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Showing posts from 2019

Joy

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This is who we are, who we become, children once ourselves, with joy abundant. We are now adults, who think we understand truths and have cast out falsehoods and fantasy. We are parents, we are grandparents, who seek the presence of a tiny stable among the glitter of decorated trees, ornaments and toys. There is a special gift to this season, a gift of innocence. A child born of love, to love. A child who directs focus on humility. He does not ask you to stand beneath His cross, just yet. Today He asks you to kneel beside a manger with shepherds, sheep and donkeys, and be filled with joy. copyright 2019 - Donald P James Jr

For Them (It Is Spoken)

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(John 17:1-26) There’s a prayer, spoken not for the welfare of the speaker, but for the souls of those gathered at table. It is spoken for those who will deny, those who will hide in the shadows when the authorities approach and a trial ensues. It is spoken for those who have not paid attention, those who will wake in the garden frightened because they do not yet understand. It is spoken for friends, for those chosen to walk at His side through small towns and villages, chosen to hear and listen. It is spoken also for those who do not dine in His midst, those who will see love in slivers of wood, those who will seek grace in thorns and hope in bread and wine. copyright 2019 - Donald P James Jr

The Cycle of Want

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Are we at peace when we get what we’ve asked for, or do we continue to see life for what we want and not what we have? ~ Are we ever content, one day to the next, to bask simply in the gaze of He who gives good things? ~ We want yesterday when today should suffice and long for tomorrow so we might yearn for the day wasted. copyright 2019 - Donald P James Jr 

Labyrinth

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I take a single step onto the path, grass and weed underfoot, stones marking the way. I came expecting the complex and received simplicity. For what shall I pray and what canonized words should I use? ‘Our Father in heaven,’ but this discourse points toward my needs. My prayers have already been heard. I surrender to the world around me, untouched by the progress of today and yesterday. I surrender to the silence where the Spirit’s voice is amplified and I am left without petition. My final step, reached after meditation well spent, listening to the voice of my creator, He who has counted the hairs on my head, He who has said come and in the quiet has given me rest. copyright 2019 - Donald P James Jr

Letters From the Spirit

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Last year, about this time, I decided to complete a task I'd been wrestling with for quite a while. My father, known by those who had ever had any involvement with 'The Ministry of the Handicapped' within the Diocese of Norwich as the 'Spirit of God's Gift House' or 'The Spirit of the Handicapped' left behind a collection of letters printed by the ministry in 1981. Early this year, in the Winter months, I started editing those letters. The task is now complete and I have m ade these letters available in a single collection at Smashwords.com. Below are the two links to this collection of works by Donald P James Sr Share this with all your friends, especially those who ever had any involvement in the ministry or ever stepped foot into God's Gift House or Ave Maria Place. Available on  Smashwords.com  for FREE https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/957607 .

There is One

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But there is one light which shines through any darkness, one beacon guiding the way through any storm. You say doubt fills your heart and He says, “Come the lame are healed, the blind see and the poor have heard the Good News.” But there is one Bread which nourishes your soul, one grain of wheat broken, that all may be made whole. You say you’ve lost trust in a deceitful world, and He says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled, believe in me.” And there is one Lamb, one sacrifice for all sin, one without blemish washing you clean in His blood. copyright 2019 - Donald P James Jr