Brown's Daily Word 1-21-10

Good morning,
Albert Einstein said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as if nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” I know many people who say they have never experienced a miracle, but the truth is that we all experience miracles all day every day. Right now we have no sensation of motion, but we are sitting on a planet that is spinning around its axis at approximately 1,000 mph. In fact, Planet Earth will make one full rotation in the next twenty-four hours.
Praise the Lord for the miracles He performs every day all the way. Last Sunday's Gospel reading was taken from John 2. Jesus, our Lord, performed His first miracle, turning water in to wine. John recorded only seven miracles in his Gospel, and these miracles are called " Signs" in the Gospel according to John. Before the Resurrection the Lord performed Seven miracles which were recorded in John. John wrote, "But these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life,in His Name".
Thomas Carlyle said imagine a man who had lived in a cave his entire life stepping outside for the first time to watch the sunrise. Carlyle indicated that he would watch “with rapt astonishment the sight we daily witness with indifference.” That’s so true isn't it? We take the daily miracles for granted.
G. K. Chesterton said, “Grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. Is it possible God says every morning, ‘Do it again’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again’ to the moon? The repetition in nature may not be a mere recurrence; it may be a theatrical encore.”
Scripture hints at the sense of awe and wonder that should be intrinsic in the daily operation of the universe. Psalm 29, (The Message) says, “Bravo, God, Bravo. All the angels shout encore!” It’s as if the angels are so enthralled with what God does day in and day out that they ask Him to do it over and over again!
Part of spiritual growth is learning to recognize and appreciate the miracles that surround us.
My heart will pump about 100,800 times today without skipping a beat. I will inhale and exhale about 23,000 times. A hundred things are happening in my body right now that I pay no attention to. That is absolutely astounding, but of all the miracles that happen all the time I think the mind is the magnum opus. It is difficult for us to even conceive of how complicated even the simplest of mental functions is. Most of us take sight for granted, but that is because we have no idea how it works.
When was the last time we stopped to thank God that you can perceive about ten million different colors? We probably owe God a thank you for each color. Have we ever contemplated how incredible it is that we can read fine print and see stars that are billions of miles away? Have we ever thanked God for depth perception or peripheral vision? Are we thankful for motion vision? We take it for granted, but people who suffer from motion blindness cannot cross the street because they can't judge the speed of cars. They have difficultly pouring coffee into a cup because the moving liquid appears to be solid. Without a properly functioning motion-perception pathway we would have a tough time walking, much less dancing, catching a Frisbee, or hitting a fastball traveling 95 mph.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.
Loving God with half a mind just doesn't cut it. Being half-minded is no better than being half-hearted. Loving God with all our mind involves every facet of our mind. Many of us honestly believe the spiritual battle is won or lost in the mind. In our lives, many of our problems are the byproduct of stinking thinking, that is, poor management of our minds. The battle against pride or lust or anger isn't won in the behavioral realm, but in the cognitive realm.
It is amazing how many verses of Scripture talk about the importance of the mind. "Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he." "Take every thought captive and make it obedient to Christ." "Study to show yourself approved." "If anything is good or right or pure of just think about such things."
"Fix your mind on things above." "Let this mind be in your which was also in Christ Jesus."

The battle is won or lost in the mind. The end goal is the mind of Christ. In the words Fanny Crosby:
"Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!"
In Christ,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xi0yLRX4d2M