"Christ died on a tree, so that we might live like one..."
REAL LOVE
Moses Mendelssohn, the grandfather of the well-known German composer, was not handsome. He had a grotesque hunchback. One day he visited a merchant in Hamburg, who had a lovely daughter named Frumtje. Moses fell hopelessly in love with her. But Frumtje was repulsed by his misshapen appearance.

When it came a time for him to leave. Moses gathered his courage and climbed the stairs to her room, to take one last opportunity to speak with her. She was a vision of heavenly beauty. After several
attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked,"Do you believe marriages are made in heaven?"

"Yes." she answered, looking at the floor. "And do you?"

"Yes, I do," he replied. "You see, in heaven at the birth of each boy, the Lord announces which girl he will marry. When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me. Then the Lord added, "But your wife will be humpbacked." "Right there and then I called out, 'O Lord, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy. Please, Lord, give me the hump and let her be beautiful.'"

Then Frumtje looked up into his eyes and was stirred by some deep memory. She reached out and gave Moses her hand and later became his devoted wife.

There's a wonderful line that describes this kind of love from the writings of the apostle Paul which says love "always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

Bennett Cerf relates this story about a bus that was bumping along a back road in the South. In one seat a wispy old man sat holding a bunch of fresh flowers. Across the aisle was a young girl whose eyes came back again and again to the man's flowers. The time came for the old man to get off. Impulsively he thrust the flowers into the girl's lap. "I can see that you love the flowers," he explained, "and I think my wife would like for you to have them. I'll tell her I gave them to you."

The girl accepted the flowers, then watched the old man get off the bus and walk through the gate of a small cemetery.

Love is a very special kind of gift.... in order to be loved it is given without thought of a reward coming back. Let's always remember to love in action as well as in words.
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DEAR LORD, thank you for all the blessings of the year about to end - the blessings of faith and hope that make us go through life courageously and joyfully. Thank you most especially for Your love that continues to dwell in our homes and in our hearts. As I watch the old year go by and welcome the new year, I pray that by Your grace I can live up to the standard of Your love. In response to Your unconditional love for me, I dedicate myself to living for You, and loving others the way You have loved me. Hold me in the palm of Your hand and bless me and my loved ones with the same kind of joy that we bring to others for Your sake. Lord, thank you for this new year in our lives.


Happy New Yurr to you and your loved ones!

"By the reflection you seem to be so damn unpretty..."im done, im out GOd bless!