Who am I

I am a retired high school history teacher and college writing and literature professor. In my prayer life, I have attended church since I was a five-year-old in East Orange, NJ. After a tour in the Marine Corps, I was in my own business for almost twenty-five years. During this time, I attended a UCC church in Summit, NJ and served as the chair of the Christian Education program and was a Sunday School teacher for almost twenty years. While there, I became a Stephen minister tending to the needs of those in spiritual need of missing God in their lives.
My wife and I moved to Fredericksburg, VA in 2009 and I immediately became active in prayer ministries. With two others, I helped create a Stephen Ministry at our local Episcopal church. I also helped in the creation of a prayer corner allowing people to offer prayers after our celebrating the Eucharist.
I am now an active member of prayer programs in both churches (NJ and VA). With others I spend most of my day in Bible reading and prayer.
This website is dedicated to prayer through meditations, prayers, and poetry and prose meditations on Love, Faith, Community, and prayer.
I pray that you will be nourished by my offerings of prayer.
©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

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Expectations

I don’t have any special knowledge, nor do I have and special insight into what God’s plans are for us in the immediate future. What I do have is patience. Over my eighty-one years God has allowed me to accumulate enough patience to calm my nervousness about the future and await what comes around the corner. It is usually not as bad as expected nor as good as hoped. God has always surprised me with the Love and Kindness I have received. So, my comment in this time of wonder, let us all calm down. We have a Loving coach on our sideline.

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book:

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Faith. . . A Verb

At this time, as we get closer to Christmas, people ask me if I have faith. What they really are asking is what faith or religion I am. Faith, for me, is how you help others freely and open your heart to receive help in return when needed. Faith is giving love and then receiving love, regardless of who is needing or offering. Faith is the most active verb of love that I know .

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book.

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Moss Among the Rocks

Ever walk along a damp forest trail
and wonder at the sparkle and the
beauty of the shiny rocks on the path?
They sparkle in comparison to all the
misty moss surrounding them.
I sometimes feel that this moss is us
and the rocks are Religion,
confusing us in all its multitude
in our search for God.
©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book.

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Peace

There is nothing more peaceful than a cat rubbing up next to you asking for something, we know not what. But we know it is love. I was standing next to the butterfly bush that my wife nurtures carefully each season. There were several big old ugly bumble bees buzzing from flower to flower around it. I recently read how bees and humans communicated, so I just bent over and said good morning, Mr. Bumblebee. I walked back after getting my morning paper, stopped to look at the other flowers in the garden and one of the bumblebees landed on my hand. Just turned in a circle and flew off. I am usually at war with bees, but I took this as a sign of coming peace.
©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book.

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Pay Attention

It is in the quiet hours where there are no plans. Where our hearts open wide, to the reality of how God helps us plan our futures, He guides us, let us choose our own ways. We are blessed by His grace. There is much noise in our brain, not from the outside, but inside, from inside of us, created from inside our own fearful self. Many times, we don’t know which way to turn. Just trust in God’s path; listen to our inner voice. It IS love that guides us.
©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book.

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Contemplation of the Beautiful

God Dwells here
Look around; look inside;
see the beauty of others.
Accept, do not dwell on the negative. . .
‘tis not God’s doing!
Deep inside find love, find life.
Do not judge, let God do this.
We are here to be together. . .
To love each other first as strangers, then as family,
creating beauty from the wilderness.
Let us find this love;
let us find this beauty.
©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book.

I Was Thinking About You Today

I know how worried you are. I know how troubled you are; how you can’t sleep at night. But listen to your heart. It’s your heart that keeps you alive. Remember, your heart serves two purposes. It pumps the blood from your brain to your toes. It also beats the emotions that carries the love that you feel for the people that you meet and work with on a daily basis. Remember this! This is what is important. This is what carries you from day-to-day. All the rest is just noise. What comes from your heart is what matters. That is the living God within you. Nourish it! Cultivate it! Do not be afraid to show it. To not be afraid to share it. Is the true Love within you. It is God within you. Peace.

©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book.

One response to “I Was Thinking About You Today”

  1. Markmywords Avatar

    I love the connectedness: it is God within you💜

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Man’ Family

Is it time for each one of us to take a walk in the forest or sit on our back porch or go into a lonely room and close the door? Shut out all of the noise of the world. Turn off the noise of the television. Listen to her heartbeat. Search for the God within us. And just ask ourselves what the hell is going on? Is this what I want for my children? Is this what Jesus intended? Is this the peace that he died for? Jesus preached nothing but Love; He healed the sick and infirm wherever he went. Those who were considered outcasts were accepted and blessed by him. He blessed the little children. And for this He was tortured and killed in violence. He died in hate. Let us pray in Jesus’ name that His love blesses our children’s lives, and they live in love, not hate. It is up to us. Let us live in His name.
©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book.

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Our Children

We talk with our neighbors about our grandchildren playing and the joy we get watching them. In our retirement community we lack their joyful noises as they play together. I think about what kind of joy six-year-old Lavra feels as she hears the rockets explode over the refuge of her house every day in her small town near Kviv, Ukraine. Of course, nine-year-old Nizar in Dahiyeh, Lebanon is getting accustomed to hiding in his own basement scared that one of the many missiles coming from Israel will blow up his house. Three-year-old Lakhsha knows nothing but fear as she and her mother nestle into a corner of a destroyed bakery in the Gaza strip. She knows nothing but terror in her life. Yes, I take time from each of my days to think of the children. The poor children of the world outside of the peace of the United States. Yes, these are also our children.
©Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book.

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