![\"\"](\"http://pattygrasher.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/sun-quote.png\")
![\"\"](\"https://pattygrasher.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Gratitude-quote-2a.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http://pattygrasher.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Motivation-patty-grasher-23.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http://pattygrasher.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/GRATITUDE-2B.jpg\")
![](\"http://pattygrasher.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/GRATITUDE-2c.jpg\")
\”Joy is the Simplest Form of Gratitude\”
Karl Barth
![\"\"](\"http://pattygrasher.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/sun-bar.gif\")
Living each day with Joy
I love this quote, \”Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.\” I found this quote but I did not really know who Karl Barth was. So I did a bit of teeny, tiny research and found out that he was a theologian of the Swiss Reformed Church. Here are a few others of his quotes that I like very much.
Laughter is the closest thing to the grace of God.
Grace must find expression in life, otherwise it is not grace.
Jesus does not give recipes that show the way to God as other teachers of religion do. He is himself the way.
and finally I rather like this one as well.
Religion is the possibility of the removal of every ground of confidence except confidence in God alone.
I found a lot more quotes of Karl Barth\’s on Good Reads. Very nice. Didn\’t read them all but will go back and grab one from time to time I think.
I am more than confident that Heaven will be filled with peoples of all faiths, beliefs and practices. The common bond being faith, hope and love as proved in relation with loving and relating to others.
Connecting After Death
Lately I have been thinking a lot about ghosts. I am reading a book called, Miracles from Beyond,\” and a number of the stories are about family and loved ones sending some sort of message after death.
All very weird and I am not sure what that means if it is true. I think it probably is though as I have had a few such experiences myself and a Facebook post I wrote a day or two ago about spooky stories had several people sharing theirs as well.
The Bible states we are not supposed to have anything to do with connecting with the dead – but what happens if they connect with you, unasked? And not to rock anyone\’s boat but if you consider the person a \”saint\” and they connect with you – how does that figure in?
There are zillions of stories of people getting help from the saints after their death. In fact the Catholic Church requires some sort of miraculous intervention of a person after their death to \”prove\” that they are indeed saintly.
Very perplexing. I am definitely NOT going to be going to a seance or playing with a Ouija board but I am probably going to keep contacting the saints for a little or a lot of help.
![\"\"](\"http://pattygrasher.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/sun-bar-moments.png\")
Please add \”your\” three gratitude moments in the comments. It\’s a great way to pick up your day and it\’s fun for the rest of us to read!
- Peanut butter sandwich for breakfast.
- Spaghetti for dinner – Yum!
- Books, solitaire and puzzles – no wonder there is no time for work!
![\"\"](\"http://pattygrasher.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/sun-bar-puzzles.png\")
![\"piece\"](\"https://www.jigsawplanet.com/img/preview/piece.png\")
More Games:| | |Free Words | AARP Games
![\"\"](\"http://pattygrasher.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/sun-bar-subscribe.png\")
I think when we pray in earnest we are praying to the Spirit within us. If that shows up as Jesus, a saint or ??, it is the way we choose to see Spirit. Nothing complicated!
That’s true. We do try to make things more complicated than they are. 🙂
Love today’s quote. It made my day to see a post from you. I do believe that we connect with those who have gone before us.
I for sure do. A bit of a poem that I always like is that “death is just a quiet door in an old wall.” Or something like that. I believe the connection between life and death (as we perceive it) is very real. 🙂
Hi, Patricia – One question: If you know that “the Bible states we are not supposed to have anything to do with connecting with the dead”, then how can you turn around and say that they can communicate with you? You are messing in things that no Christian should have any part of, period.
It’s not something to make jokes about or make light of – It’s important to decide what you believe and live by that.
So sorry to be so serious, but this is a serious subject.
People say lots of crazy things, but thank God that we have the Bible to check what is good and what is bad for us.
Sincerely,
Roberta
Well – the Old Testament is what I was thinking of – when King David went to a seer to find out how the battle would end up. In the Jewish life at that time that was a very forbidden thing to do.
In the New Testament – Jesus himself appeared from the dead (resurrection) but along with him were many buried souls that after they walked the streets for a time dropped their bodies wherever they were and went back to the beyond. A proof perhaps that they had been released from the confines of hell or wherever they had been.
Matthew 27:51-53 “Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”
In the Catholic Church praying and asking for help from the saints has been a long upheld practice.
When I said the Bible states we are not supposed to contact with the dead I was thinking “Old Testament” and after reflection I feel that the “New Testament” revealing what Jesus has won for us – shows that life continues after death. I am not a theologian by even a tiny bit so no way I could get into a true debate on the interpretation of the Bible.
I do know when I found my brother’s body after three days of being dead I did hear his voice behind me telling me, “Hey Pat, What’s the big deal? That’s not me.”
And as far as the Bible being the final word – if you ask ten people what a passage of something in the Bible says you get ten different answers. I myself know that I might read something in the Bible one day and it’s like getting a brand new answer to a question I had never thought about before. God works with us through the Bible but we have to be open to God’s spirit guiding us in other ways as well.
That’s my belief.