Heartbeat

'It's the fifth time you called ' , he almost shouted.

'Either that or you are asking me to send voice message so many times. Why are you behaving like this? Don't you how busy I get when I go outside? '

She simply replied,  'Sorry'. 

She looked as if she won't stop this habit of hers.

He was not satisfied with the reply.  ' Atleast tell me why you are doing this. '

'I just want to hear your voice all the time. ' She murdered softly. 

'Don't you think this is bit dramatic? ' He laughed. 

' I don't know about that. But just that I love the sound of your voice so much.  It's like my heartbeat.  It seems to remind me I am alive to be with you all the time.

'Come here , my drama Queen ' was the last sentence of the day before he hugged her close to his heart. 

Promises in Lent - Believe and Have Faith

This is to bring us more closer to God in all our activities. 

We have decided to observe the Lent and have decided to follow Jesus.  But why this nagging doubt at the back of our brain always that will it be possible to have all my prayers answered? Will God come with me in all my endeavours?  Will God be there for me?

Just throw away all the doubts you have.  He is the  God who has promised all Good things for us and forgives us umpteen times with His abundant Grace on all our shortcomings. He still does not forsake us and always call us to Him.  All he ever asks is you need to have faith on Him.

God never says if you believe in me I will get things done for you.  He says if you trust me,  my plans will be done for you which will put you in a much better position than you ever imagined. Just believe in Him and have faith.

He does not make things easy for you.  He did not make things easy for His son Jesus too.  Instead He makes things possible.  That is the biggest promise He always keeps.

A small excerpt from the Bible. 
Luke 1:37 says,
For with God nothing shall be impossible.

It is possible to achieve all the impossibles' with little faith. 

Promises in Lent - Never be jealous

This is a promise to overcome all envy we have on our known and unknown circle.

Dictionary defines Jealousy as feeling or showing an envious resentment of someone or their achievements, possessions, or perceived advantages. So someone around you has achieved something,  possess something you don't have or have different privileges and advantages that you don't have. 

You know this much. But do you know the complete journey they had been through to be in the position. We will definitely not know the entire picture. The sacrifices they must have done,  the self discipline they must have promised and all other hardships. 

Comparing yourself to that position,  dreaming to achieve it should be followed by a healthy competition and rigorous hard work and not by feeling envy on others.  Moreover we gain nothing out of being jealous. Instead we can use that time to focus and start working on the path of achieving the greater height.

And every step you achieve towards the goal will make you happy and encourage you to go to the next level. Being envious to others will stress you out, make your every step harder to make it to the next level.

Jesus was born to a poor carpenter family though He was the son of God and denied all worldly pleasures.  Did he feel envy on the Royals?  No. He just minded His business.  We have a way of redemption and He became the King of all for doing His duty sincerely.

A small excerpt from the Bible.
 Proverbs 14 : 30 Says,
A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.

Feeling of Envy is just a poison Ivy.  Never tread close to it.

Promises in Lent - Never waste Food

This promise is the serious need of the day.

A portion of the population gorges on gourmet food while the others starve everyday. We cannot bridge this balance but the least we can do is do our part by not wasting food and giving due respect to this basic unit of survival.

Whatever position you may be In or how much ever asset you may hold,  Food is always your basic need to survive in this society. And the food is not easily available too.  It takes labour of dozens of people to put a square meal for a person. Wasting food would mean the hard labour of thousands of people simply being put to waste.

Just imagine you are painting a picture.  You put in a couple of hours work and do it with so much love. Somebody buys it and tears it immediately.  How will you feel?  Though you have been paid,  will you be happy to see it destroyed.

When Jesus fed the Five Thousand with just seven loaves of bread and few fish, the first thing he did after the multitude had been fed is collect the leftovers so that nothing goes waste. As His children we should start following his lead.

A small excerpt from the Bible. Leviticus 19 : 9,10 says
When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, neither shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. And you shall not strip your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner. 

If you do not want to have the food or you have in excess, plan to leave it for someone who did not have his meal today than dumping it in the garbage.

Promises in Lent - Help others in need

This promise is the most noble one to do as when we tend to help someone without expecting something in return we are rendered blessings multifold by God.

The term Helping others seem big but it need not be in reality.  It started with the intention to see others smile or relive from pain. It may be a brief relief but that time frame may give the Person a hope to live and new strength to pursue further. 

This help may be monetary,  physical support or emotional support or even a small hug.  When you render this support to others in need, you are perceived in a position equivalent to God to the people at the receiving end. God has given this privileged position only to those who are eager to share others pain and try to reduce it.

Also as a human being blessed with six senses and being in God's unlimited Grace it's our duty too to help others.

A small excerpt from the Proverbs 3:27
Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, When it is in your power to do it.

God who rules us gave up his comforts and came to this world only to help us reliever from sin.  Is it not time to repay that favour by helping others? 

Promises in Lent - Try to reduce your temper

 This is a promise which will start cleansing us from within.

Temper is something that happens when we are not able to tolerate a particular person or a event. For some the threshold to contain is more and for some it is less.

Nevertheless temper cannot be avoided at all.  Even Jesus Christ lost his cool when He saw Hawkers flooding the temple at Jerusalem. 

We can do one thing instead. Increase the threshold to contain our displeasure.  Temper is a very bad thing which will hamper all our nerves and makes us stressed. Why to do something that will affect our health eventually?  Analyse yourself. If you get angry for something in 5 minutes,  try to increase your patience to 2 more minutes.

Do not clench your teeth and fist for the two minutes. Instead try to divert. Take your phone immediately and call someone you love or just plug in your headphones and tune in the radio or eat something. Just go and do something that will make you forget your temper for a while. 

It's definitely a hard thing to do bit once practised it helps in protecting your health in the long run and also the relationship with the person whom you get angry on.

 Also just remember one thing,  if you don't get angry, it means you give the other person one more chance. He is in your grace and you will go places in God's grace. Is it not a wonderful thing?

A Small excerpt from the Bible.  Proverbs 19:11 says, 
Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.

Slow to Temper makes you grow faster in the sight of God.

Promises in Lent - Spend Time wisely

This promise of ours will help in saving so much time that we will be able to concentrate on much more important things .

Every day you get up,  mind your business,  do your stuff and finally retire to bed. Almost every day when we go to bed,  we have a feeling we have not done something much important and we swear in mind to do it the next day.  The next day also we may or may not complete it. 

 The most common things we miss out due to lack of time are our time with God in Prayer,  Keeping us fit by exercise and spending time with our close ones. These are actually the major contributors of reducing our stresses.  When we miss out on them,  our stress goes undisturbed and takes a toll on our physical and mental health.

Just get up 15 minutes earlier each day and plan things for the day.  You need not get up immediately and start working.  Just lie on the bed and ask yourself what you did the previous day and what you missed out. Plan your things and confirm if it's the best plan to work by.  You may not save much time initially but when you make it a habit,  you will feel yourself getting much time for more better things.

A small Excerpt from the Bible. Psalms 90:12 says
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

As the saying goes, Time is like a coin. You can spend it anyways,  but you can spend it only once. Let's make a promise to spend it wisely. 

Promises in Lent - Never forget to pray

Today's promise is the best of all promises one can ever do and the only promise which will solve all our problems. Never forget to pray or better yet start every day with a prayer.

Every day is new and full of challenges and competitions.  We need to prepare ourselves in full form to face every minute of life.  But life  always offers expect the unexpected agenda.  So how do we prepare?

It's your mind set that prepares the entire day for you.  The seed you sow in the subconscious mind at the start of the day decides your mood for the  rest of the day. When you have decided on something,  the whole universe conspires to get it done.  Thats the way God has planned things for us.

Let's assume we start the day with so much anxiousness and stress.  Your day will end so too. You have instructed your mind to be prepared for stress and so all it expects is stress.

Try starting your day with a prayer for a change. Prayer is not just reciting certain phrases or chanting something.  Ask your deepest desires and share your concerns to God. Tell Him you need this and you need that and you will be good and work hard to achieve it.  Just ask His guidance and support to achieve all that you desire.
Starting your day with Hope will end your day with Hope too.  Also you focus better and become a better person every day going forward. 

A small excerpt from the Bible. Philippians 4:6 says
Do not worry about anything.  Instead pray for everything. 

God is ready to give anything.  He just wants us to ask Him personally through a small prayer, repenting for all the bad things we have done in the past and the promise of all good deeds in the future. Let's never miss that opportunity. 

Promises in Lent - Never Gossip

The Promise we are going to do today is what we do everyday knowingly and unknowingly - Gossiping about people around us.

We complain the shortcomings of people nearby to others. It gets bit exaggerated and goes to one set of people who spread it to another set and so on.  Every time the intensity of exaggeration increases exponentially.  Finally the person is completely portrayed a bad one. 

Though we are not the one to have portrayed the person a bad one,  we are the one who started it. A single matchstick flame can burn a whole forest to ashes. Though we can douse the flames,  the burnt trees cannot be brought back. This is what happens when we gossip too. Though we feel for it and seek forgiveness the damage is done.

Also just think of one thing. If you are sick, will you go to a doctor to get medicine to get better or go to a Cop to investigate the reason for it? Similarly when you have a problem with a person on his behavior or action we should directly deal with that person rather than gossip with others. 

A small excerpt from the Bible.  2 Timothy 2:16 says, 
Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.

There is a big collateral advantage of doing this too.  We will also become a better person. So let's make this promise today.  Never Gossip about anyone ever.

Promises in Lent - Spread Love

Lent is here again to renew our faith and bring us closer to God.  Lent is not just a season to fast,  sacrifice things most dearer to us and penance.  It's the time to learn about his love,  Enjoy his shower of blessings,  make ourselves new and Finally testify his incomparable grace.

Lent by itself is a very special thing. Let's try to make it even more special by sticking to some promises and mark our presence.  The first Promise we will do today to mark the beginning of lent is to SPREAD LOVE.

When Jesus resurrected and went back to His place in heaven,  He instructed His disciples to spread to all Four corners to preach His word. He wanted to spread His love He has in abundance to each and every living being. Now we must continue what He has already started. We need not travel corners or spend time pouring on ways to spend love.

Start at Home. There may be so many occasions we have used a harsh word to people at home or a physical turbulence.  Many a times we may have even forgotten to call on the people who have expected us. Just say sorry or Thank you or even more simple,  talk to the people who expect your love.

Smile at people You See at street or at work. No-one knows what they are going through.  Your smile may bring their hope of living back.

A small excerpt from the Bible.  Apostle Paul writes in Romans that
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

It just means that WE ARE LOVED FOREVER. 

Now it's our turn to spread it far and wide.  Let's make this promise today to make the World a loving heaven.