I get these emails from Ralph S. Marston, Jr. every day called “The Daily Motivator (see email and credits below).

I’m often amazed that the writer can think of another interesting and new thing to say after 365 days!  Today’s message is a particularly good one so when you’re done with my blog, see the message below.

I read a book once…It was about the power of positive thinking and this little story was in it:

A couple had neighbors who had a patio light on in the back yard that shone into their bedroom window and kept them up all night.  It was a huge source of frustration & stress for them both.  To make things worse they had been fighting with the neighbors over it for years and asked them time and time again to turn it off at night, but with no luck.  As a result they spent a lot of time cursing out their neighbors and complaining about how horrible it was to live next to them.

Fortunately one of them read a book about how what we think and say can influence our lives.  So the couple decided to try something different; they changed their methods.  The first night they started praying (or thinking positively) about their neighbors…sending feelings of love their way and wishing the best for them (instead of griping about them under their breath). Of course it was hard to turn off the part of their minds that thought how much they disliked these people….but they thought “well what have we got to lose?  Let’s at least TRY to think positively about them.” So, they said their little prayer and went to bed….the VERY NEXT NIGHT the patio light went off and never came on again.

Whether you believe in the power of positive thinking or not….sometimes we just keep banging our heads up against the same problems over and over again when what we really need is a new approach and a new perspective.  If you find yourself with the same problems you had last week or even last year perhaps it’s time to try something new.  I don’t think you’d disagree that it wouldn’t hurt to TRY it at least, just to see what would happen.

Einstein said:

Insanity: is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.   Albert Einstein. 

And isn’t that the truth!

My father, Andy Andros, was a brilliant man with a good heart as big as a house.  He used to say this no matter how many problems he had and no matter how gloomy or grey the day was:  “This is the happiest day of my life” and truly IT IS.  That ability to put things into perspective and find JOY in the good things, every day of your lives ,is really one of the most important discoveries you can make.

Here is the email I was referring to earlier in my message:

THE DAILY MOTIVATOR

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Send love

+++++++++++++++++++

Instead of sending anger, send love. Instead of filling your mind with worry or frustration, fill your thoughts with love.

Send genuine love to those who support you. Send genuine love to those who disagree with you.

Let go of the need to get the last word, or to get even or to prove yourself. Send love, and you’ll find yourself living with unassailable strength and effectiveness.

Send love, and feel your anxiety melt away. Send love, and experience life at its highest level.

When you’re not sure what to do, do what is authentic, honest and caring. Move forward with love, for yourself, for life, and for others, and you’ll be moving toward good and valuable things.

Live a life that is real, and rich, and full. Send love, and live the best there is.

Ralph Marston

………………………………………………………………….

The above message entitled “Send love” is the Daily Motivator email edition written by Ralph S. Marston, Jr. and he deserves all the credit for it!  Why don’t you consider signing up for his daily message by clicking on the link below.

Copyright (C) 2013 Ralph S. Marston, Jr. All rights reserved.

Visit The Daily Motivator web site at http://greatday.com for an archive of more than 5,000 daily messages, inspirational photos and more.

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This was sent to us from prayer partners in Israel.  

As you know the secular media does not usually give us a true picture of what is happening in Gaza & Israel.  

This letter reprinted here to provide another perspective about the Israeli/Gaza conflict:

Dear friends,

We don’t usually talk about politics, but we felt the importance of balancing some of the things you might hear and read in the media in your countries…. So much could be said! But first a small story: In light of the recent

The most controversial place in the world…..literally.

“Operation Protective Edge” two Israelis received the Lord Yeshua in their hearts on the same day during a messianic meeting in Tel Aviv. The moment they came forward to pray the prayer of salvation, the siren went off, calling people to immediately run to the nearest bomb shelter. However, the pastor said, let’s go on: what’s happening here is more important. Then they all heard the rocket being intecepted by the iron dome. To the people meeting there the New Testament word “no weapon formed against you will prevail” (Is 54:17) had just come to life.

Over the past two weeks life changed for all of us and it’s not been easy. Personally, we returned from a summer holiday in Europe last Thursday. We left a more or less peaceful Israel, but returned to war. While writing this, the alarm went off, as every evening, and we immediately had to run to get everyone into the bomb shelter (see picture). We don’t have to tell you that what is portrayed to you in some of the mainstream media is not objective! Why is the war against Hamas so difficult?  Because for years they used money donated as humanitarian aid in order to stock arms and build their tunnels, under schools, kindergartens, hospitals. Warned by the Israeli army to evacualte their neighborhoods/houses because they are going to be bombed (because underneath these houses stocks of arms are hidden) the Hamas prevent their own people to leave, using civilians as human shields. Little children Lia’s age are armed with hand grenades to be thrown at Israeli soldiers. Today the Hamas prevented wounded Palestinians to get help in a field hospital just set up by the Israeli army. Later today they bombed it. They hid themselves in ambulances and shot from there. They abuse their own people for their goals in a fiercefully hateful way, which seems to lack any honor for the value of human life. That’s the real tragedy. We feel so immensely sorry for the Palestinian people, the children, the mothers and fathers, who have been betrayed by their brothers for decades. The Hamas militants mostly hurt their own people because they so hate the existence of a Jewish state. We can only express what Golda Meir so poignantly stated in 1957! “Peace will come when the Arabs (in this case, the Hamas terrorists) will love their children more than they hate us.”

Map showing Israel & the Gaza Strip

In the present war, more than ever, the IDF is very careful about each strategic step and they provide evidence of what is going on by photos and videos, in order to prevent reports like the heavily debated “Goldstone Report“.  From north to south of Israel, our nation has been exposed to rockets, several daily, at any random hour of the day or night. The war fell on the big summer holiday, much awaited by children of all ages. Now, instead of moving about freely on streets and at the beach, children and youth have to stay in or near buildings that provide (bomb) shelter. Summer camps have been cancelled or heavily restricted. In time, the sounds of the alarm and the rockets instill fear into the children and many of their parents.  Again we want to stress that we are aware of and concerned for the great suffering of the Palestinian civilians. They have no bomb shelters to run to. Many homes, sometimes whole neighborhoods have been destroyed. And yet the war of the IDF is against the Hamas terrorists only, NOT civilians, and not the Arab people as a whole.  We appreciate the effectiveness of the iron dome and thank God for His protection, as even after nearly 2000 rockets have been launched at targets across the nation, almost no one has been hurt (Psalm 91:7).

As a fellowship, we haven’t been able to meet on Shabbat for the past two weeks, due to the fact that no properly functioning shelter is available. We met in several homes instead. Besides calling and encouraging each member of congregation, Michael has begun visiting the different home groups. He is planning to also use the newly set up on-line teaching for our own members of congregation. We thank God that through this attack we’ve been more united. People came flocking in yesterday for prayer. During the prayer meeting, God gave us verses from Joel (Joel 2:12-17): We are called to fast and pray as priests of the Most High, on our own behalf first, repenting and being changed, then on behalf of our country, our nation, that their eyes would be opened, and that they would see that their safety and protection comes not only from the iron dome and the strong army; God Himself is the author of our protection and safety. We also proclaim Psalm 91.

We want to heed God’s call and stand in prayer for our country’s leadership. We are still considering how to do this in a collective and organized way, 24/7. We also continually pray for two members of congregation who fight in this war right now. One is serving his obligatory army service, the other has been drafted into reserve duty. The munition held by the Hamas is nothing compared to what Hezbollah holds. The present conflict is a dress rehearsal for what is described in the book of Zechariah, the day of Jerusalem. That’s why this is the time to lay down strife and differences in families, between congregations (over different doctrines) and as a nation (left and right). We must also stop arguing within the congregation and gird ourselves in unity for a holy work of intercession.

If you want to join us, we will be glad if you can pray as follows:

• For the protection of the Israeli soldiers in Gaza, particularly our two brothers mentioned before.
• For protection of the civilians on both sides.
• For all the children of this war who suffer from loss, trauma and fear.
• For the leadership of our nation.
• For opportunities to witness the peace of Messiah to people in fear (John 14:27), that we could be a living letter and witness of His peace and perfect love that casts out all fear.
• That we could soon meet again collectively and that this experience would unite us and we could live as the believers lived according to Acts 2:43-47.
• For the believers in the Messiah in Gaza.

Peace is  not the end of conflict. Peace is a fruit of the Spirit. The tree is the Messiah Yeshua, the prince of peace. Real peace will come only, when Jews and Arabs will call on the prince of peace Yeshua the Messiah! On a small scale, this microcosm of peace has already begun.

Every blessing on you

Michael and Marianne

I could talk all day on the subject of pain and fear – because unfortunately I’ve become intimately aware of the former and often found myself fighting against the latter.  Fear and Hate and Anger and the resulting pain is very pervasive in the world we live in.  If you turn on the TV, you are inundated by negative stories that could put even Gandhi in a bad mood.  Despite all that negativity, I DO see beauty wherever I look.  Even when a terrible thing happens, I still see love in it’s wake. I thank GOD for that perspective.  After the Boston Marathon Bomb – passers by were the first to help & comfort the hurt and dying.   EMT’s rushed in to stabilize victims and hospital personnel practically killed themselves working non-stop shifts just to save people’s lives.  Often when something bad happens, people come together to help one another displaying incredible selflessness. And even in humanity’s darkest moments….there is still GOOD in the world.

Fear & negativity don’t get you anywhere, by the way.  I admit that there are many negative things in life that can induce fear – the ideas of death, destitution, hunger,anger, rejection, unrequited love, failure, loss, separation, pain and illness are enough to turn anyone into a Scrooge.  Yes life can deliver some awful things – and most of those things are scary as hell.  For that reason I want to focus on the things that heal and mend and lift us up a little bit each day.

A few years ago I was working on the “V-Chip”project and was contacted by the office of the Vice President (which at the time was Al Gore).  They wanted me and my father (an incredible entrepreneur & inventor named Andrew Andros) to demonstrate a product we had been working on that would give parents the ability to control the amount of violent and perverse TV shows that their children had access to  (something we take for granted now, but there actually was a time when this wasn’t an option).  My father later testified about Violence in the Media before the Senate Commerce Committee.  At that time people were starting to wonder if children were being influenced by violent images in the media.  To bring our product to market (the “TV Guardian”) I did a great deal of research on the subject and found that the images we see DO influence our bodies in very much the same way as the food we ingest.  Think of it this way….if you wake in the morning and eat a bag of salty corn chips….and did the same for lunch and then for dinner…..How do you think you’d feel?  How healthy would you be?  The things we eat  influence how healthy we are.  BUT do the things we SEE influence how we feel and think?  Unless you’re a sociopath I’m sure the last scary movie you saw scared the hell out of you.  When the body senses fear a whole series of chemicals are released in the body to prepare us for fight or flight.  OF COURSE if you consistently ingest negative images (scenes of hurt and anger and fear and greed)you are going to influence your own body chemistry in the same way.  There’s a great deal of research out there that talks about how stress affects the human body.  There are also studies that support the idea that what we THINK influences what we are and how we feel.  If you don’t believe me, read my blog posting called “Messages from water & beyond“. With that in mind try to take some extra time each day to look for the beauty and joy in life…..heal your heart by stopping to smell a flower or snuggling with and loving your children or pets.  Think about the people out there that volunteer to help the homeless or people who sacrifice their lives caring for the sick and helpless.  Love and hope and joy ARE out there.  Surround yourself with beautiful art, music, laughter, joyous people and all the things in life that heal us.

I want to remind your heart….your inner child…about something.  I think we all had a sort of wisdom about truth when we were younger and as life goes on that truth gets fainter and fainter each day.  We forget where we came from and as the world loads us up with all the reasons to be afraid, we have to make a point to reach up….to look up and seek the hand of God and rediscover that we’re not alone.  We have to remember that the glue that holds the whole big universe together is love; and nothing is more important than love.

I don’t understand any more than anyone why bad things happen to good people, but I do believe with all my heart that there IS a creative designer and that He sent us here to live these human lives to learn something – to seek and rediscover love in all its different forms.  God does exist and there’s more to life than the years between our physical birth and death.  Jesus promised us this and science is discovering proof of this more and more each day.  Knowing that death is not the end helps us to trudge through the muck. Knowing that we will some day be reunited with those we’ve loved and lost and knowing that we’ll reunite with the one central love of GOD, puts all the pain in perspective.  Think about it – if you KNEW for sure that there was life after death and that “death” wasn’t really the end…..but rather some incredible, beautiful, enlightened and brilliant new beginning…a gateway into the divine…..then that would help us to put death into a different light.  It doesn’t do a whole lot for the suffering part, but the death part really becomes way more tolerable.  That’s why I thank God for the perspective He gave me…..it’s a great gift just to be able to see the beauty (but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop that skill, either).  I realize this is a stretch but it does remind me of all the highly over publicized court cases that are beaten to a pulp in the media.  People are frequently bitching because “so and so wasn’t convicted of that crime.” And then the media finally releases one last little tid bit of information that makes sense out of everything…..and we all collectively say “OH well why didn’t they just tell us that?”

For some reason GOD has veiled our minds and hearts from the truth about death.  Yes, He’s thrown us a bone here and there, but He’s essentially mandated that we live our lives in a sort of amnesia.  He’s set things up so that we live our lives blinded from the truth for the most part, in a sort of “life long test” to see if “unaided” we can find love & truth.  I still believe (with all my heart) that someday the veil will be lifted and we’ll all collectively say “OH, well why didn’t You just tell us that?” (but by then we’ll be so thrilled that we’re enveloped in the love of God that we’ll most likely be speechless and in awe of God and completely unable and unwilling to bitch about anything at all).

Meanwhile…..we live and laugh and cry….and we seek and love and listen and we do what we can to uncover the truth from the heap of “life” that truth is hidden under.  I hope that just thinking about….and knowing that the good is out there helps you to find it in your own life.   I may not know you but I know you’re out there…..and I’m sending love your way.

If you find anything of interest here, won’t you please feel free to talk to me about it?  I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than talk to YOU about what you think.

“When your heart is open to possibilities,

you start to notice small things that can lead to enormous discoveries”

(Masaru Emoto “The Hidden Messages in Water”).

I’ve noticed lately…..after being stuck in a huge rut for AT LEAST the last 20 years……that once I opened the door to a new experience just a little bit, that the discoveries started to come at me at an accelerated rate. I’ve started to learn more and discover more each and every day.

Yesterday I received two books I bought from Amazon (both by Masaru Emoto” who wrote these books about water. He discovered that when he spoke positive words, like LOVE, the water formed crystals that were perfect, colorful & beautiful or when he spoke negative words like “Hate” the crystals that formed were imperfect, dull and ugly).

His publisher’s opening statement said:

“This book has the potential to profoundly transform your world view.  Using high-speed photography, Dr. Masaru Emoto discovered that crystals formed in frozen water reveal changes when specific, concentrated thoughts are directed toward them.  He found that water from clear springs & water that has been exposed to loving words show brilliant complex and colorful snowflake patterns.  In contrast, polluted water or water exposed to negative thoughts forms incomplete, asymmetrical patterns with dull colors.  The implications of this research create a new awareness of how we can positively impact the earth and our personal health”

The author himself goes on to say  “Modern researchers have shown that the condition of the mind has a direct impact on the condition of the body.”  I believe this is true and I’m going to start to write about this on a consistent basis…… I want to make this discovery WITH YOU….and together we can figure out what we have to do or think or say to change our lives and our health and to find the happiness that all humans search for their whole lives.

This is all for day as I’m super busy BUT I am going to write more as often as I can and as frequently as I discover these incredible new things.  PLEASE join me….and please invite your loved ones that you want to take along for this ride.

To conclude….let me say consider that we as humans start out as 90% water when we’re infants, then we gradually decrease our water content until we end up at about 70% in a health adult.  Imagine that if simple THOUGHTS and WORDS can influence the structure of water, and we’re made up of WATER…..then isn’t it safe to say that those negative or positive words are influencing our health and who we are?  Next time….what else are we influencing with our negative thoughts?  (or bank accounts?  Our love lives?  Our lot in life?)

God bless you all and talk to you soon.  Emily

(please comment….I so very much want to talk to each and every one of you…THANK YOU).