Are you looking for it?

June 21, 2021

A quote that I found recently and saved seemed like a good topic for today –

“Children see magic because they look for it.” – Christopher Moore

I also saw a poignant little line in the Sunday Comics yesterday, in the comic strip Macanudo. [ Ed. – Macanudo is an Argentine daily comic strip by the cartoonist Liniers.] In this Sunday’s single frame cartoon, a little girl is sitting in her swing and asks her cat, “Fellini, do you think I will remember me when I grow up?”

The sad thing is that most of us don’t remember that age of innocence, wonder and belief in magic when we grow up. We stop looking for the magic and goodness in things and people. Instead, we start seeing only the bad or the ugly or the ordinary. We let fears and prejudices replace the wonder and excitement of our youth.

There is certainly no stopping the physical process of “growing up”; however, there is also no real requirement to let completely go of that sense of wonder and enjoyment of life that we experienced as children. We need not stop looking for the magic in life.

There is a certain point in the life of a child when the transition from the safe, warm feeling of “us”, of always being close to their mother’s protective arms is replaced by the somewhat lonesome and scary feeling of “me”, of being an individual without that protective shield of mom always at hand. Most of that transition is a learned response, based upon what we see others (mainly adults) doing around us.

For people of faith, the good news is that we never grow out of the warm, protective arms of the love of God. God stays with us all of our lives and gives us the sense of calm and peace that we so often need in life. Our Pastor used the story of the footprints in the sand in his sermon this weekend to illustrate that God never leaves us and, in fact, carries us through times of hardship or trouble.

Perhaps, as you pause to say a little prayer this morning, you can ask God to allow you to remember the me that you used to be, the me that was so trusting in Him, the me who did not question his/her beliefs, the me that looked for and saw the magic in life. You can go home again, back to your innocent and powerful belief in God. Then you will once again see the magic in life.

Are you looking for it?

1 Comment | faith, Inspiration | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner

Be a magician today…

March 18, 2021

From my favorite source of quotes, Jack’s Winning Words, comes today’s thought provoker – “The magic in new beginnings is truly the most powerful of them all.”  (Josiyah Martin)

So, why are new beginnings so magical? I think it is because they rekindle hope and hope is a powerful elixir indeed.

New beginning usually occur right after something has ended, perhaps something that ended badly or maybe just in disappointment. After those few moments of admission that all hope was lost for the old, new hope springs to life for the new and a new focus upon that hope energizes us to move forward again.

Sometimes it is not that hope was lost or that defeat was admitted; but, rather, that hope was temporarily forgotten or was lost in the loud din of day-to-day life. Out faith and the hope that comes with it can be like that – drowned out and forgotten in our focus upon our daily lives. We become so focused upon monetary success that we let our faith slide into the background. We fixate upon the here and now and forget about the rest of eternity. The old saying “the Devil is in the details” is perhaps talking of us focusing too much on the mundane details of life and not enough on the bigger picture – not enough on God.

We can correct that by treating each day as a new beginning and pausing each morning to thank God for the new chance to do better each day. Certainly, we have to put in the effort to maintain our jobs and provide for our needs and that of our families; however, we can also renew the hope that our faith provides and rededicate ourselves to doing the good which that faith requires. With each new day, each new beginning, we will find renewed hope. Acting upon that hope, we will provide the magic in the lives of others and that is the most powerful thing of all.

So, take some time each morning to stoke the fires of your faith and rekindle your hope, so that you can go out and perform magic all day long. The world is full of people who have lost hope. Give them some of yours and make the world a better place for all.

Make each day a new beginning and fill it with hope.

Be a magician today!

1 Comment | faith, Inspiration | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Norm Werner