Many thanks to those of you who responded to the Annual Appeal last week. I hope many others of you have put this on your "To Do" list.  ;-)  

An unobtrusive donation link will continue to be included at the bottom of each edition of Daily Spiritual Seed.

Until next year's appeal . . .

Peace, Phil

God, out of omniscience, has given us things in life that may challenge our abilities to handle them, as well as situations that we cannot control. May the Teacher of True Knowing illumine our minds and  spirits with the wisdom to know the difference between what we can "handle" and what we can "control." We will then learn the peace that nurtures spiritual life, and passes all our understanding.
- David Rice, ObJN

(Where in your life do you struggle with the distinctions between  controlling and influencing? Pray the wisdom to know the difference.)

Rv 1:1-4; 2:1-5;   Ps 1:1-4, 6;    Lk 18:35-43

R. (Rev. 2:17) Those who are victorious I will feed from the tree of life.

Blessed the man who follows not
the counsel of the wicked
Nor walks in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the company of the insolent,
But delights in the law of the LORD
and meditates on his law day and night.

He is like a tree
planted near running water,
That yields its fruit in due season,
and whose leaves never fade.
Whatever he does, prospers.

Not so the wicked, not so;
they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
For the LORD watches over the way of the just,
but the way of the wicked vanishes.

Lord, please let me see.

 This simple prayer of the blind beggar should be in our hearts and on our lips continually. Lord, please let me see the beauty of your creation: the colors of the flowers in summer, the shapes of the snowflakes in winter, the glow of the stars in the night, even the blur made by summer heat coming off the pavement. Let me see the suffering of others and not ignore their pain or remain in ignorance. Let me see the needs of the world and the solutions to problems in my own life. Let me see the innate dignity of each person who is made in God's image. Most of all, let me see your will in my daily decisions.

Lord, please let us see, we pray.

(By Portia Clark)

Now some people, who seem to be righteous, yet live contrary to these three ways and to every virtue. Let every one observe and prove himself! Every man who is not drawn and enlightened of God is not touched by love, and has neither the active cleaving with desire [67] nor the simple and loving tendency to fruitive rest. And therefore such a one cannot unite himself with God; for all those who live without supernatural love are inclined towards themselves and seek their rest in outward things. For all creatures by their nature tend towards rest: and therefore, rest is sought both by the good and by the evil, in divers ways.