claim, but a person, I
know, I love, God loves
and sent me on an important
mission
In Him, I know myself
I embrace my life and
thank Him for all the
love and friends and caring
He gave to me
I am in such gratitude to
God for all the days He
has given me
Days of suffering, days
of joy
Days of enlightenment, after
searching to know
His rule of love
What it means to love God and
to love others
What it means to forgive and
move on
That means forgiving myself
for my mistakes but
being the first to admit them
Life is not life if it
is not rooted in Him
Recovery is a term used in
mental health
Being aware of ourselves, our
lives, our mistakes,
our wounds
knowing those who loved
and served us and knowing
they made mistakes to -
us and looking
at their mistakes as
us learning the dance
steps to a new
on-fire-dance called
life and they were an
amateur, but believing
in the love that surrounds
us from wounded guides
who were not perfect
themselves
How did I get here on
January 26, 2012, anyway and
if today were the last
day of my life
do I have a house full
of unfinished business,
clutter and was there not
love for myself in my
heart
love that God wants us to
know about He has
for us so He gave us
the Blue Books
What a gift the Blue Books
are to help us be truthful
about love and gratitude and
not forcing or trying to
force others into
slavishly dependent
relationships with us
because we don't know
ourselves, live in the cream
and don't accept or
love ourselves as the
gift God gave to the
world, to the Church
to salvation history.
We were created in the
image and likeness of God
Our lives are in the state
of becoming with a
purpose as God
created us. He created us
unique
We will stand before God with
our lives not one day,
a week, but our whole lives
how we learned to love God
and others and
Forgive those who hurt us
including ourselves for
probably hurting ourselves
the most with our
stubborn and willful
ways
Life is a basket of
flowers we give to
Our Father the flowers
the days of our lives
We live today and live in
truth about ourselves
Humility seeing the evil in
us and praising God
for the good we did
We live to die to the ways
not like Him
We live more and more being
likened to Him, as we
die to our faults and live
more and more the resurrected
life in Him.
Song: I Am a Child of God
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8, 11
There is a season for everything, a time
for every occupation under heaven:
A time for giving birth,
a time for dying;
a time for planting,
a time for uprooting what has been planted.
A time for killing,
a time for healing;
a time for knocking down,
a time for building.
A time for tears,
a time for laughter;
a time for mourning,
a time for dancing.
A time for throwing stones away,
a time for gathering them;
a time for embracing,
a time to refrain from embracing.
A time for searching,
a time for losing;
a time for keeping,
a time for discarding.
A time for tearing,
a time for sewing;
a time for keeping silent,
a time for speaking.
A time for loving,
a time for hating;
a time for war,
a time for peace.
All that he does is apt for its time;
but although he has given us an awareness of the passage of time,
we can grasp neither the beginning nor the end of what God does.
Psalm: The Lord is kind and merciful
Psalm 103
Bless
the Lord, O my soul: all my being bless God's name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul: forget not all God's blessings.
The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow
to anger, full of kindness.
God is good to all creation, full of compassion.
The goodness of God is from age to age.
blessing those who choose to love.
And justice toward God's children; on all who keep the covenant.
Revelation 14: 13
Then I heard a voice from heaven say
to me, 'Write down: Blessed are those who die in the Lord! Blessed
indeed, the Spirit says; now they can rest for ever after their
work, since their good deeds go with them.'
Alleluia verse
John 6: 40
It is my Father's will
that whoever sees the Son
and believes in him
should have eternal life,
and that I should raise that person up
on the last day.
John 14: 1-7
Do
not let your hearts be troubled.
You trust in God, trust also in me.
In my Fathers house
there are many places to live
in;
otherwise I would have told you.
I am going now to prepare a place
for you,
and after I have gone
and prepared you a place,
I shall return to take you to
myself,
so that you may be with me
where I am.
You know the way
to the place where I am going.
Thomas said, Lord, we do not know where you are going, so how
can we know the way? Jesus said:
I
am the Way; I am Truth and Life.
No one can come to the Father
except through me.
If you know me,
you will know my Father too.
From this moment you know him
and have seen him.
R. Perfect love casts our fear
Love gives
Love lives to bring order
If we have hang-ups about
power
we don't accept authority
correctly
we rebel against God's
will for us to be
structured
under authority
In Ecclesiastes
they see time as cyclical
summer, winter, spring,
autumn
He sees like this
the author
The Jews were starting to
believe in eternal life
They appreciated that when
a person dies if they
were good they will be
rewarded and
if they don't they will
have problems
We aren't taking our checkbook
our house - our car with
us when we die
We will take our good deeds
with us
John 14: 1-7
Do not let your hearts be
troubled.
You trust in God, trust also in me.
In my Fathers house
there are many places to live in;
otherwise I would have told you.
I am going now to prepare a place for you,
and after I have gone
and prepared you a place,
I shall return to take you to myself,
so that you may be with me
where I am.
You know the way
to the place where I am going.
Thomas said, Lord, we do
not know where you are going, so how can we know the way?
Jesus said:
I am the Way; I am
Truth and Life.
No one can come to the Father
except through me.
If you know me,
you will know my Father too.
From this moment you know him
and have seen him.
Jesus: Have faith in Me
I am preparing a place for you
I want to take you to
Myself
Thomas wouldn't believe
Thomas said, how do we know
We don't know the way
Jesus said: I am the way, the
truth and the life
R. In heaven there is
No more suffering
No more pain
We will be in heaven
enjoying God's presence
enjoying each other's
presence for all
eternity if we do
God's will in love
God, Almighty God
We pray for ourselves
that we will lead holy lives
loving God and others so
we can go to heaven some
day and have the fullness
of life, the beatific vision and
see God face to face
Help us to be gathered in God's
Kingdom some day
Oh God help us to love and
live as you desire
us to
Sing: Precious Lord Take Me Home
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Crucifixes, and Religious Artwork 
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© 2012 Shepherds of Christ.