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Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
We religious types, many times, make religion too complicated. It’s good that God bursts through and calls us back to basics: Love God a whole lot and love each other as we want to be loved. Sometimes, I don’t exactly what it means to love God. I’m not sure if I should buy Jesus a birthday present on Christmas. Should I send God a Valentine Day’s card? So I’m still figuring that out. I do know what it means to love others, so I’ll concentrate on that. Because even though I know what it means – most of the time, it still isn’t easy and I don’t always get it…
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Focus on God and Not on You
Thanks to the printing press the Bible became the all-time bestseller. I haven’t yet seen the comps on the e-version or social media fronts. I’m betting on the Bible’s staying power long after Bey’s kids are grown. (No offense meant to Bey or her kids.) Despite its popularity, getting at the Bible’s meaning takes effort. You can’t put it under your pillow and get the message through osmosis. You need to open the book, or download the file and READ or LISTEN to it. There is no other way. Sorry. And because it was written a long time ago some of it is hard to decipher. And it’s long.…
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Have Mercy and Forgive
Mercy and forgiveness are among the greatest gifts of love we can give to help another. Portia in Shakespeare’s, Merchant of Venice has said it better than most, “The quality of mercy is not strain’d, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” Enough said. Tip: Pick someone near-by who has hurt us and forgive. It’s best if you can say that word directly to the person. If not, then at least begin to say mercy in your own heart. Click here for today’s readings. Verse: John 8:12 I am…
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Discipline Leads to Happiness and Fulfillment
Our world sometimes seems torn between obsessions with either “spring breaks” or “spas.” For a Gemini like me, I enjoy the wonderful contrasts. “Spring breaks” stand for allowing anything and everything. All forms of restraint are abandoned, which leads to happiness, fulfillment and renewal – or so the ads would have us believe. Another set of ads tout the “spa” approach. Come for a week or two of deprivation and regimentation and, at the end, a “new you” will emerge – happy and fulfilled. In a more moderate version, most of us tend to gravitate toward the “spring break” approach to life: less restraint will make us happier and…
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Let God Speak
Reflection of the Day: At work I often ask people proposing a new project or idea, “why are we doing this, what are we trying to achieve? Sometimes similar questions are also worthwhile to ask about our praying. What’s on my mind? What am I praying about? Sometimes, yes, but not always! There is another part to praying. Coming to God with a “blank slate” and letting God write on it. Being patient, non-directive and waiting on God can be really frustrating and challenging because God speaks in his timeframe and his way. A little daydreaming is a totally acceptable way of praying and waiting on God. It’s less of…
