ShiningLight: A Tree of Righteousness – a Planting of the Lord

BEYOND MEASURE

"OUR DEEPEST IS NOT THAT WE ARE INADEQUATE.
OUR DEEPEST FEAR IS THAT WE ARE POWERFUL BEYOND MEASURE. IT IS OUR LIGHT, NOT OUR DARKNESS, THAT MOST FRIGHTENS US.
WE ASK OURSELVES: WHO AM I TO BE BRILLIANT, GORGEOUS, TALENTED, FABULOUS? ACTUALLY, WHO ARE YOU NOT TO BE?
YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD. YOUR PLAYING SMALL DOES NOT SERVE THE WORLD.
THERE IS NOTHING ENLIGHTENED ABOUT SHRINKING SO THAT OTHER PEOPLE WON'T FEEL INSECURE AROUND YOU. WE ARE ALL MEANT TO SHINE, AS CHILDREN DO.
WE WERE BORN TO MAKE MANIFEST THE GLORY OF GOD IN US. IT'S NOT JUST SOME OF US. IT'S IN EVERYONE.
AND AS WE LET OUR LIGHT SHINE, WE UNCONSCIOUSLY GIVE OTHER PEOPLE PERMISSION TO DO THE SAME. AS WE ARE LIBERATED FROM OUR OWN FEAR, OUR PRESENCE AUTOMATICALLY LIBERATES OTHERS"

(Marianne Williamson - and quoted by Nelson Mandela 1994 at his inauguration!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

A Tree of Righteousness – a Planting of the Lord

2 weeks ago, a lady died in our church. I was part of a team that went and had ministered to her previously because her husband had just died 3 weeks prior. She had told her daughter what she wanted me to have. I was honoured and humbled and too touched for words. How? I had only known her for 4 months? Among the things she wanted me to have was a tree.. like an ornament. Some of the street sellers here make them. They look really beautiful and I have been looking at them every once in a while.
Now I own one. It makes me thing of that lady that is with Jesus now. Here is a picture of it.

And this is what I am thinking when I look at :

I want to be a tree of righteousness, a planting of the Lord. I want to have strong roots and I want to bear good fruit . I want to be consistent and of strength that is not my own. As the tree takes the strength from the water in the ground, I want to take my strength from God and God alone.

I want to be known as a tree of righteousness, a planting of the Lord.

That is my prayer and that is what I think of when I my eyes rest on this tree that someone I barely knew gave to me before she died. WOW!