A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes
My Day
07:35am
Today's Bible in a Year reading was very relatable to me. A few of the Psalms will likely become personal prayers of mine. Psalm 141 and 142 sound like things on my heart lately.
In the Bible app, what I currently use for this reading, the audio portion of Psalm 142 was messed up. It is set to Psalm 126...LOL I've noticed a few chapters through the whole Bible aren't quite right. It's either the wrong one or the audio and the verses aren't synced up. When that happens, I simply read it aloud myself. As I've been putting each chapter here on my website, I hope I'm always using the correct audio for each. In the future, when I do this Bible in a Year plan, I'll just use this website to follow along.
My goal is to remove my dependence on the Bible app. It's nice to have the app. And I do plan to still have a Bible app of some kind. I just don't like that Bible app much. It has grown too big. I like something simple. When it was first introduced, it was simple. Now they have all kinds of things in it. That is all good and well for most people. So, I'm just speaking about personal preference. There isn't anything inherently wrong with what the Bible app has become.
It has been good to see the sunrise more and more these last few weeks. Even when I'm seeing it from inside, I love it. My apartment faces the east. So I get a good view of it from inside.
Ooh, I just remembered something from yesterday. As I was preparing the Holy Week & Easter devotional content for yesterday, I noticed that Matthew 23 doesn't have a verse 14 in most modern translations. There is a footnote that some manuscripts have a verse 14. But all of the translations I typically use in my studies do not include the verse itself. Only the footnote about it. This discovery is one of the reasons I love that I've been working through the Bible on this website by hand. I've touched each chapter that I've setup here. I'm not using some sort of tool to automatically do any of it. By intimately doing this process, I'm discovering things about the Word I have never known. I'm not just droning through the Word. I'm consuming it. I love that!
Here is what some manuscripts have for Matthew 23:14 that aren't included in most translations today:
14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.
The Gospels of Mark and Luke include the statement, though:
Mark 12: 40 They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation.”
Luke 20: 47 They defraud widows of their houses, and for a show make lengthy prayers. These men will receive greater condemnation.”
09:30am
Yesterday, I failed to talk about a dream I had the night before. So, here I am talking about it today...LOL
I've had those dreams where I wake up praying for someone in my life. It happens enough to call it common for me. Well, the night before last, I had a dream where I woke up praying for a woman. I did not recognize her. But in the dream, it felt as if I knew her. The dream itself wasn't about me praying. But when I woke, I found myself praying for her in the same manor I would for someone I know in real life.
I've had a few times in my life when I would have a dream about someone and later in life I met them in person. In one case, I had the dream years before I met them. When I did eventually meet them, I didn't recognize them from the dream at first. But the night of the day I met them, I had the same dream again and connected the dots the next morning.
The mind is a powerful thing and God has some interesting things He can do with it. I cannot say I understand any of this. And I'm not saying God spoke to me. I just wonder what it all means. There is scripture that supports the idea that God, or one of His angels, can come to us in our dreams. And, again, I'm not saying that is what is happening with me. I'm curious about these sort of things and it's fun to think about.
By the way, none of these dreams were influenced by a substance...HAHAHA 🧘♂️😂
01:20pm
I've only been on one walk so far today. It's another gorgeous day here. I suppose I just haven't been in the walking mood...hehehe
Today is generally observed as Spy Wednesday in the Holy Week. It is the day associated with Judas' betrayal as it was the day he conspired with the religious leaders to find a way to capture Jesus away from the crowds. I reposted my Judas meme on Threads, Facebook, and Bluesky. I think it's funny. I'm not sure anyone else does...LOL No one interacted with me the last time I posted it...LOL We'll see if anyone does today since it's Judas' holiday...HAHAHA
I was thinking about those dreams on my walk. It reminds me that how God communicated with people in Bible times is different than it is today. Same is true with the miraculous healings. God remains the same. But the world is different now. How people responded to things back then is vastly different from how people would today.
This further got me to thinking about how I used to sometimes say stuff like God told me or the Spirit moved me or whatever. I never meant to say that He was literally speaking to me like He did in Bible times. And so I stopped saying things like that. I truly only know something is God's Will after the fact. Although I know He could just as easily do that with me as He did with folks back then, the reality is that it wouldn't have the same impact in today's world.
And to be clear, I don't recall ever being one to say God told me to tell you... Sure, He may move someone to say something to someone because they aren't listening to Him in the first place. But why would God tell someone to say that He sent them?!? Is it really ever about the messenger!?! HAHAHA It's more likely they have an opinion of theirs to share that they masquerade as a message from god...hehehe (lowercase to indicate it probably wasn't from God...hehehe)
Here is a little something I wrote about Providence that I'm finally ready to share, as it relates to what I'm thinking about today:
Providence doesn't always mean miracle or message. Sometimes, it just means clarity of mind. Sometimes, it means the body doing its natural healing thing. Sometimes, it means a change of heart.
Providence can be found in a terminal diagnosis. It can be found in the tears of someone who can no longer hold their child. It can be found in the brokenness of a relationship that is lost forever. It can be found in the storm.
Providence isn't dependant on our state of mind. It isn't about always having the answers. It isn't because we have all of the broken pieces in a tidy order. And it isn't even in our control.
Providence is beyond anything we can imagine. It is beyond anything we can possibly hope for. It is beyond how much faith we think we need to have. It is beyond what we could ever be told.
Providence can come in the laughter of a loved one. It can come by a helping hand. It can come when a blind person shows us the way. It can come when a puppy is happy to see us. It can come from a seemingly random word of encouragement from someone we haven't spoken to in a long time.
Providence is realized and recognized in Who our faith is in. If God wills something, it happens. He's Who our faith should be in.
03:30pm
I've started my weekly rice cook...hehehe The smell triggers my appetite! I'm glad I'm back to making rice again. I'll not be making any next week, though. I'll be on a Staycation...hehehe I'm thinking about doing this twice a week now. It's easy to add to my meals. And I haven't grown tired of it yet. It's a staple in a lot of cultures. It hasn't been in my family, though. It was just an occasional thing because I'm from a USA/Midwest culture. But I've been eating it quite a bit lately and I love it! I've also been doing chowmein once a week. I've thought about increasing that too.
Lately, I've been sending Cherie Humpty Dumpty photos on Wednesdays...since it is Humpty Dumpty Day for us (a play on Hump Day, as it's typically called). Well, this week, with Easter being this Sunday, I've decided I'd April Shower her with several (somewhat) Easter themed Humpty Dumpty's...hehehe It was fun curating them and I've been gradually sending them. I think by the end of the day, there will be 9 in total...hehehe
I enjoy doing these warm hugs. Some are silly. Some have special and deep meaning. Some are just thinking of you things. It all depends on the context, who I am doing them for, and whatever mood we are all in. But no matter what, it is part of who I am and how I show love to someone. It's a simple act of kindness that costs nothing. The world needs more of this. God has given me a gift that I love to share with others. Perhaps...some of these things are inspired by Providence? (see what I did there...LOL)
06:45pm
I just finished watching this week's episode (S4E1) of The Chosen and was reminded of a significant dream that's a part of my life. I'm not sure if I've written about this before. So bear with me if you've heard this already.
My son's mother and I were having trouble agreeing on a name for our son. Names went back and forth and each were politely rejected. Then one night, his mother had a dream about what we would call him. She didn't tell me about the dream at first. The next day, while she was at work, one of her co-workers came running to her shouting, You need to call him Malachi! In his mother's dream, we had given him the name Malachi. When she got home that night, she told me all about the dream and what her co-worker said. The matter was settled, our son's name was to be Malachi; which the Hebrew origin means my messenger or my angel.
Malachi has always loved his name. He is a gift from God and His Providence (see, I did it again...LOL) provided a wonderful name for my son ❤️
10:55pm
I mentioned earlier about the audio issues for Psalm 142 in the Bible app. It turns out, the issue is the source file. The place I get the audio recordings from has the same issue...hehehe I contacted them about it. So for now, my website will not have the audio included for this Psalm. That's a first! Once they correct it, I'll update my site to include the audio.
Today, I discovered that CUMC has a mid-week devotional they do live on Facebook on Wednesdays. I didn't tune in live today as I don't have social media notifications turned on for any of those apps. But I did watch the recording this evening. It was really nice to have a devotional from the pastor today.
I'll be tuning in for the services tomorrow and Friday for Holy Week. I'm looking forward to seeing how those services go at CUMC. This is my first Easter with this church. Last year, I tuned into all of the Holy Week services at CCGS. For Easter, I went to theChapel's earliest service and then tuned into the CCGS Sonrise service. This year, I'll try to attend all 3 of the CUMC services. I think they are all different. At least the styles might be. The sermon might be the same? I don't really know...hehehe
Today's photo was another painted rock...hehehe This one was found because I picked up some trash and took it to a trashcan I don't normally go by. It was off in a direction away from the pond but was closest to where I found the trash. On my way back to the pond, I spotted it...hehehe If I hadn't picked up the trash and gone to that alternate trashcan, I wouldn't have seen the rock...LOL
Well, this has been a long day...in a good way. I better call it a night and think about bed. What dreams will I dream tonight, I wonder? A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you're fast asleep ❤️
Today's photo 📸
You can find this photo in the photo section too.
Bible
Holy Week
📖 Today's reading in the Bible section.
Bible in a Year
📖 Today's reading in the Bible section.