Melinda Mills

In my life, I have found there are two things about which I should never worry. First, I shouldn't worry about the things I cant change. If I cant change them, worry is certainly most foolish and useless.
 
Second, I shouldn't worry about the things I can change. If I can change them, then taking action will accomplish far more than wasting my energies in worry. Besides, it is my belief that, 9 times out of 10, worrying about something does more danger than the thing itself. Give worry its rightful place - out of your life.

Female Cowbird

Hello, We recently dedicated our remodeled Kingdom Hall here in Los Angeles , and our guest speaker was Bro. Javier Hernandez from Brooklyn Bethel. Bro. Hernandez did a program in English and Spanish, which was outstanding. Then on Sunday he gave our Public Talk and then a service talk entitled "Imitate Their Faith." It highlighted the hard work of the governing body, and why we should imitate their example. Bro. Hernandez is very knowledgeable of the Governing Body, because he serves as Bro. Herd's personal secretary. 

I have to relate the wonderful illustration he gave of the lazy cowbird. It is so good. Bro. Hernandez grew up in West Texas , and often saw cowbirds. These birds spend most of their time on the backs of cows eating parasites. When they spot a bird building a nest they will wait for the bird to leave and then go and lay their eggs in someone else's nest. The cowbird is lazy, so it goes back to the cow. The unsuspecting bird doesn't notice the extra eggs, and when they hatch, she begins flying off to feed them. This tires her out so that when her own eggs hatch she is too weak to feed them, and her babies end up dying. 



speckled cowbird egg
 
Today Satan is like the cowbird. He watches us and then tries to drop eggs into our nest. They may be work, school, entertainment, recreation, or whatever, and we begin to take more care of Satan's eggs than our own spiritual needs. If we are not careful, our spirituality will die because we are too busy feeding Satan's eggs. So watch out for those deadly eggs and get them out of your nest! 

What a simple practical real life illustration! Maybe you have heard it before but it was so good I had to share. Bro.Hernandez also repeatedly said we are living in the last seconds of the last days. No doubt working closely with the Governing Body, that phrase is common. It's a good reminder of our need to get and be ready. 

You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. 

Ps.I added the pictures for you.....

What is your opinion?. Is it rats? 
If a mousetrap is introduced into a mouse's environment, it will go right over to it, take the bait, and its family will jump on it too in an effort to get it loose and perhaps all will get stuck.

A rat, however, will ignore everything new in its environment until it gets used to it, and only then it will go investigate it. So to catch a rat, a trapper leaves the trap, then when the rat is used to it he baits it. By introducing the bait (something new) into its environment causes the rat to ignore it all over again, until he gets used to it.  

Then the trapper sets the trap and, after waiting for the rat to "acclimatize" he catches the rat.  

The point is that Satan is catching people with this method today, by getting us used to an environment that is very bad, little by little--acclimatizing us to it so we get to thinking that what's in our environment (bad entertainment, immorality, etc.) is normal, and then! He has us.  

Think ? Then reflect on what we considered bad entertainment 20 or more years ago...  

Reminds me of the illustration in Sunday's Watchtower (4/15/12), Maintain a Complete Heart Towards Jehovah:  

Imagine that you are reading a book by the light of a 100-watt bulb, but then the bulb fails. Since you are left in the dark, you immediately notice what happened and replace the burned-out bulb with a new one. Light fills the room again. The next evening, you are reading with the help of the same lamp. However, unbeknownst to you, someone replaced the new 100-watt bulb with a 95-watt bulb. Would you notice the difference? Probably not. Andwhat if the next day someone put a 90-watt bulb in your lamp? Likely, you would still not notice it. Why not? The lamp's light is diminishing so gradually that you are not aware of it. Similarly, the influences of Satan's world may cause our zeal to diminish little by little. If that happens, it is as if Satan succeeded in reducing 100-watt heartfelt zeal for Jehovah's service to something less. If not alert, a Christian may not even notice the gradual change. —Matt. 24:42; 1 Pet. 5:8. 
Anakalia

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of Passage?

His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone.
   
Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. 
 
He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man! Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. 
 
It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him.  

He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.  
 
We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, Jehovah, God is watching over us, Sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.  

If you liked this story, pass it on. 
If not, you took off your blindfold before dawn. 

Moral of the story: Just because you can't see God, doesn't mean He is not there. "For we walk by faith, not by sight."

A Speaker used this illustration regarding our relationship with Jehovah and our faith in holding on during this time of the end; When we are right at the brink of Armageddon and we feel like we can't hang on another minute.

A man was is in the mountains, it's night time, he wanders off the road and falls off a cliff. He grabs on to a tree root and holds on for dear life. He hangs there all night during this raging storm and every time his grip weakens, he grabs on tighter, his life hangs in the balance. His muscles ache and finally near dawn he feels his grip loosening and he thinks he cannot hold on another minute.

Then the sun rises and he looks down and realizes that all during that stormy ordeal - HE WAS ONLY TWO FEET OFF THE GROUND.

Isn't it wonderful. The point being - we are right on the brink of Armageddon and just when we feel we cannot hold on another minute in this darkened, terrible world - we could be only one day away from salvation. We're only 'two feet off the ground.
via Robert Ryles

"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots ? 
Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil " Jeremiah 13:23
 
You've no doubt read the old fable about the scorpion and the frog.

It illustrates how man's nature is much more devious and controlling than is his logic.

The fable says how,...

" One day a scorpion arrived at the bank of a river he wanted to cross, but there was no bridge.

He asked a frog that was sitting nearby if he would take him across the river on his back.
The frog refused and said,... " I will not, because you will sting me "

The scorpion replied,..." It would be foolish for me to sting you because then we would both drown "

The frog saw the logic in the scorpion's words, and agreed to carry the scorpion across.

But when they were halfway across the river the scorpion stung the frog.

The stunned frog asked,..." Why did you sting me, now we will both die ! "

The scorpion replied,... " Because I'm a scorpion … and that's what scorpions do "

Sad to say some people today are more concerned about being " politically correct " than they are about being " Biblically correct ",...

They change the name of sins to justify people's sinful behavior.

They do this because they are more concerned about the approval of man than they are about the approval of Jehovah God.

To Jehovah God, sin—all sin—is sin by whatever name we call it, and all sin is ultimately self-destructive regardless of how we seek to justify it.


Furthermore, God's Word reminds us that no matter how good, how noble, how educated, how refined, or how sophisticated we may be, we are all sinners.
Romans 3:23

Like the leopard that cannot change its spots neither can we change our nature.

We are not sinners because we sin, but rather, we sin because we are sinners.

That's our nature and that's why we need Jehovah God's salvation to save us from the eternal consequences of our sin—which is eternal separation from Jehovah God for all eternity.

When I was a little girl, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then.  And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work.  On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned toast in front of my dad.  I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed!  Yet all my dad did was reach for his toast, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school.  I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that toast and eat every bite!
When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the toast. 
And I'll never forget what he said:  "Baby, I love burned toast."
Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his toast burned.  He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Momma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired.  And besides - a little burnt toast never hurt anyone!"
You know, life is full of imperfect things.....and imperfect people.  I'm not the best housekeeper or cook.  What I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other's faults - and choosing to celebrate each other's differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.
 Learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God.  Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where burnt toast isn't a deal-breaker!  We could extend this to any relationship in fact - as understanding is the base of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!
"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own." 

A house of "Confidence" that is...                   
                    What is the first thing on a house that gets destroyed in a storm?   The roof.   Now let's build our house, a house of Confidence, the foundation is the Christ. What are the four walls?   1st wall is Prayer.   2nd wall is Personal Study.   3rd wall is Daily Bible Reading.     4th wall is Field Service.     Now let's put on the roof. The roof is our Meeting Attendance.   Now that we've built our house of Confidence, here comes the storms, storms of persecution as varied as can be. Unfortunately, the first thing to go during these storms is our meeting attendance, then once that roof is gone, then one by one our "walls" start collapsing around us, and eventually our foundation, Christ is no longer a solid basis for our house of "Confidence." How did this all happen, by not protecting our roof, our Meeting Attendance. Guard it! Cherish it! Do not neglect it!

I lived in Hollywood, California, up in the hills, on Pacific View Trail, for several years, and SAW several famous people, but had no interest in meeting them.
I did have a race with Paul Newman, on Pacific Coast Highway, me on a Honda 350 motorcycle and him driving a Limo, circa 1969. 
We pulled up at a stoplight in Malibu, grinned at each other. I revved up my motorcycle ... he revved up his Limo, and when the light turned green we both roared North.   
I got up to 45mph, and dropped back ... he disappeared into the distance..
But technically .... I did race against Paul Newman.
 

We have to care and show empathy.  Out time will also come.  Keep praying for the brothers and the community at large as well.

Yes, Jehovah wants us to remember them in our prayers and otherwise; though they might not be able to read any thing from us for some time.  (No electricity, lost books due to water damage, etc) Reminds me of this scripture:

(1 Corinthians 10:13) No temptation has come upon you except what is common to men. But God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
 
The time is near when God will ruin those who are ruining the earth. (Rev 11:18) Jesus the King of God's Kingdom will be able to speak to the weather and say "Enough", as when he was on earth and his disciples were caught in a bad storm.  
Mark 4:38-41) 38 But he was in the stern, sleeping on the pillow. So they woke him up and said to him: “Teacher, do you not care that we are about to perish?” 39 With that he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea: “Hush! Be quiet!” And the wind abated, and a great calm set in. 40 So he said to them: “Why are you so afraid? Do you not yet have any faith?” 41 But they felt an unusual fear, and they said to one another: “Who really is this? Even the wind and the sea obey him.”
 

Just another example of people bowing and scraping and acqiescing to my every whim. It gets so old.

Someone changed it. Perhaps they were motivated by your own prediction. 😉

Alas, I can’t change the heading. I would if I could. Hey, ol girl @The Librarian, can you do it?
Even she may not be able to do it. The heading becomes an Internet placeholder and to change cuts it off and sends it whirling rudderless in cyberspace.

Does Jehovah forbid tattoos?

Don't think He does, does He?

It depends on each individual person ... that's why in the Christian Congregation ... we are encouraged to develop a TRAINED conscience, depending on insight and rationality.
The tattoos mentioned in the Bible refer to markings that would identify one as a member of a band of barbarians, soldiers, religious groups, clan, tribe, or cultural background. ... anything that would show fealty, association or legionship with elements of human or spiritual association CONTRARY to the principles and concepts of that approved by Jehovah God.
It is embodied in the FIRST of the Ten Commandmenta ... which in principle covers the entire subject of tattoos.
You have to use some common sense ... which in perusing and perusing a religious agenda ... is NOT all that common.
Under the Christian "rules", we no longer have to sacrifice animals on an alter ... we can eat Bar-B-Que and pork chops, and a LARGE list of other things forbidden by COMMON SENSE to benefit mankind in its collective infancy years when thinking about societal safeguards was almost completely unknown, collectively.  
There is a difference between knowing a "rule" or regulation .. and knowing or NOT knowing the mind of God, and WHY he decided to restrict this, that or the other thing.
Now, since Jesus has expounded on the underlying PRINCIPLES of the Law ... we should slowly, more and more each day, understand WHY Jehovah wants, or wanted ... or even CARED about what we do, or used to do.
That's why we HAVE a conscience.
I think tattoos  are ugly, and inappropriate, and don't have any, although I am sometimes fascinated by "possibilities", and I am curious and ask about other people's INK when I see them. They usually appreciate the interest.
They think it looks good, and it certainly attracts attention.   Sometimes people are so terribly starved for human attention that they will do all kinds of stuff to try and get some .... necessary to many people as food, water and air is.
The uglier a person is, the probability is that they NEED permanent makeup.
Or some really serious plastic surgery.
 
 
 
 

"Permanent makeup is a cosmetic technique which employs tattoos as a means of producing designs that resemble makeup, such as eyelining and other permanent enhancing colors to the skin of the face, lips, and eyelids." (Wikipedia).
Those who wish to indulge in such, if they are Jehovah's Witnesses, would first be asking: " Is it against Jehovah's expressed permission?" The answer to that is no, as the contextual posting from @James Thomas Rook Jr. makes clear.
They would then consider, does it harmonise with Bible principles such as those underpinning 1Tim.2:9-10; Ph.1:10; 2Cor.6:3 and 1John 2:16 ?
There might also be some practical considerations such as:
the cost; the skill of the technician; the aesthetics; the impression given to others; the ease of reversal; the effects of aging This picture seems to offer no cause for controversy:

This picture, however, does give cause for concern..... along with these.

That's why he's called God's son God completed the rest of the DNA for him

Lost his faith completely. Shame!

... and common sense, too.
( Which is becoming less and less common ...)
Agenda driven thinking ALWAYS does that.
ALWAYS.

God made Adam.  He made Eve from Adam's rib.  
Must be a miracle. 

Where did Adam get his?

1942 New World. However I wasn’t baptized at the convention. Was baptized in a cow trough on a sister’s farm. I did attend (and remember) the convention.  The main talk was  delivered by Br. Knorr via telephone tie-in in Seattle and created quite a stir. 

MY ETERNAL FRIEND....
My dearest friend I come to you
On this lovely day
To thank you for your friendship
You always make the way
You give to me the love I need
You’re always there for me
To build me up when I am down
God’s way you help me see
I only hope that I can be
Like you the way you care
And be there when you need me
Just ask me I’ll be there
Friendship like the one we have
Is very hard to find
Just call on me when you need
I’ll come calling, I don’t mind
I am so blessed I know it’s true
To have a friend as close as you
Who loves our God through and through
Who shares my hope and devotion, too