Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Goodbye 2009

Here are the highlights of 2009. May 2010 be a better year...

Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas with a Silent Night



Enjoy the angelic voice of Susan Boyd singing "Silent Night"

Merry Christmas to all and may there be peace on earth everywhere!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Have a Blessed Christmas



As we celebrate the holidays, with an abundant of food, good cheer and peace towards our fellow men, please spare a thought for the less fortunate amongst us.

The above video shows that there are still a lot of poor people around. These people will spend their Christmas shivering in the cold streets with pangs of hunger their constant companion.

Can you provide a match for them like "The Little Match Girl" so that they can also have some warmth and food during this holiday season?

Open your hearts to them and share your abundance with these poor people. And you will be blessed with more abundance in the days to come.

The Universe operates on a very simple law : - The more you give, the more you will receive.

So, open your hearts and your wallets and give, give, give...

May you have a blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with an abundance of happiness, prosperity and good health...


Thursday, December 10, 2009

Taking Delight in Others Misfortunes


Have you not, on certain occasions, felt a tinge of pleasure when you hear some bad news or misfortunes happening to your friends or even family members?

The French philosopher, Francois de La Rochefoucauld once wrote :
"In the misfortunes of even our greatest friends, we take a certain pleasure."

This is part of our human nature, that we are apt to experience a tinge of satisfaction or pleasure whenever we hear about the failures, misfortunes and humiliations of others - even those that are close to us whom we bear no ill will.

Why is that so?

Part of it is because of our own individual egos, that celebrate the fact that other people who took a risk had failed, some times spectacularly.

Our ego, safe in its comfort zone of familiarity, does not like other people who push their limits to achieve something better. It jars us that we are not moving beyond our comfort zone. It holds up a mirror to our adversity to risks.

Therefore, when these people fails in their new endeavors, our hearts make a small leap of happiness. We privately gloat over the failures of others. Some even go to the extend to spreading the "good" news around the neighbourhood to bring more shame to these risk-takers.

The German's have a word to describe this - "Schadenfreude" ie, "shameful joy", pleasure derived from others' misfortunes.

A related emotion consists of deriving sorrow from others' good fortune - this is "Freudenschade".

The German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche offer a possible insight on schadenfreude in his 1882 work, The Gay Science :

"Schadenfreude originates in the fact, that in certain respects of which he is aware, everyone feels unwell - is oppressed by care, envy or sorrow. The harm that befalls another man makes him our equal and it appeases our envy."

"If, on the other hand, he happens to feel perfectly well, he nonetheless gathers up his neighbour's misfortune in his consciousness as a capital upon which to draw when he himself faces misfortunes - thus he too experiences schadenfreude."

Usually, it is people who suffers from low self-esteem, who are more likely to experience schadenfreude than people who has more self-love. It is even felt more intensely when it is directed at those people that they envy most.

However, we must guard against having such feelings.

There is nothing good in feeling schadenfreude. In fact, you should reflect deeply on yourself and search within your ego why you have these feelings and work towards eliminating it or addressing those issues that are buried deep within you.


"To feel envy is human, to savour schadenfreude is devilish."
- German philosopher Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860).

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Letter From Jesus About Christmas



LETTER FROM JESUS ABOUT CHRISTMAS


From Marion Smith
December 8, 2009

It has come to my attention that many of you are upset that folks are taking My name out of the season.

How I personally feel about this celebration can probably be most easily understood by those of you who have been blessed with children of your own. I don’t care what you call the day. If you want to celebrate My birth, just GET ALONG AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.

Now, having said that let Me go on. If it bothers you that the town in which you live doesn’t allow a scene depicting My birth, then just get rid of a couple of Santas and snowmen and put in a small Nativity scene on your own front lawn If all My followers did that there wouldn’t be any need for such a scene on the town square because there would be many of them all around town.

Stop worrying about the fact that people are calling the tree a holiday tree, instead of a Christmas tree. It was I who made all trees. You can remember Me anytime you see any tree. Decorate a grape vine if you wish: I actually spoke of that one in a teaching, explaining who I am in relation to you and what each of our tasks were. If you have forgotten that one, look up John 15: 1 – 8.

If you want to give Me a present in remembrance of My birth here is my wish list. Choose something from it:

1. Instead of writing protest letters objecting to the way My birthday is being celebrated, write letters of love and hope to soldiers away from home. They are terribly afraid and lonely this time of year. I know, they tell Me all the time.

2. Visit someone in a nursing home. You don’t have to know them personally. They just need to know that someone cares about them.

3. Instead of writing the President complaining about the wording on the cards his staff sent out this year, why don’t you write and tell him that you’ll be praying for him and his family this year. Then follow up… It will be nice hearing from you again.

4. Instead of giving your children a lot of gifts you can’t afford and they don’t need, spend time with them. Tell them the story of My birth, and why I came to live with you down here. Hold them in your arms and remind them that I love them.

5 Pick someone that has hurt you in the past and forgive him or her.

6. Did you know that someone in your town will attempt to take their own life this season because they feel so alone and hopeless? Since you don’t know who that person is, try giving everyone you meet a warm smile; it could make the difference. *

7. Instead of nit picking about what the retailer in your town calls the holiday, be patient with the people who work there. Give them a warm smile and a kind word. Even if they aren’t allowed to wish you a “Merry Christmas” that doesn’t keep you from wishing them one.

8. If you really want to make a difference, support a missionary – especially one who takes My love and Good News to those who have never heard My name.

9. Here’s a good one. There are individuals and whole families in your town who not only will have no “Christmas” tree, but neither will they have any presents to give or receive. If you don’t know them, buy some food and a few gifts and give them to the Salvation Army or some other charity which believes in Me and they will make the delivery for you.

10. Finally, if you want to make a statement about your belief in and loyalty to Me, then behave like a Christian. Don’t do things in secret that you wouldn’t do in My presence. Let people know by your actions that you are one of mine. Don’t forget; I am God and can take care of Myself. Just love Me and do what I have told you to do. I’ll take care of all the rest. Check out the list above and get to work; time is short. I’ll help you, but the ball is now in your court. And do have a most blessed Christmas with all those whom you love and remember.

I LOVE YOU,

JESUS

Friday, December 4, 2009

How Long? Not Long!!




"How long? Not long, because no lie can live forever.

How long? Not long, because you shall reap what you sow.

How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

~ Martin Luther King, Jr.