Happy Thanksgiving!

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Graced moments that put a smile in your heart: That’s my prayer for you this Thanksgiving. Whether you’re spending the holiday at home, traveling, or working, may you experience God’s love and peace in tangible ways. May joy fill your heart as you celebrate and give thanks for God’s abundant blessings. If you’re grieving or struggling, if celebrating is the last thing you feel like doing, may you sense our Lord speaking HIs love to irreplaceable you through people who wrap you in their love and appreciation.

This Thanksgiving, may you notice many things to be grateful for:

Thankful that you can stay in the comfort of your own home, or thankful for the time and means to travel.

Thankful for work to do, and thankful for the people who will benefit from your work.

Thankful for good health, or thankful for those who care for you.

Thankful for struggles that have brought out an inner strength you didn’t know you had, and thankful for the individuals who helped you get through those challenges.

Thankful for all the people our Lord has blessed you with.

Above all, thankful for God’s unconditional and ever-present love. 

May you have a spirit of gratitude that is deeper and richer than a mental ‘attitude of gratitude.’

With a spirit of gratitude, we open our hearts to the kind of contentment, peace, and joy that only God can give us. We invite contentment when we realize that everything we have is gifted to us from God. We invite joy when we thank God for the people we love, and let them know we love them. We invite peace when we thank God even for those people we find difficult. Guess what? They probably find us difficult, too. We invite joy when we make an extra effort to be kind to them. And, our spirit of gratitude leads us to experience both peace and joy when we recognize God’s loving hand guiding us and holding us close to Him in every circumstance we find ourselves in.

I’m thankful for all of you who read my reflections, pass them on to others, or give me feedback on what I’ve written. God gets all the credit: I thank Him for giving me the ideas and guiding the words I write. If something I’ve written touches your heart, it makes me happy to know that I’ve conveyed the message clearly.

Happy Thanksgiving!

“May He grant you joy of heart, and may peace abide among you.”  –Sirach 50:23

“Thank You, Lord, for the countless blessings You have given me.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

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P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Praise Him With Music

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Music is a universal language. It brings people together; it can connect people of different countries, cultures, and languages where spoken words cannot. It’s like another love language! All throughout our lives, from birthdays to funerals and everything in between, music adds beauty and power to the words we speak. 

What does music have to do with God? In the Bible, music is referenced more than 1,000 times. Singing, specifically, is mentioned more than 400 times. Many of the psalms speak of playing music and singing. Music plays an important role in our liturgies, too. It adds beauty to the celebration, and the songs’ lyrics often strike at the heart when spoken words do not. Praying in song may help us feel more connected to God. Also, when the congregation is inspired to sing along, their fuller participation strengthens the sense of community between its members. And to those who claim they don’t sing because they sing badly I say, “God gave you that voice. Give it back to Him!” 

The last three verses of Psalm 150 are full of music. I was happy to see that the Scriptures for one of this week’s weekday Masses included Psalm 150. I use the weekday Scriptures in these blog reflections. In Psalm 150, you can hear the excitement in the psalmist’s voice as he tells us to use music to praise the Lord. The psalmist seems to be crying out, “Just look at how magnificent the Lord is! Praise Him with your whole being! Blast the trumpet! Clash the cymbals! Praise Him with any and every instrument you have! Sing out!” Listen to the power in the final words: “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” As long as we’re breathing, let us praise the Lord!

Side note: It took me a while to understand the difference between praising God and thanking Him. When we praise God, we focus on His nature: “I praise you, Lord, for You are loving and merciful.” When we thank God, we thank Him for something specific: “Thank You, Lord, for my family.” Why does this difference matter? When life is difficult, it’s sometimes a challenge to find things to be thankful for. However, even though our circumstances change, God never changes. So we can praise Him for being loving, kind, merciful, and powerful, even in the midst of our difficulties.

Read Psalm 150 a few times and hear the excitement and urgency in the psalmist’s words. Hear the psalmist encourage you to praise the Lord. Praise Him with your voice! Praise Him with an instrument! Everyone, praise our loving God!

“Praise him with the blast of the trumpet, praise him with lyre and harp. Praise him with timbrel and dance, praise him with strings and pipe. Praise him with sounding cymbals, praise him with clanging cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” 

– Psalm 150:3-6

“Lord, I praise You with all my heart and soul and voice!”

p.s. The women’s a cappella quintet I sing with, Grace Notes, has two performances this week! See the flier below for more info. Hope to see you there!

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

You Might Be an Answer to Prayer

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My husband and I were browsing the gift shop in the beautiful Hocking Hills State Park Lodge that sunny afternoon when a young man approached Ted and said, “Excuse me, sir. Do you know how to tie a tie?” He looked to be in his early 20s, wearing a dark suit and crisp white shirt. Ted said, “Sure, let me have it.” He put it around his own neck and tied it while the young man watched intently. As Ted pulled the tie up over his head and handed it back he asked, “Are you going for a job interview?” The guy answered, “No, I’m getting married downstairs!” With a quick “Thank you!” he turned and hurried toward the staircase.

I can’t imagine being so laid-back that you don’t worry about a detail like knowing how to tie a tie for your own wedding. Maybe this young man had prayed with confidence that he would run into someone who could tie it for him. Maybe he was so trusting of God and his fellow man that he knew he’d find someone who would help him out when the time came. If that’s the case, then Ted was the answer to his prayers. 

Another time, I was driving home at night and there was a detour because of construction. GPS technology was new and still not very reliable. Praying I wouldn’t get lost, I stopped at a gas station to confirm what the GPS was telling me. The woman working behind the counter reassured me I was on the right route, saying, “I lived in Akron. I go that way all the time.” When I thanked her she added, “I wasn’t supposed to work tonight but I filled in for someone else.” She was in the right place at the right time to help me.

Think back to a time when you found yourself in a situation to help a stranger, even in a small way. Maybe you held the door open for a mom pushing a stroller. Maybe you invited the new coworker to join you for lunch. No matter what the circumstances, when you helped a stranger you were doing the work of our Lord. Maybe the mom had left the house knowing that getting the stroller through the doorway would be difficult, and prayed that someone would hold the door for her. Maybe the new employee decided not to worry about being alone at lunchtime and trusted that he’d know what to do when the time came. Maybe people every day wonder how they’ll handle a particular challenge, and pray that God will help them find a way.

When you’re in the right place at the right time to help a stranger, you could be the answer to their prayers.

“Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for the brothers and sisters, especially for strangers.” – 3 John 5

“Lord, guide me to serve You in the strangers I meet.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Thank God for Fall

“Where should we go this time?” My husband and I are incredibly grateful for the many, many wonderful hiking trails within a few miles of where we live. Hiking is a great mental and emotional getaway for me. It’s even more comforting than a walk around the neighborhood, which is saying a lot because we also enjoy doing that. 

I find God’s peace on these trails, flooded with the miracles of God’s creation. There’s something magically distracting about following an unpaved path, crossing over streams, using roots and rocks for steps, marveling at the rock formations, and admiring the wide variety of trees, flowers, and other plants we encounter. 

The photo above is one I took at Punderson State Park a couple weeks ago. The leaves had just started turning. The water reflecting the gorgeous blue sky and the leaves displaying their previously hidden oranges and yellows made it easy for me to see God’s love expressed to us through His magnificent creation. 

There are countless other ways besides hiking to let nature remind us of God’s goodness. I encourage you to get out and savor the beauty of His creation! 

Remember being a kid and the happy swooshing sound you made as you pushed your feet through the leaves on the sidewalk? Walk around your yard or down the street and experience that again. Let your heart lighten up as you look for a treasured red heart-shaped leaf. Fill a vase or glass bowl with colorful foliage for a pretty countertop decoration. Frantically throw leaves at each other until you giggle yourselves silly, as one of my daughters and I did. (The expression of wonder on my little granddaughter’s face was priceless.)  

Let the inner beauty of the love in your heart shine through its hardened outer shell, like the reds and yellows of the leaves that emerge triumphant in autumn over the greens. If you don’t have access to a trail, take a walk around your neighborhood or a park. If you can’t walk, take a drive. Or sit outside. And if you can’t do that, then sit by a window and gaze at all the gorgeous colors the Lord has on display for us this fall.

Let the beauty of creation shout to you and reassure you that life is good, because God is good – all the time.

“I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” 

– Psalm 27:13

“Lord, let us see and appreciate with fresh eyes Your love expressed to us through the universe You’ve created for us to enjoy.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Vote!

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“Voting isn’t marriage. It’s public transport.

You’re not waiting for ‘the one.’

You’re getting the bus. 

And if there isn’t one going exactly to your destination,

You don’t stay home and sulk.

You take the one that’s going closest to where you want to be.”

– Mohamad Safa

Some people are convinced their candidate for president is The One. Others will say, “I don’t like either candidate, so I’m not going to vote for either one.” 

No candidate is perfect. When voting, we have to consider what kind of person we want leading our country and what kind of America we want to live in. 

For example:

I’m against abortion.

I’m also against denying medical care to a woman who’s suffering a miscarriage until it looks like she might die. That’s what’s happening now in states where there’s a total ban on abortions. Almost no one except my husband and children know that I was in a terrifying situation many, many years ago, before Roe v. Wade was overturned. I had complications during a miscarriage (which is medically called a spontaneous abortion). There was no heartbeat, and I underwent surgery. If my experience had happened when there was a total ban without exceptions, I might not have gotten the care I needed until I was near death. That’s not the kind of care women should be getting in America.

Consider:

Do you want for president the person who incited an insurrection on January 6, 2021, because he couldn’t accept defeat? He attacked our Capitol, our Constitution, our freedom, our government leaders, our police officers, and the peaceful transition of power. This was an attack where six people died and hundreds were injured, including 140 police officers. https://www.jan-6.com/january-6-timeline

Do you want the kind of president who, in his first term of office, took more than 4,000 children away from their parents at the border? That’s inhumane. If the families arrived here illegally and you want to deport them, then why not deport them together?

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-a-trump-era-policy-that-separated-thousands-of-migrant-families-came-to-pass

Christ’s law is LOVE. Do you want the kind of president who mocks and attacks people for who they are, where they’re from, and what they look like? 

https://www.jsonline.com/story/news/2024/10/28/trumps-rally-in-nyc-creates-furious-reaction-because-of-bigotry-hate/75894933007/

Christ taught us to care for the poor. Do you want Harris for president, who plans to work for the poor and middle class, or Trump, who plans to cut taxes for the wealthy? 

https://www.afscme.org/blog/trumps-tax-plans-would-benefit-the-rich-harris-plan-would-benefit-everyone-else

Several of Trump’s former cabinet officials have called him ‘unfit’ to serve as president.  If they, who worked directly with him, won’t support him, then why would we?

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4949654-former-trump-officials-warn-2024/

In what direction do you want our country to go? Forward, toward unity, growth, and peace? Or backwards, back to bigotry, racism, and division? 

Remember, you’re not choosing a life partner; you’re voting for a president who will bring our country closer to the kind of UNITED States of America you want to live in.

Vote!

“Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil, for You are at my side.” – Psalm 23:4

“Lord, help me see the ramifications of my vote.”

*** And as a p.s.... The beauty of our democracy is that we're given the right to vote how we choose, without fear. I'm against judging or condemning anyone for how they vote. We have to stand together to remain the UNITED States of America.

Thank you.

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

Store Up Treasures for Heaven

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“It’s amazing, Molly. The love inside, you take it with you.” Sam (played by the late Patrick Swayze) said this to his beloved Molly (Demi Moore) near the end of the 1990 movie “Ghost.” In this powerful scene, Sam speaks these words to Molly while being summoned to heaven after he was murdered.

We all know the parable of the rich man who decided to build bigger barns to accommodate all his stuff. He thought that, since he had accumulated so much wealth, he could just relax for the rest of his life. God called him a ‘fool’ and reminded him that he could die that night and then all of his belongings would be given away (Luke 12:13-21). The unasked question became, “Without all your belongings, what will you have to show for yourself? What will you have left to give to Me?”

We know that love – how well we love God by loving our neighbor – is more important than everything else. The challenge with this, in our consumer society, is as much about how much time and energy we put into accumulating our stuff and then congratulating ourselves for becoming ‘successful,’ as the man in the parable did, as about how much we have. It’s about how we may look down on those who are less ‘successful’ than we are. It’s also about how we may put people into categories and treat them according to our judgment of them.

The only thing we take with us is the love within our hearts and the love we’ve shown to others – all others. We’ve heard that many times. So maybe we can look at it from a different angle.

I can ask myself: 

-How much time do I give to God in prayer compared to the time I spend shopping? Maybe I can take a moment to thank God for the means to make that purchase. 

-How much do I spend on others compared to the amount I spend on myself? Maybe every time I buy an article of clothing for myself I can give one away. 

-It’s easy to converse with people who agree with my point of view. How willing am I to listen and try to understand someone who will vote differently from how I will – without condemning them for taking a different stand? 

-How do I treat my coworker whose lifestyle is different from mine? Maybe I need to remind myself that God loves that person as much as He loves me.

If we say that love is what’s most important and proclaim that our material goods don’t really matter, then let’s take a moment to examine if what we proclaim is consistent with how we live – and make changes where we’re falling short.

“Thus it will be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God.” – Luke 12:21

“Lord, let nothing take up space in my heart that cannot be given to You.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.

There's No One in the World Like You

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You’ve heard it said that God put you here for a purpose. You’re here not for only one purpose, though, but for many. It isn’t like God will give you a test, and if you miss that one opportunity to do something big then you’ve missed your purpose in life! No, God gives you a lifetime of opportunities and experiences; He’s given you many talents and people to share them with. Through all of them, God gives you ways you may show Him to the people you meet and His immense love for them. This is how you bear fruit for His Kingdom.

Look back over your lifetime and see all the people you’ve come into contact with, from the family you grew up in to the acquaintances and friends you’ve made along the way. Look at the opportunities you’ve had, the ones taken and the ones missed. Look back at the people you used to see every day and whose paths no longer cross yours. Look back at the jobs you’ve had, the hobbies you’ve discovered, the travels you’ve taken. Think of all the people you’ve encountered along the way; some you met only briefly, others you may have worked with for many years. What kind of influence have you had during that time? Are there things you wish you would have done differently?

As we age, our priorities and what we do every day may change. So, just as you looked back on the past, now consider the present. Look at your present circumstances and see the opportunities in front of you. See the people you come into contact with, the work you do, the hobbies you enjoy, and the places you visit. Learning from the past, is there something you’d like to change so that the fruit you bear in the future might be more in line with what God wants from you?

No matter where we live, what kind of work we do or how we spend our free time, we’re given opportunities to make a positive difference in the lives of the people around us. Every day, in what are usually little ways, we’re presented with choices to show the people around us God’s love for them. This is the kind of fruit God designed us to bear. 

Christ has chosen you to show His love at home, at work, in your social circles, in your brief encounters every day. There’s no one else in the world like you to do the work He chose you to do.

“I chose you from the world to go and bear fruit that will last, says the Lord.” – John 15:16

“Lord, show me how and where I can bear fruit for You.”

Thank you for reading my reflection. © 2024 Gina Bedell     Comments are always welcome! 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below. Blogspot doesn’t have a ‘subscribe’ feature and so I appreciate your help in sharing my reflections. Thanks!

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list.

You can also find my posts on Facebook!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home, in Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, and around the world. Donate toward a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the families around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.