Four Letter Words

Dear Jesus—

       In these days when I am not feeling all that well, my thoughts turn to you. What a great blessing.

       Because there is no doubt, whatever in my mind, that you are right here with me, with a smile and a helping hand.

       I was reading about the virtue of hope yesterday, a virtue we don't think about too often as a virtue; faith and love — yes. We think

about that and we find that “love” a simple 4-letter word transcends all.

      We hear so much about “4-letter” words these days in the media and how distasteful they are to some of us. We would rather hear 4-letter words that are good and uplifting. 

      But let's turn the coin and look at the other side and see if we can see something good on the other side of the coin.

      We used the word GOOD, That’s 4 letters.

      Let’s go on from there.                                      

      God is GOOD.

      God is LOVE.

      ABBA, father.

      Because I believe in God, I have a WARM GLOW in my heart. It suffuses my entire being. I FEEL it in my BODY, which is so often a tabernacle for the HOLY HOST.

      My SOUL, which is something intangible, though VERY REAL, is alight with God's LOVE — eternal in God’s PLAN.

      HOPE is a tremendous 4-letter word. On it I pin my future. With it I LIFT up my MIND and heart to PRAY and READ God’s WORD.

     Through it I MOVE ahead — MOVE into action.

     HOPE is a something not yet attained, but desired. It is something out there ahead of me — a lighted candle.

     "He who drinks of my living WORD will never die," or words to that effect, Jesus said. That is the pinnacle of HOPE. I believe it absolutely. It is something solid, even while it doesn’t feel solid — something I can cling to — something all bound up with LOVE and faith.

      I believe that if I truly LOVE God all out and if I activate that LOVE in my dealings with my neighbor, I can confidently HOPE to be numbered in the community of saints in the everlasting Kingdom of God.

      Now, I have a project for you; make up your own list of GOOD WORDS — you can start with ACTS.