Prayer The act of falling to your knees in pleading fashion seeking help from a greater power than all else to have failed you previously.

Prayer faith and vision plus real effort too.Blend them together for one potent brewThe magical spell to your dreams coming true.

Christmas is our annual reminder to look uppondering celestial stars to look outserving those in need and to look downglorifying our Lord in humble prayer.

Is anything truly impossible Or is it that the path to our goals appears too unclear to follow It seems to me that if you seek hard enough pray hard enough you usually stumble across a scattering of breadcrumbs that marks the trail leading to the goal you once considered beyond your reach.

Dear GodI hurt. Please hold me.Amen

The funny thing about an impossibility is that it tends to be a magnet for those who would prove it otherwise.

Is anything truly impossible Or is it that the path to our goals appears too unclear to follow It seems to me that if you seek hard enough pray hard enough you usually stumble across a scattering of breadcrumbs that marks the trail leading to the goal you once considered beyond your reach.

And so the game went on in this manner a throng of children playing keep-away from a bowling ball tossed back and forth between two plump ogres. The air filled with shrieks and cheers and shouts of laughter as daring players thrilled at the sport. That is all but the few poor souls knocked flat and captured. No laughter rose from behind bars because those in the birdcage knew what was in store. They would soon be lunch for a couple of hungry ogres. Now you might be thinking Waitdidnt Gavin call it fun when he was swallowed by a wolf earlier And didnt he tell that raven-haired girl it doesnt hurt to be swallowed whole by a bear All true all true. But heres a secret you might not know. Ogres chew their food. Luckily its only the first bite that stings.

Discouragement fear and depressionthree villains who lurk in the dark.They slip inside souls with a blindfold and goals to shatter your dreams and extinguish your spark.Their tactics are highly effective.They crush a great many each day.And under their spell it is easy to dwellOn fiascoes and failures that end in dismay.The heart and the mind are left heavy.The last speck of will is erased.And nothing stays on when these villains are gonebut a mouthful of bile with the bitterest taste.Alas You must conquer the scoundrelsElude dodge and keep them at bayTo feel fear slink in boring under your skinis a sign that his brothers are well on their way.So reach for your weapons against themTake hope and hard work in each handStrap faith on your hips and a prayer on your lipsand show those debasers how firmly you standDiscouragement fear and depressionthe truth should be known of these cads.Theyre empty and weak it is your strength they seek.Deny them and life is your wish in the bag.

The written word can make one pause and contemplate. It can make a reader sigh to dream or question a belief in considerable depth. But all of that is nothing if those words fail to touch the heart and make one feel.