Rick Reilly's headline says, "There are some games when cheering for the other side feels better than winning."
This is a "feel good" story that happens to be good enough to be true.
I encourage you to Click Here for an uplift to your day.
Dec 29, 2008
Dec 27, 2008
Safe above the flood
Safe above the floods
Temperatures leaped yesterday from below freezing up into the 50s. There is a lot of ground water.
Neighbors struggle with basements flooding and toilets backing up. Newscasters announce that sewer systems have been overwhelmed with melting snow banks and falling rain. So I am praying for my community.
Does God know or care about our weather? My sense of nature is that God controls the weather, and the weather God creates has no destructive elements. God's weather is a climate of blessing.
God gave Noah plans for building an ark to withstand a great flood coming down the pike. Noah built the ark and safely rode out the storm. I believe this concept of ark is universally available.
We can build arks today, only they are more mental and spiritual. Mary Baker Eddy defines "Ark" in her glossary of Bible terms, in part: “ARK. Safety; the idea, or reflection, of Truth. . . God and man coexistent and eternal. . . ” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures)
My prayer centers on this concept of ark as keeping mankind safe and inseparable from, and guided by, God’s goodness and care.
He/She doesn't afflict or plan evil. Jesus expanded on Noah’s God of rescue by revealing more of His/Her nature as wholly good, a loving God who reveals solutions right where we are faced with problems.
This divine Love delivers us from the flood of bad news that sometimes feels overwhelming.
If there are practical steps we need to take, God will show us what these are, and how to take them.
This Love lifts us above the floods until they abate – much as Noah’s ark floated safely until the rains ended.
Just as the ark and everyone in it remained safe, so we can find our safety and security in God's active Love as well.
Dec 23, 2008
Unobtrusive prayer
Everyone has music within themI have been praying to upgrade my relationship with my grandsons when we are together. If prayer is interactive, I figure my part in this prayer means being aware of the presence of one infinitely good Mind in charge of our day.
This has reaped great results. Last week, for instance, they built a fabulous snow fort – their idea and without my help.
This week the morning began with video games. Ugh. However, putting my prayers into practice, I did not launch into the adult "can't you find something better to do?" lecture; I backed off and thanked God that He/She was already giving the boys good ideas. And that it is their nature to listen to those good ideas.
After an hour or so, they turned the game off, and soon live music drifted down the staircase. The younger boy was plunking away on his keyboard, and the older boy was strumming his guitar. Never mind that neither one had any idea how to play, or how to write music. They were writing a song.
The boys conspired together on a macaroni concoction for dinner and were pleased with the results. “Don’t tell Dad it’s spicy!” they begged. “Let him find out!” (Dad likes “spicy,” so it would be a happy surprise.)
Afterwards the older boy wanted to play guitar again, but his brother was busy playing a computer game, so I sat down at the keyboard. Using the five notes to which the guitar strings are tuned, I played little melodies around those, while he strummed away.
Inspired, he reached over and touched a couple of preset buttons on the keyboard, and suddenly we had drum rhythms for my five notes. Soon his younger brother came in to see what all the fun was about, took my place at the keyboard, and by the time Dad came home, the boys were well into a musical evening.
God is so cool!
This has reaped great results. Last week, for instance, they built a fabulous snow fort – their idea and without my help.
This week the morning began with video games. Ugh. However, putting my prayers into practice, I did not launch into the adult "can't you find something better to do?" lecture; I backed off and thanked God that He/She was already giving the boys good ideas. And that it is their nature to listen to those good ideas.
After an hour or so, they turned the game off, and soon live music drifted down the staircase. The younger boy was plunking away on his keyboard, and the older boy was strumming his guitar. Never mind that neither one had any idea how to play, or how to write music. They were writing a song.
The boys conspired together on a macaroni concoction for dinner and were pleased with the results. “Don’t tell Dad it’s spicy!” they begged. “Let him find out!” (Dad likes “spicy,” so it would be a happy surprise.)
Afterwards the older boy wanted to play guitar again, but his brother was busy playing a computer game, so I sat down at the keyboard. Using the five notes to which the guitar strings are tuned, I played little melodies around those, while he strummed away.
Inspired, he reached over and touched a couple of preset buttons on the keyboard, and suddenly we had drum rhythms for my five notes. Soon his younger brother came in to see what all the fun was about, took my place at the keyboard, and by the time Dad came home, the boys were well into a musical evening.
God is so cool!
Dec 20, 2008
I should be grateful for this mess?
The joys of moving!My friend Chris and her husband, Stash, bought a house earlier this year. Both are very skilled. Whatever they do, they do with caring attention to detail. Stash knows, for example, how to conduct the heat from the fireplace he built in the basement rec room to warm the living room on the other side of the house.
They completely gutted the place and started from scratch. After months of work, they have moved in, accompanied by many, many boxes.
I stop in this snowy evening to see how things are going. Chris has not exaggerated. Boxes fill the freshly painted living room and kitchen. Teen Christopher in the rec room is putting together a tall corner cabinet.
Immediately my generous friend gives me not one, but two Christmas presents. I hand her my bouquet of grocery store flowers, intended to cheer her unpacking. We find a place for them on her bedroom dresser, where the mirror behind enhances their simple beauty.
We three sit down for tea and talk – a welcome break I think for both of them. Since they are moving from a larger to a smaller space, it has been difficult for Chris to decide where to put things. Although she is very capable, today the task seems overwhelming.
We have very different concepts of God, and I am not sure we will connect by talking about God’s supportive love. So, letting His/Her love support our conversation, we talk instead about gratitude.
“I should be grateful for this mess?” she half jokes. After a moment’s thought, she adds, “I am grateful for my mess. Yes, I am.”
Stash nods kindly. “Yes, a great many people would be happy to have these boxes as their biggest problem.”
As I head home, the defroster melting the ice on the windshield is an apt metaphor for the power of gratitude melting despair. And I thank God for His/Her love meeting every human need -- one way or another.
Dec 17, 2008
Using the power of the press for good
For everyone who cares about news – not the tabloid stuff, but what’s really going on in the world – it’s of some concern that print media is struggling to stay alive.
A couple of months ago, The Christian Science Monitor, announced its plan to shift from a daily print format to an online publication that is updated continuously each day. The Monitor is the first newspaper with a national audience to take this bold step, and the media world is watching. To read the original announcement Click Here.
And you can also watch a YouTube 100th anniversary Monitor mini-discussions below on the future of journalism. Of special interest if you care about integrity, research, and reliable news.
Dec 15, 2008
A Christmas Yearning
My friend, Duane, writes poetry. His ideas usually speak to the heart.
In the following poem, printed with permission, he sets the stage for making unusual requests of the scientists who create wonderful inventions, and send them out into the universe. Or perhaps the final request is to someone else?
How does this poem speak to you?
In the following poem, printed with permission, he sets the stage for making unusual requests of the scientists who create wonderful inventions, and send them out into the universe. Or perhaps the final request is to someone else?
How does this poem speak to you?
Tuning In 2
By Duane Christianson
© copyrighted
I don’t want much.
The science news has told me
that real soon now in cosmic time
they’ll be picking up “I love Lucy”
in the Vega System on their TV sets.
And from what I hear all vibrations
made on planet Earth are still around.
So get in the lab
and make me a receiver,
Call it what you will,
a Crono-Geo-Acoustic Localizer,
and crank the volume up
on wrap-around big speakers
so I can really hear.
Once you’ve got
locations and all the frequencies.
I’ve got a list for you.
How about the first words spoken.
They are way past
pre-proto Indo-European
with “Let there be light,”
but I’ll take them anyway.
And let me hear Abraham
telling his relations
just how and where he got
the message to beat it
out of what’s now Iraq
for the promised land.
I want to hear Moses
drop the First Commandment
on his people
when he comes down from Mt. Sinai
after he broke
his first set of stone tablets
on their flinty hearts.
A reprise of Psalms by David
set to music would be nice
and worth recording.
I’d just as soon skip
listening to Jeremiah’s Jeremiads.
But how about King Herod
trying to con three Wise Men
from the East
into telling him
where to find the child?
I’d go for that
and a chorus
of the heavenly host.
But let me get one other
loud and clear,
that message, “Lazarus
come forth.”
There had to be
a major audience reaction.
And, oh, yes. I want to hear
Jesus loves me too.
No. No.
I don’t mean the music.
I can get that anywhere
on vinyl, CD or the Net.
I want the words,
the words,
the real words.
I want them
from the man.
Dec 13, 2008
Oneness finds expression
Animals teach us so much. Dogs teach me to give God my whole heart, joyfully, unconditionally, trustingly. I can do this because God is good, and I can trust Him/Her with my heart.
The video below illustrates what’s called bridle-less reining. It means the horse has no hardware – no bridle, saddle, not even a loop around her neck.
It looks to me like horse and rider are working at a high level of teamness. Clearly the rider is not “controlling” the horse in the usual sense. She is communicating, giving Roxy cues to which she responds. Roxy anticipates her cues and executes the actions immediately. It looks to me like the horse twirls, canters, changes leads, gallops, and stops because she wants to, not because she has to.
Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.” I realize this is most often interpreted to say Jesus is God. But what if he meant – and this is a reasonable, though not literal, interpretation – one in quality, one in purpose, one in action?
This horse/rider team move as one. Everything they do is oneness. What she thinks, Roxy does. They remind me that giving our hearts to an infinitely good God without reservation allows us to learn how to move in perfect harmony with His/Her plan for us.
As we learn to recognize the cues, our responses are more timely.
I’m not there yet. Sometimes I discover reservations hiding in the background. These become opportunities for honest soul-searching, honest prayer-time with God.
Always there is the sparkling example of Jesus’ oneness with His Father – the life of “him who went about the Syrian hillsides doing good and casting demons out.” John Greenleaf Whittier.
And the contemporary example, below, of how oneness can look.
The video below illustrates what’s called bridle-less reining. It means the horse has no hardware – no bridle, saddle, not even a loop around her neck.
It looks to me like horse and rider are working at a high level of teamness. Clearly the rider is not “controlling” the horse in the usual sense. She is communicating, giving Roxy cues to which she responds. Roxy anticipates her cues and executes the actions immediately. It looks to me like the horse twirls, canters, changes leads, gallops, and stops because she wants to, not because she has to.
Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.” I realize this is most often interpreted to say Jesus is God. But what if he meant – and this is a reasonable, though not literal, interpretation – one in quality, one in purpose, one in action?
This horse/rider team move as one. Everything they do is oneness. What she thinks, Roxy does. They remind me that giving our hearts to an infinitely good God without reservation allows us to learn how to move in perfect harmony with His/Her plan for us.
As we learn to recognize the cues, our responses are more timely.
I’m not there yet. Sometimes I discover reservations hiding in the background. These become opportunities for honest soul-searching, honest prayer-time with God.
Always there is the sparkling example of Jesus’ oneness with His Father – the life of “him who went about the Syrian hillsides doing good and casting demons out.” John Greenleaf Whittier.
And the contemporary example, below, of how oneness can look.
Dec 10, 2008
The real thing - better than experiments
In “Science NOW Daily News,” December 8, an experiment revealed to researchers that domestic dogs, as well as primates, are aware of unfairness. The dogs understood when they both shook paws with their trainer, and only one received a treat, that this was unjust. The unrewarded dog refused to participate in further paw shaking. He was not a happy camper.
To those of us who have been blessed by growing up with pets, what’s startling is that researchers didn’t already know this. When it comes to food, a horse, for example, is not quiet or patient if his buddy gets a scoop of grain, and he doesn’t. Likewise with multiple dogs and cats, you need to feed them at the same time to keep the peace.
Yes, if you have a city dog, you have to walk it; yes, if you have a city cat, you need to clean a litter box. But you are rewarded with basic lessons in common sense, friendship and affection from a creature who doesn’t speak in our words. As you learn to read an animal’s body language, you can relate to him/her on several levels: basic needs, affection, games.
Where is God in all this? I believe God gives us creatures to help us learn compassion and responsibility, and especially to improve our sense of humor.
Here’s a sweet video – one of a series of Nora, who enjoys accompanying kids taking their piano lessons.
To those of us who have been blessed by growing up with pets, what’s startling is that researchers didn’t already know this. When it comes to food, a horse, for example, is not quiet or patient if his buddy gets a scoop of grain, and he doesn’t. Likewise with multiple dogs and cats, you need to feed them at the same time to keep the peace.
Yes, if you have a city dog, you have to walk it; yes, if you have a city cat, you need to clean a litter box. But you are rewarded with basic lessons in common sense, friendship and affection from a creature who doesn’t speak in our words. As you learn to read an animal’s body language, you can relate to him/her on several levels: basic needs, affection, games.
Where is God in all this? I believe God gives us creatures to help us learn compassion and responsibility, and especially to improve our sense of humor.
Here’s a sweet video – one of a series of Nora, who enjoys accompanying kids taking their piano lessons.
Dec 9, 2008
Heart to Heart
Chicago - site of annualLeadership Prayer Breakfast
Rabbi Sherre Hirsch, author of "We plan, God laughs," was the keynote speaker at the Chicago Leadership Prayer Breakfast last Friday. She’s a young rabbi, wife, and mom. Speaking from the heart is a good way to connect with your listeners, and Rabbi Hirsch succeeded.
Here are some significant conclusions she shared:
Here are some significant conclusions she shared:
What happened after 9/11 was magical: to see people bring their divine light to the world… was absolutely extraordinary… regular people doing what they do... to repair a broken world is the way that we are supposed to partner with God.
Our job is to light up the world and to help other people realize how much they matter, how much they are integral to being a partner in God’s creation – regardless of your title or your pocket
book.
As a young child, I thought to be in God’s image means that I look just like God. Not the case. Being in God’s image means to carry that spark, to hold that spark and to know that it is my task in life to light and repair the world.
She made delicate reference to the terrorist killings a couple of days earlier in Mumbai, India where two rabbis and their wives were among the victims.
For a compassionate and informed comment on that tragedy, I refer you to the following link. Here Eboo Patel, whose Interfaith Youth Core also made a presentation at the Prayer Breakfast, opens his heart.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97981229
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=97981229
So our prayers too can embrace the families of those whose lives have been forever changed.
Dec 4, 2008
Recommissioned
Nancy, Olene, and friend Katiein Bet She'an
Our trip to the Holy Land was an amazing education. Our tour hostesses, Nancy and Olene, plied us with information whenever Mishi stopped for breath. Their pericopes (pronounced similarly to calliope) provided insight into Bible stories. Each pericope condensed several Bible commentaries. When telling us about Rahab, Olene balanced on her knees facing backward on the front seat of the bus, the scarf on her head definitely making her story more authentic.
At the biblical Sea of Galilee Olene reminded us of the second time the disciples went fishing – after Jesus’ crucifixion, when they were depressed and discouraged. Their whole world had collapsed, so they returned to what was familiar – fishing. Only their nets were empty.
Olene portraying Rahab, the harlot,
prior to the fall of Jericho
A stranger on the shore called to them, asked whether they had caught anything. Nope. He told them to cast on the other side of the boat, in fact to cast on the right side. So they cast, and voila, a net overflowing with fish!
Déjà vu. Suddenly the disciples realized this whole fishing scenario had happened before – about three years previous. Then their net had broken. This time it didn’t. Suddenly they knew who was watching them from the shore.
Olene pointed out they were reconnecting with the Christ they thought they had lost. They were rediscovering their spiritual purpose. They had learned something about the destructiveness of self-will, competitiveness, self-love. Get this – the negatives were not in the net to break it!
The disciples were recommissioned. They were no longer fishermen; they were to become shepherds.
Nov 30, 2008
Olive tree and its fruit
Ancient Olive Tree --possible site for
Garden of Gethsemane
Because Gethsemane means "Olive Press," scholars think it’s likely that the garden where Jesus prayed before his crucifixion was an Olive Grove.
Our guide told us that olive trees are long-lived. We’re talking 1500 – 2000 years. The one in the photo is about 1700 years old. The main trunk has died. You can see the old gnarled trunk held in place by stonework.
Note, however, the shoots coming up next to it. New trunks. It’s purpose continues.
Perhaps the olive tree is symbolic of Christianity – as early workers pass on, new people appear to carry on their purpose. The olive trees, old and new, continue producing wonderful olives.
Christianity, though, has become rather more complicated. Starting in 325 AD, Roman politics and men’s opinions began meddling with the original stock and in the process the trunks have grown further and further away from it.
Women’s original role as Jesus valued them has been diminished. Also, early writings excluded from the official canon, were labeled heresy and nearly destroyed.
Some of these branches have strange fruit – intolerance, arrogance, pride, conceit, small-mindedness, exclusiveness. Those who have had nothing else to eat, say they like the taste, but to outsiders, it can be unattractive.
Happily, it isn’t that hard to get back to the original stock. First, identify your God –most people can identify with a God who is infinite Love, unchanging Truth, the Mind of the universe, light, goodness.
And then honor this God’s creation with respect, appreciation, and care. Find common ground for unity and communication, and build on these. Help meet human needs where you see an opportunity.
These strong new trunks grow close to the original and bear the intended fruit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Looking to the original is helpful if we want to follow that example.
Nov 27, 2008
Hope and Renewal
Light breaking through dark clouds in Jordan
Mishi, our Israeli guide on the Carroll-Fischer Holy Land tour, is a terrific teacher. He gave us lots of historic, political, Biblical, and geographical information – a small portion of which I wrote in my journal each day.
He cast helpful light on the ancient story of Ezekiel’s vision of resurrecting a valley full of dry bones into an able-bodied army. This story had always been a puzzle for me. Mishi explained it as promising fresh hope for Israel; that God could take a people who had died spiritually, had lost their hope, and revitalize them with life and purpose.
More broadly viewed this story gives hope for today, for everyone. God, whom I think of most often as ever-present divine Love, speaks even to those who feel spiritually dead, lost, discouraged – to revive hope and expectancy of good, to inspire with purpose and renewal.
With today's flakey economy, the anticipation of resurrection in this story is timely. A good God doesn't plan evil for His/Her creation; rather that infinite God has a useful and unselfish purpose for each of His/Her children. No matter how tough things seem, there is a way forward.
“Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity,” is a maxim because people have found it true. No situation is hopeless when a person is willing to turn to a power higher than themselves for an answer.
The catch is not to limit that answer by outlining how we think results should come about. What we think should happen is usually too small compared to God’s good plan. This divine Love has the broader picture, and knows what needs to happen to bless His/Her creation.
When I’ve been discouraged and small in my thinking, God’s grace has always turned out to be much larger than anything I could have imagined. That grace becomes active in my life as I let go of self-centered thinking, and become more interested in what I can do for others.
He cast helpful light on the ancient story of Ezekiel’s vision of resurrecting a valley full of dry bones into an able-bodied army. This story had always been a puzzle for me. Mishi explained it as promising fresh hope for Israel; that God could take a people who had died spiritually, had lost their hope, and revitalize them with life and purpose.
More broadly viewed this story gives hope for today, for everyone. God, whom I think of most often as ever-present divine Love, speaks even to those who feel spiritually dead, lost, discouraged – to revive hope and expectancy of good, to inspire with purpose and renewal.
With today's flakey economy, the anticipation of resurrection in this story is timely. A good God doesn't plan evil for His/Her creation; rather that infinite God has a useful and unselfish purpose for each of His/Her children. No matter how tough things seem, there is a way forward.
“Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity,” is a maxim because people have found it true. No situation is hopeless when a person is willing to turn to a power higher than themselves for an answer.
The catch is not to limit that answer by outlining how we think results should come about. What we think should happen is usually too small compared to God’s good plan. This divine Love has the broader picture, and knows what needs to happen to bless His/Her creation.
When I’ve been discouraged and small in my thinking, God’s grace has always turned out to be much larger than anything I could have imagined. That grace becomes active in my life as I let go of self-centered thinking, and become more interested in what I can do for others.
As I see it, God doesn’t play favorites – His/Her love is universal and impartial – equally here and now for you and me, for everybody.
Nov 23, 2008
A happy surpirse
Following our guide -home!
On our last day in Jerusalem, our guide’s wife invited our whole busload of Americans and Canadians to have afternoon tea and cookies in their apartment.
What fun to be welcomed into their home. To be, for an hour or so, in a family – a warmth and affection worlds away from hotels and buses and tourist stops. To hear who’s who in family photographs, to inquire about vacations and hobbies.
Suddenly conversation ceases as the sobering answer to a naive question is the holocaust. Only our hosts’ grandparents survived. None of the grandparents’ siblings or family. Suddenly the barbarity of genocide past, hits home. We are talking to direct descendents of a few survivors. This country is full of such descendents.
The hosts deftly move the conversation to lighter topics. We snap their photos. It’s time to return to the bus, and dinner, and the airport.
--------------------------------------------
Picture this large tour bus on a small quiet residential street in Jerusalem, moving carefully between cars parked on both sides. We spill out, following Mishi like children behind the pied piper.
Police in a squad car, blocked behind our bus, beckon Mishi who they know is a tour guide. He has a brief conversation, then returns to the sidewalk grinning.
“What was that about?” we ask.
“They asked me, ‘What could possibly be of historical interest in this neighborhood?’”
“I said, ‘I am bringing them to my home!”
It was truly special.
I am smiling still.
Nov 22, 2008
Travel broadens
Sunrise on Galilee
(Lake Kinneret)
People ask, “What did you learn on this trip?”
I ask them, “How many hours do you have?”
I’ll try to keep it brief. Here are a few concepts that totally knocked my sox off. Some may be old hat to you, but they were new to me. Bear in mind that our guide in Israel was a Jew, so we saw history, geography, politics and peace through his eyes.
1. Israel is celebrating its 60th birthday as a country this year. In that short time its people have taken a desert and turned much of it into a garden. A “tree department” is reforesting the land. Thousands of years ago, the hills were forested.
2. Bible archeology sheds new light on some Bible “traditions” we have grown up with. For me that’s OK. Aside from the initial jolt, it doesn’t matter to me that Jesus’ dad, Joseph, was a stonemason rather than a carpenter – due to the fact that in his day there were not many trees to keep carpenters in business. Stonemasonry was an honorable profession.
3. The holocaust is recent and very real history for most of the Jews in Jerusalem. They can tell you the names of family members who perished in labor and extermination camps, and also the names of those few who survived – usually their grandparents.
4. One solution for Mid East peace is water. Our guide firmly believes, “Give me enough water, and people willing to work hard, and I can guarantee peace.”
5. The tinderbox of the Mid East, and thereby the whole world, is religion.
Temple Mount - built on the remains
of the Jewish Temple
of the Jewish Temple
6. Jesus’ Jewishness. I guess I knew, but it just never penetrated – Jesus was a Jewish boy who became a rabbi, and was crucified as a rabbi. There was nothing new in what he taught (he came not to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them). Rather he was highlighting what was important and rebuking what men had imposed on their fellows.
7. I became more aware of unfortunate translation errors in the King James Bible. Don’t get me wrong; I love King James. But it is sometimes misleading because of uninspired translators and uninspired scribes who made the copies.
8. This trip redefined “old.” In America if a building is 200 or more years old, it’s historic. In Israel we saw streets, theaters, aqueducts, and grain storage facilities constructed by Herod the Great – the brilliant engineer and ruthless ruler – who reigned during Jesus’ lifetime. We’re talking 2000 years ago.
2000 years ago, this aqueductprovided fresh water
to Caesarea by the Sea
9. We saw mounds of cities built upon the remains of older cities until it formed a high hill. Sometimes as many as 20 civilizations had called one spot home over the centuries.
10. Americans really stand out. Is it our cameras? The Nike shoes? The baseball hats? Body language?
11. A Palestinian merchant surprised us on November 5, smiling and chanting, “Obama! Obama!” Our President-elect has indeed struck a chord of hope for peace overseas.
12. I gained a firsthand understanding, after a camel ride in Jordan, of why camels are called “ships of the desert.” When atop a camel, you sit high as though on the deck of a ship. Their gait rocks you gently, as a boat might rock on the sea. Of course camels also traveled as cargo caravans long ago, as ships carry cargo on seas.
There's more, but that'll wait for another post.
Nov 19, 2008
Universal beauty
Sunset - heading south from AmmanBeauty is universal.
We saw it in the stars over Wadi Rum in Jordan.
About 3:30 am my tent-mate and I, returning from the ladies’ room, paused to look up, and stood there in awe for perhaps 20 minutes. (And yes! Even in the Bedouin's desert there are now tourist comfort facilities.)
We saw it in the stars over Wadi Rum in Jordan.
About 3:30 am my tent-mate and I, returning from the ladies’ room, paused to look up, and stood there in awe for perhaps 20 minutes. (And yes! Even in the Bedouin's desert there are now tourist comfort facilities.)
Planting our feet in the sand, we gazed up to find the good old Big Dipper, Orion’s belt we think, although it seemed early in the season for the great hunter; and Cassiopia’s Chair. These Mid-East constellations are the same ones I grew up with in Palos Heights, Illinois. Isn't that something to think about!
Reluctantly we gave up counting the infrequent shooting stars as the desert chill drove us into our little tent.
There were dramatic daytime thrills of beauty as well.
Here is another:
Light challenging darknessAnd my prayer for the people of Jordan -- that the silver lining be a promise of education, peace, and prosperity for all the country. And why not now?
Nov 16, 2008
Generosity in Jordan
Amman,bustling Jordanian capitol
At the border crossing between Israel and Jordan, our Israeli guide took us skillfully through his side of the passport crossing; on the other side, our Jordanian guide shepherded us through his country’s passport stamping.
The first evening we were very privileged guests of an American Foreign Service worker at the US Embassy in Amman. Her Muslim friend catered a meal of attractively prepared Jordanian foods for our busload of 28 American and Canadian tourists. Our hostess loves Jordan and its people.
The first evening we were very privileged guests of an American Foreign Service worker at the US Embassy in Amman. Her Muslim friend catered a meal of attractively prepared Jordanian foods for our busload of 28 American and Canadian tourists. Our hostess loves Jordan and its people.
Our hostess, caterers,
and a feast of local food
On the way to the capital, our guide had assured us that all Jordanian children go to school. Yet that day we saw school-age children herding goats; and the next day school-age children were hawking bracelets and necklaces in Petra. “Oh pretty lady, you have beautiful eyes! Nice bracelet for you, one dollah! One dollah, pretty lady!”
My friend, Emilie, didn’t buy any jewelry, but she took a chocolate bar from her bag, and offered it to the enterprising little girl. The child’s whole body danced, from her eyes to her feet, as she accepted the gift. The chocolate might not educate her, but it clearly brightened her morning.
Queen Noor, American-born wife of the former King Hussein, has been a strong advocate for the empowerment of women in Jordan from establishing health care services as well as institutions providing microloans and technical assistance for start-up businesses.
This desert country with a bustling capitol and Bedouin herders is now more than a place on the map on the other side of the world to me. It is real people I met and talked to; it's where I rode a camel. It's what you see when you stand on the West Bank and look across the Dead Sea -- the mountains on the other side are Jordan.
I gain a sense of how important peace is to this region of Jewish-Muslim-Christian neighbors. And how important prosperity is to peace. And how important water is to prosperity.
I will pray more intelligently about peace.
Nov 13, 2008
Barren and beautiful -- Wadi Rum
Wadi Rum formation, JordanNext time you watch “Lawrence of Arabia” trotting along on his camel, notice the background. Notice Wadi Rum. In Jordan we camped in Lawrence’s desert.
Wadi means valley. Rum doesn’t mean liquor; I don’t know what it means. Just Rum Valley . These eerie and beautiful rock formations remain from an ocean that once covered the whole area.
Wadi means valley. Rum doesn’t mean liquor; I don’t know what it means. Just Rum Valley . These eerie and beautiful rock formations remain from an ocean that once covered the whole area.
Wadi Rum Tent Village
The Bedouins provide tent villages for tourists. You can hike the dunes, or climb the rocks during the day, and come to your tent village for an evening of dancing. No kidding. The belly dancer invites tourists to join her. After she departs, Arab men start a round dance ending up with a long line of hand-holding, Europeans snaking merrily around the dance area.
In the morning we are awakened exactly at 7 by a bellowing camel behind our tents. Enterprising young men offer camel rides to early-rising tourists.
Bedouin alarm clock
Did the Children of Israel traverse this land in their forty years of wandering? It’s possible. Nobody knows for sure. The sandy desert would have been considerably harsher than the wilderness to the north.
O’Toole’s Lawrence had a horrendous ego problem that became his undoing. Moses didn’t. The Bible refers to him as the meekest of men. I take “meek” to mean Moses was a good listener. He listened to God because he couldn’t figure out how to lead his people on his own. Which is a pretty good reason!
So my lesson here is to learn to be as good a listener as Moses. That means silencing the inner chatter, silencing ego, silencing the desire to be right, silencing distractions. And listening to that one Mind who created all those stars glittering above us around 3:30 am.
Nov 11, 2008
Knowing what is ours to do
View of the Promised Landfrom Mount Nebo, Jordan
Theories differ as to why Moses didn’t cross over into the Promised Land with his people. He had been guiding thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of grumblers and complainers for 40 years.
They complained about lack of water, and God gave them water. They complained about not having food, and God gave them food. They complained about Moses' leadership, and God strengthened Moses’ ability to lead. For forty years.
Some theorize Moses was being punished for his temper – like when he threw down the tablets with the Commandments on them. He was angry at how quickly the people had reverted to the pagan practices of their slavery days.
Others feel Moses had completed his job. There was simply no need for him to travel any further. His contract with this group was over.
They complained about lack of water, and God gave them water. They complained about not having food, and God gave them food. They complained about Moses' leadership, and God strengthened Moses’ ability to lead. For forty years.
Some theorize Moses was being punished for his temper – like when he threw down the tablets with the Commandments on them. He was angry at how quickly the people had reverted to the pagan practices of their slavery days.
Others feel Moses had completed his job. There was simply no need for him to travel any further. His contract with this group was over.
I think it was God putting a reassuring arm around Moses' shouder and saying, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Here, take a look at where your people are going. And you, Moses, got them here. You guided and nurtured and encouraged them till they grew in readiness – prepared mentally, spiritually, and physically – to go forward under Joshua’s leadership. You have done a great job. I know it wasn’t easy most of the time. But here are the results.”
Traveling with the Carroll - Fischer Holy Land trip, we stopped at Mt. Nebo in Jordan, from which Moses is believed to have viewed the Promised Land. It presents quite a view in all directions.
I had always imagined their trek was mostly flat – through land like the desert in Arizona. Not so. Those escapees had a lot of ups and downs, mountains and sand dunes, to traverse during those four decades. Their route wasn’t at all simple or direct.
So perhaps one lesson for us is to discern, like Moses, what God has given us to do, and to do it to the best of our ability; and to discern what God has not given us to do, and to let whatever-that-may-be go with grace and peace.
Oct 22, 2008
Taking a break
Sandhill cranes coming in at sunset-- Pulaski Preserve, Indiana
Hello Dear Friends,
I'm taking off for a couple of weeks, and look forward to writing again the week of November 10th.
Until then remember that no matter how the US elections go, both candidates are good men, and whoever is elected will do his best.
And that man is going to need the support of the entire country. This is a time for uniting and getting the economy back on its feet.
And that man is going to need the support of the entire country. This is a time for uniting and getting the economy back on its feet.
Migrating cranes, geese, and ducks understand the need for flying together, as a unit, to support one another, to conserve their strength.
It's not that different in our country right now. In order to move in a healthy direction, we must work together, and that effort can be as beautiful and effective as a V-formation heading for a friendlier climate.
It's not that different in our country right now. In order to move in a healthy direction, we must work together, and that effort can be as beautiful and effective as a V-formation heading for a friendlier climate.
Oct 21, 2008
The crane in the driftwood
This carving adorns my friend, Nancy's, fireplace.
A Michigan craftsman finds driftwood and studies the pieces. In this piece he saw a graceful Sandhill crane.
Knife stroke by careful knife stroke, he skillfully removed from that dirty mass of old disfigured tree everything that was unlike the magnificent crane he saw in his mind.
A carver must keep that perfect model in his thought while carving and not be distracted by what everybody else sees as merely an old piece of wood.
What a great lesson! How many people have we met who have lost their beauty, their joy, their peace of mind, maybe even their purpose for living? Perhaps their lives have been storm-tossed for a long time.
Somehow our paths cross.
Sometimes exchanging a smile of blessing, we each continue on our own paths.
Other times, like the Michigan carver, we connect. We make the effort to look deep beyond the battered and weathered exterior to find something extraordinary, something unique that remains of what their Creator created.
Like that carver, we focus on the beauty and goodness that cannot be seen with the eye. The eye stops at the scraggly surface. We have to look past the surface for the spiritual identity. I like to call it the Christ in me seeking the Christ in another. It takes patience and a lot of love.
Holding to that vision, it’s surprising how often we find beauty and goodness coming to the surface to be recognized and appreciated. The Creator's love that brings inner goodness to the surface also transforms the life.
Like the crane, hidden so long in the gnarled wood, that now rises to soar in the sky.
"We must form perfect models in thought
and look at them continually,
or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives."
Mary Baker Eddy
Mary Baker Eddy
Photo thanks to Nancy Fischer
Oct 17, 2008
Why we didn't go to the Arboretum
We went to the library insteadTuesday the grandsons had no school. The parents both had to work, and my partner in grandmothering had just taken her turn, so it was mine.
Although I was available, and happy to help, I harbored some anxiety, because when the two are together they tend to bounce off each other – exponentially. My comfort zone is one boy at a time, and that has worked very well.
At the same time I prayed that God would show us our useful and constructive relationship together. This down-time from school didn’t need to be stressful for anyone. God's goodness fills each day, and it is our nature to participate in that goodness.
It promised to be one of the last gorgeous October days, and a great one for going to The Morton Arboretum – that wonderful living “tree and shrub museum” west of Chicago. I grab any excuse to go there, and the boys enjoy walking or running the trails.
So Tuesday came, and I arrived at their house. Their dad had already gone, and as their mom was leaving, she mentioned an Arboretum trip to them as a possibility.
The boys fixed breakfast – one preparing pancakes, the other scrambling eggs. This comes of having a dad who enjoys gourmet cooking as a hobby!
They had just created an original Lego village, and spent most of the morning engaged in Lego guy adventures.
Here is where I was pleased to see some progress, some good growing, on my part. An intuition said, "Let the boys chill." Intuitions, for me, are angel messages -- a little voice that gives us good advice. One way to tell that it's good advice is that it is usually unselfish and often blesses many rather than just one.
I'm learning that my day goes much smoother when I pay attention to these intuitions. So for once I didn’t push. The boys didn’t mention the Arboretum, so neither did I.
After lunch it seemed important to get out into the sunshine, so we walked to the library a mile away. We poked around the bookshelves and read awhile until the younger boy was ready to check out a football novel.
The lure of sunshine and the blue sky kept the boys outside the rest of the afternoon.
This day was different in a really good way. It was outstandingly simple and happy. Almost effortless. What a lesson for me in discovering the rewards of listening!
After lunch it seemed important to get out into the sunshine, so we walked to the library a mile away. We poked around the bookshelves and read awhile until the younger boy was ready to check out a football novel.
The lure of sunshine and the blue sky kept the boys outside the rest of the afternoon.
This day was different in a really good way. It was outstandingly simple and happy. Almost effortless. What a lesson for me in discovering the rewards of listening!
Nineteenth Century religious leader,Mary Baker Eddy, defined angels as
"God's thoughts passing to man;
spiritual intuitions, pure and perfect;
the inspiration of goodness, purity and immortality,
counteracting all evil, sensuality, and mortality."
Oct 14, 2008
Nail in the Fence Post
This email came along today, and its message of self-control is worth sharing.
There once was a little boy with a short temper and a wise and caring daddy.
So one day his Dad gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail deep into a 2x4 fence post. The first day the boy drove 37 nails into the post. He hit his thumb a few times too.
Over the next next few weeks he learned to control his anger, and the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled. He discovered it was pleasanter to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his dad about this achievement, and the father praised his success. Then he suggested that the boy now pull out one nail each day that he succeeded in not losing his temper.
This was not so easy to do, as some of the nails had gone in crooked or gotten bent over, or were pounded in so far it was difficult for the claw of the hammer to get a grip on the nailhead.
Months passed until the lad was finally able to tell his dad that all the nails had been removed. The dad praised him warmly. Then he took his son by the hand and they walked to the fence together.
They looked at the holes in the post. His dad said, "This fence post has a lot of holes in it. It will never be the same. When people say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this hole. Angry words can cut like a knife. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, someone has been wounded. A verbal wound can hurt as bad as a physical one.”
There once was a little boy with a short temper and a wise and caring daddy.
So one day his Dad gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper he must hammer a nail deep into a 2x4 fence post. The first day the boy drove 37 nails into the post. He hit his thumb a few times too.
Over the next next few weeks he learned to control his anger, and the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled. He discovered it was pleasanter to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his dad about this achievement, and the father praised his success. Then he suggested that the boy now pull out one nail each day that he succeeded in not losing his temper.
This was not so easy to do, as some of the nails had gone in crooked or gotten bent over, or were pounded in so far it was difficult for the claw of the hammer to get a grip on the nailhead.
Months passed until the lad was finally able to tell his dad that all the nails had been removed. The dad praised him warmly. Then he took his son by the hand and they walked to the fence together.
They looked at the holes in the post. His dad said, "This fence post has a lot of holes in it. It will never be the same. When people say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this hole. Angry words can cut like a knife. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, someone has been wounded. A verbal wound can hurt as bad as a physical one.”
The book of Proverbs
confirms the value of self-control,
"He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty.
He who rules his temper is greater than a conqueror."
Oct 11, 2008
Geraldine's poems
My friend Geraldine wrote a book of poems. They speak from deep within her heart. Many people write poems, and some of them are heartfelt. What makes this little book different is that she wrote it while on Death Row.
In a travesty of justice she spent seven years on Death Row before the Illinois Supreme Court overturned her sentence due to corruption in the judicial system.
She says the only way she kept her sanity was to know who she was in Christ. And her poems speak primarily of this relationship and how it lifted her above discouragement and depression.
Geraldine learned early on that bitterness, anger, resentment had no place in her relationship with God, and she let them go.
She found a mission within prison, to introduce Christ to women who didn’t know Him. Other prisoners felt her spirituality. Geraldine writes,
“A lady I never knew
asked me who I was.
I turned and looked at her
And as our eyes met, she said,
‘You are here to help us.’
Another time young women thought the Bible was for old people. Geraldine told them that God uses young people because they relate to Him. She told them how:
· Jesus at twelve years astounded the scholars in the temple.
· David the young man slew the mighty Goliath.
· Joseph the teen-ager thrown into a pit became a leader of Egypt.
· She told them about young Queen Esther who risked her life for her people.
· And about the 12-year old girl Christ raised from death.
· About Mary, the young mother of Jesus
· About young Moses the prince, and young Samuel and many others.
Fast forward to 2008. Fortunately there was a support system in place for her when Geraldine was released from prison.
She now works long hours on behalf of her community, getting kids off the street and into school so they can become leaders, not just drifters. She gives them tough-love, and they trust her. When she can find them, she mentors their parents. She has hopes for a Senior Center and an After School safe place for the children to do their homework.
Truly, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” St. Paul
Geraldine found her spiritual freedom while still behind concrete walls. And she brought that freedom with her into her new life.
In a travesty of justice she spent seven years on Death Row before the Illinois Supreme Court overturned her sentence due to corruption in the judicial system.
She says the only way she kept her sanity was to know who she was in Christ. And her poems speak primarily of this relationship and how it lifted her above discouragement and depression.
Geraldine learned early on that bitterness, anger, resentment had no place in her relationship with God, and she let them go.
She found a mission within prison, to introduce Christ to women who didn’t know Him. Other prisoners felt her spirituality. Geraldine writes,
“A lady I never knew
asked me who I was.
I turned and looked at her
And as our eyes met, she said,
‘You are here to help us.’
Another time young women thought the Bible was for old people. Geraldine told them that God uses young people because they relate to Him. She told them how:
· Jesus at twelve years astounded the scholars in the temple.
· David the young man slew the mighty Goliath.
· Joseph the teen-ager thrown into a pit became a leader of Egypt.
· She told them about young Queen Esther who risked her life for her people.
· And about the 12-year old girl Christ raised from death.
· About Mary, the young mother of Jesus
· About young Moses the prince, and young Samuel and many others.
Fast forward to 2008. Fortunately there was a support system in place for her when Geraldine was released from prison.
She now works long hours on behalf of her community, getting kids off the street and into school so they can become leaders, not just drifters. She gives them tough-love, and they trust her. When she can find them, she mentors their parents. She has hopes for a Senior Center and an After School safe place for the children to do their homework.
Truly, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” St. Paul
Geraldine found her spiritual freedom while still behind concrete walls. And she brought that freedom with her into her new life.
Oct 8, 2008
Elections and backing off
With national elections in the US looming, and mud-slinging increasing, it can be refreshing to back off and find a spiritual viewpoint.
Here’s one that might offer some good ideas to you, as it did me.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1008/p19s01-hfcs.html
Here’s one that might offer some good ideas to you, as it did me.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1008/p19s01-hfcs.html
Oct 7, 2008
The letter
I was part of a board meeting last night where a letter was read. The guy listed several things that were bothering him. What I heard was, “Here is what I am unhappy about: 1,2,3,4.” The letter sounded critical and negative, and I said so.
To my amazement, the other board members (all six of them) didn’t hear it that way. Their generous hearts heard, “Here are some issues that are concerning me: 1,2,3,4.” And they discussed those issues compassionately.
We all heard the same words. I was tremendously embarrassed to have been the only one who heard them negatively. I have committed my life to seeing God’s man through the turmoil, through the fog, to finding Christ in the other person. And I fell flat on my face last night.
I took a walk this morning to talk to God about this troubling event. My first choice would have been a walk in a forest or a field. It was instead down the sidewalk in my neighborhood where they are building a new firehouse and, in fact, the sidewalk is torn up in places.
But you know what? God doesn’t only speak to us in the quiet of the forests and the fields. God speaks to our hearts, even on city sidewalks. I wanted to come to terms with that letter and my reaction to it. And what I heard from God was so comforting, “Just love. You don’t have to judge.”
“Oh! That simple?” I asked.
“Yes, that simple!”
I realized I didn’t have to judge or react. If I stick with my life commitment, I can see past even criticism and negativity to find Christ, and I can be part of the solution instead of escalating the problem.
To my amazement, the other board members (all six of them) didn’t hear it that way. Their generous hearts heard, “Here are some issues that are concerning me: 1,2,3,4.” And they discussed those issues compassionately.
We all heard the same words. I was tremendously embarrassed to have been the only one who heard them negatively. I have committed my life to seeing God’s man through the turmoil, through the fog, to finding Christ in the other person. And I fell flat on my face last night.
I took a walk this morning to talk to God about this troubling event. My first choice would have been a walk in a forest or a field. It was instead down the sidewalk in my neighborhood where they are building a new firehouse and, in fact, the sidewalk is torn up in places.
But you know what? God doesn’t only speak to us in the quiet of the forests and the fields. God speaks to our hearts, even on city sidewalks. I wanted to come to terms with that letter and my reaction to it. And what I heard from God was so comforting, “Just love. You don’t have to judge.”
“Oh! That simple?” I asked.
“Yes, that simple!”
I realized I didn’t have to judge or react. If I stick with my life commitment, I can see past even criticism and negativity to find Christ, and I can be part of the solution instead of escalating the problem.
Oct 5, 2008
How important is it that "they" like us?
One Sunday morning, a mother went in to wake her son and tell him it was time to get ready for church, to which he replied, “I'm not going.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“I'll give you two good reasons,” he said. “One, they don't like me, and two, I don't like them.”
His mother replied, “I'll give YOU two good reasons why you SHOULD go to church: one, you're 59 years old, and two, you're the pastor!”
“Why not?” she asked.
“I'll give you two good reasons,” he said. “One, they don't like me, and two, I don't like them.”
His mother replied, “I'll give YOU two good reasons why you SHOULD go to church: one, you're 59 years old, and two, you're the pastor!”
________________________
Have you ever felt the world didn’t like you, and you didn’t much like the world either?
The mom in the story is right. We all have something worthwhile to give, whether we feel inspired at any particular moment or not.
The reason is not in ourselves, but because we have been created by a very intelligent and infinitely wise Mind to support and encourage one another. It’s second nature – or maybe first nature.
Selfishness, greed, self-centeredness, fear – whatever would tempt us to withhold our caring, would have us not help someone when it is within our power to do so – isn’t our nature at all.
We all have had moments when we have listened to an intuition, gone out of our way to follow through on that intuition, and realized afterwards what a right idea that had been. While this could apply to business, in this context it applies to our relations with others.
Those intuitions are angel thoughts that come to us because somebody needs what we have to give: our cheer, a friendly word or helping hand.
There are two good reasons we can leap out of bed in the morning. One, God loves us unconditionally. Two, as we accept that love as real, here and now, we discover we can pass it along without being depleted. We can pay it forward, regardless of whether or not "they" like us!
The mom in the story is right. We all have something worthwhile to give, whether we feel inspired at any particular moment or not.
The reason is not in ourselves, but because we have been created by a very intelligent and infinitely wise Mind to support and encourage one another. It’s second nature – or maybe first nature.
Selfishness, greed, self-centeredness, fear – whatever would tempt us to withhold our caring, would have us not help someone when it is within our power to do so – isn’t our nature at all.
We all have had moments when we have listened to an intuition, gone out of our way to follow through on that intuition, and realized afterwards what a right idea that had been. While this could apply to business, in this context it applies to our relations with others.
Those intuitions are angel thoughts that come to us because somebody needs what we have to give: our cheer, a friendly word or helping hand.
There are two good reasons we can leap out of bed in the morning. One, God loves us unconditionally. Two, as we accept that love as real, here and now, we discover we can pass it along without being depleted. We can pay it forward, regardless of whether or not "they" like us!
Oct 1, 2008
Whither happiness?
The lottery winner screams with happiness. She is almost delirious. She has beaten the odds. However, at the winning moment she isn’t thinking about how family, neighbors, and others will suddenly jockey with each other to become her new best friends. Former lottery winners have found that their lives have indeed changed as a result, not always in the direction of carefree bliss they had expected.
The tendency is to assume that happiness comes from “things,” from getting what we want.
The advice to “Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it,” understands that happiness is not necessarily getting what we think we want. Getting what we think we want sometimes leads elsewhere.
True contentment, at least in my experience, comes from a quiet joy in our relationship to our Father-Mother God. If that Being is good, present, caring, and wholly Spirit, He/She is active and has no limitations. And that’s a rather interesting parentage.
Take Joseph, youngest son of Jacob, whose brothers were so jealous of him, they nearly killed him, but decided to turn a profit, and sold him into slavery instead. What gladness could possibly lie ahead? Suddenly there was no one who loved or cared about him, no parents to guide and protect him.
But wait. Is there a Father-Mother God guiding him, if Joseph just asks for that guiding?
The Bible story doesn’t specifically tell us Joseph was happy, but it shows him in a productive life of service in Egypt. First he served in Potiphar’s household in a position of trust and authority. Later he served Pharaoh in a position of even greater authority, saving Egypt and its neighbors from mass starvation.
The tendency is to assume that happiness comes from “things,” from getting what we want.
The advice to “Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it,” understands that happiness is not necessarily getting what we think we want. Getting what we think we want sometimes leads elsewhere.
True contentment, at least in my experience, comes from a quiet joy in our relationship to our Father-Mother God. If that Being is good, present, caring, and wholly Spirit, He/She is active and has no limitations. And that’s a rather interesting parentage.
Take Joseph, youngest son of Jacob, whose brothers were so jealous of him, they nearly killed him, but decided to turn a profit, and sold him into slavery instead. What gladness could possibly lie ahead? Suddenly there was no one who loved or cared about him, no parents to guide and protect him.
But wait. Is there a Father-Mother God guiding him, if Joseph just asks for that guiding?
The Bible story doesn’t specifically tell us Joseph was happy, but it shows him in a productive life of service in Egypt. First he served in Potiphar’s household in a position of trust and authority. Later he served Pharaoh in a position of even greater authority, saving Egypt and its neighbors from mass starvation.
Helping those less fortunate
The clue is “service.” When I worked in a nursing facility years ago, I discovered it was fun to be on duty on the holidays – Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, etc. It was totally satisfying to bring special joy and cheer to clients on these days when often they did not have family coming to see them.
Happiness isn’t selfish. Happiness is spiritual and it’s found in service. Selfishness may deceive us for awhile, but eventually we discover that self-serving is out of sync with the laws of the universe.
Some say we are hard-wired to be happy when we are able to contribute to making others happy, to feel that our lives are somehow making the world a better place.
It does seem to be human nature, hard-wired or otherwise, to discover meaning and purpose through unselfish caring.
Sep 29, 2008
Thriving in the light
Thriving in the sunlighteven when it's overcast!
In the last post, we talked about buckthorn – that invasive non-native species that clutters up forests in the American Midwest – and how it is a metaphor for whatever would clutter our thinking. All human clutter is non-native to man as God’s loved spiritual idea.
It’s exciting to see the results once that clutter is removed. The most obvious result is light! Light everywhere – to the left, to the right, and in between. With all this light, the forest’s natural beauty reappears. Where underbrush grabbed at your legs a year ago, wildflowers bask in newly discovered space and sunshine.
To push the light metaphor a little further, you and I are not that different from the flowers – insofar as we thrive in the light of our creator’s love for us.
The non-native invasive species of anger, envy, hate, resentment create an unnatural shade in which life becomes a struggle.
It’s exciting to see the results once that clutter is removed. The most obvious result is light! Light everywhere – to the left, to the right, and in between. With all this light, the forest’s natural beauty reappears. Where underbrush grabbed at your legs a year ago, wildflowers bask in newly discovered space and sunshine.
To push the light metaphor a little further, you and I are not that different from the flowers – insofar as we thrive in the light of our creator’s love for us.
The non-native invasive species of anger, envy, hate, resentment create an unnatural shade in which life becomes a struggle.
It takes persistent commitment to remove the over-competitive buckthorn. Also, on the mental and spiritual level, it takes persistent commitment to a God of Love to remove invasive species from our lives, so we can thrive and be as beautiful and useful and joyous as He/She intends.
Sep 26, 2008
Seeing the forest by removing the clutter
Notice how you can see distant treetrunks-- because (except for the person sitting on the log)
there is no clutter!
In the Chicago area, we are blessed with somebody’s foresight decades ago – to set aside green areas now known as the Cook County Forest Preserves. These are acres and acres of green space scattered around this big county, that include picnic tables, fields, forests, trails, and ponds.
Nearby counties have followed suit, and most have their own Forest Preserves as well.
The villain in this happy picture is buckthorn. Buckthorn was brought to America from Europe in the 1800s because it made good hedges. It also thrived and became a problem because it out-competes native vegetation. Its leaves become green earliest in the spring, and create dense shade that native flowers and plants cannot tolerate.
Forest Preserves frequently tap volunteers to help remove these hardy pests, and follow up with controlled burns. These prescribed fires remove ground litter like dead leaves and branches that would otherwise accumulate to become fuel for an unplanned and uncontrolled fire.
It’s been exciting to see some amazing results. Walking through controlled burn areas, you can actually see between the trees without the clutter of invasive buckthorn. Only the litter is gone. The tree trunks haven’t even been scorched. In spring tiny and magnificent wild flowers actually keep growing because they have light. Harmful insects that live in Buckthorn are also gone.
So I got to thinking, buckthorn can be a metaphor for our lives. It’s something that isn’t native to us, that out-competes what is natural to us, by cutting off the light of God’s goodness.
What’s natural to mankind as the likeness of a universally present God, are qualities like patience, kindness, thoughtfulness, wisdom.
The buckthorn of life would be anger, hate, resentment, jealousy, impatience, self-importance. If indulged, these take over and snuff out our innate intelligence and caring.
Sometimes we realize what’s going on, and we voluntarily dig out the roots of the buckthorn that’s messing up our life view.
Other times, our Father-Mother starts a controlled burn that removes the clutter of rage and criticism – without harming us. We may resist the heat and the smoke, but it is so much easier to fulfill our purpose in this world when the buckthorn has been uprooted and the clutter burned.
That’s when we can look around and see how very beautiful life is. That's when we gain a better sense of our value and discover new opportunities to contribute to the infinite scheme of life.
Nearby counties have followed suit, and most have their own Forest Preserves as well.
The villain in this happy picture is buckthorn. Buckthorn was brought to America from Europe in the 1800s because it made good hedges. It also thrived and became a problem because it out-competes native vegetation. Its leaves become green earliest in the spring, and create dense shade that native flowers and plants cannot tolerate.
Forest Preserves frequently tap volunteers to help remove these hardy pests, and follow up with controlled burns. These prescribed fires remove ground litter like dead leaves and branches that would otherwise accumulate to become fuel for an unplanned and uncontrolled fire.
It’s been exciting to see some amazing results. Walking through controlled burn areas, you can actually see between the trees without the clutter of invasive buckthorn. Only the litter is gone. The tree trunks haven’t even been scorched. In spring tiny and magnificent wild flowers actually keep growing because they have light. Harmful insects that live in Buckthorn are also gone.
So I got to thinking, buckthorn can be a metaphor for our lives. It’s something that isn’t native to us, that out-competes what is natural to us, by cutting off the light of God’s goodness.
What’s natural to mankind as the likeness of a universally present God, are qualities like patience, kindness, thoughtfulness, wisdom.
The buckthorn of life would be anger, hate, resentment, jealousy, impatience, self-importance. If indulged, these take over and snuff out our innate intelligence and caring.
Sometimes we realize what’s going on, and we voluntarily dig out the roots of the buckthorn that’s messing up our life view.
Other times, our Father-Mother starts a controlled burn that removes the clutter of rage and criticism – without harming us. We may resist the heat and the smoke, but it is so much easier to fulfill our purpose in this world when the buckthorn has been uprooted and the clutter burned.
That’s when we can look around and see how very beautiful life is. That's when we gain a better sense of our value and discover new opportunities to contribute to the infinite scheme of life.
Sep 24, 2008
A way to go forward
Michael Todd wrote, “I’ve never been poor, only broke. Being poor is a frame of mind. Being broke is only a temporary situation.”
That’s good to remember today. Many people who were kids during the depression in this country say they never knew they were poor. Everyone in the family worked and pooled their meager earnings, but the parents didn’t complain and the kids grew up happy. Only later did they realize they had been “poor.”
I’m grateful for the leadership in the US government today regarding the troubled financial market. From what I have read, had there been strong government leadership eight decades ago, the depression could have been averted.
There is a law of intelligence at work, a law of infinite economy that overrides all else. Mankind, with all our bickering and quibbling and even good intentions, cannot delay a right idea at the right time. The spiritual power that provides the solution to a human dilemma carries that solution through. It finds willing hearts and uses them for universal good, perhaps including tweaking and editing the present proposal.
Here’s a profound statement that rings true when we throw the weight of our own thinking and actions on the side of good only:
That’s good to remember today. Many people who were kids during the depression in this country say they never knew they were poor. Everyone in the family worked and pooled their meager earnings, but the parents didn’t complain and the kids grew up happy. Only later did they realize they had been “poor.”
I’m grateful for the leadership in the US government today regarding the troubled financial market. From what I have read, had there been strong government leadership eight decades ago, the depression could have been averted.
There is a law of intelligence at work, a law of infinite economy that overrides all else. Mankind, with all our bickering and quibbling and even good intentions, cannot delay a right idea at the right time. The spiritual power that provides the solution to a human dilemma carries that solution through. It finds willing hearts and uses them for universal good, perhaps including tweaking and editing the present proposal.
Here’s a profound statement that rings true when we throw the weight of our own thinking and actions on the side of good only:
Evil has neither place nor power
in the human or the divine economy.
Mary Baker Eddy
Sep 20, 2008
Is it our nature to do good?
I believe it is man's nature to be and do good.
Sometimes that goodness has to be sought and nurtured for it to find its expression.
I just read a first-hand account written by one who, as a young man, served in the Air Force during the Vietnam and Cold War years. His post was in Japan at an understaffed air defense missile site and, as a lowly Specialist, he was also the senior enlisted person in the missile section.
Distressed by the troubled state of his world, he had begun reading the Bible and Science and Health, trying to make some sense out of his life in relation to these conflicts. A military chaplain and his wife befriended the young man, and he began to feel a quiet and gentle sense of love and support. He was finding meaning for his life and growing spiritually.
In his military assignment, he and his crew responded to many alerts each day, prepared to shoot down unauthorized aircraft. Usually the planes triggering these alerts were identified within a couple of minutes, and the alert was cancelled. However one day his crew was startled to have progressed to the final seconds of the final countdown. The aircraft had not identified itself as either “friend or foe.”
To add to the confusion, the command center that would give the final orders - was unexplainably silent. While his fellow crewmen were shouting at him to fire the missile, he prayed to God to know what to do, and it came to him very clearly to not fire. So he aborted the missile. In violation of all his orders, he went to find out what was going on in the command center about a mile away.
There he discovered the soldier managing the alert had physically collapsed, and no one knew he was not fulfilling his job. The plane in question was a troop carrier full of GIs who, had they known, would have been very grateful they had not been shot down. The young man was praised for his unusual actions that day which saved many lives.
So yes, each of us matters. Each of us has wonderful potential to make a difference for good - although perhaps not as dramatically as that airman. Even so we each have the ability to be and do good things in our lives that bless not only us, but those around us.
In his military assignment, he and his crew responded to many alerts each day, prepared to shoot down unauthorized aircraft. Usually the planes triggering these alerts were identified within a couple of minutes, and the alert was cancelled. However one day his crew was startled to have progressed to the final seconds of the final countdown. The aircraft had not identified itself as either “friend or foe.”
To add to the confusion, the command center that would give the final orders - was unexplainably silent. While his fellow crewmen were shouting at him to fire the missile, he prayed to God to know what to do, and it came to him very clearly to not fire. So he aborted the missile. In violation of all his orders, he went to find out what was going on in the command center about a mile away.
There he discovered the soldier managing the alert had physically collapsed, and no one knew he was not fulfilling his job. The plane in question was a troop carrier full of GIs who, had they known, would have been very grateful they had not been shot down. The young man was praised for his unusual actions that day which saved many lives.
So yes, each of us matters. Each of us has wonderful potential to make a difference for good - although perhaps not as dramatically as that airman. Even so we each have the ability to be and do good things in our lives that bless not only us, but those around us.
What counts most is an honest desire to do right. What shapes and moves that desire involves discovering something of our relationship to God, Father-Mother Mind, the creator of the universe who knows and loves each of us, trusting that relationship, and letting it move us forward.
____________________________
The account referred to can be found in a newly published book,
The Christian Science Military Ministry: 1917-2004,
by Kim M. Schuette, starting on page 127.
Brockton Publishing Company, Indianpolis, IN
1-317-487-6868
brocktonpublishing@sbcglobal.net
Sep 17, 2008
What can I do?
Goal - to end recidivism in Cook CountyThe Cook County Sheriff’s Department sponsored a Community Outreach conference this morning. The thriving African-American Apostolic Church of God on Chicago’s south side hosted the event.
I attended because my church in DuPage County received an invitation, and because we have a prison ministry.
This was not another ho-hum run-of-the-mill meeting. Sheriff Tom Dart is a man with a mission, who has a vision for the successful re-entry of ex-offenders into their communities. He sees the churches in these communities as the means for embracing ex-offenders, helping them find housing and jobs, thus keeping them from going back to prison.
One of the speakers pointed out that the Bible is a book about prison ministry. From Joseph in Genesis to John on the island of Patmos writing Revelation, from the prophet Jeremiah to the apostle Paul – in other words, from cover to cover – the Bible is the story of a lot of imprisoned people.
The conference’s passionate and committed speakers deeply touched my heart. The contrast with my relatively secure life was sharp. In my community we tell our kids, if you are lost, find a policeman. In the Chicago’s African-American community, they tell their kids, whatever you do avoid any contact with the police. For this community, police equals jail.
I don’t live where the disproportionate African-American prison population returns when they go “home.” I wondered what I could do for this project.
One thing I can do right now is to put “those imprisoned” at the top of my revised prayer agenda. I can pray that the one Mind who inspires community leaders with re-entry programs also inspires the complete idea for these programs, including support and resources.
Through my prayers I can support the courage of these prison chaplains, and through prayer also bolster justice and honesty within the law enforcement system.
Change has begun in the Sheriff’s Department, and that’s no small accomplishment. God, supreme infinite Mind, overrides fear, indifference and apathy, and provides Her own spokespersons.
Sep 16, 2008
Saturday Night Live, and better
“Saturday Night Live” recently offered a presentation of Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton in a rare joint-appearance blasting sexism in the media.
It was a spoof, of course. The two actresses playing the politicians had a wonderful time. The barbed remarks balanced out, as near as I could tell, amid much cleverness and fun.
Intelligent silliness refreshes these pre-election weeks, while the real campaign ads unsubtly avoid discussing issues by attacking the opponents.
So where does this political muck leave you and me – average citizens chiefly interested in an honest government, in paying our bills and having something left over?
Too many Americans, soured by the mud-slinging, turn their backs on the political process and mentally walk away.
There is an alternative. It involves refusing to become cynical and turning instead to what Christ Jesus described as the Kingdom of heaven within us. He provoked his listeners with the startling statement that the Kingdom of heaven wasn’t out there someplace, but within consciousness.
Jesus lived when the Jewish community was occupied by no non-sense Roman troops. Yet he showed how we can find peace and stability in our lives through discovering God’s goodness and presence – despite economic slumps and political infighting.
Have you ever noticed how refusing to engage in debate, how mentally stepping back and listening for what the one infinite Mind is saying, often transforms or defuses heated words? It’s true.
Next time you encounter an emotional discussion, try mentally extricating yourself and turning to the Maker of the universe for good ideas. God gives us the ability to make this decision, and see more of His/Her present government already at hand.
For more ideas on how to pray about dealing with election exhaustion, click here.
It was a spoof, of course. The two actresses playing the politicians had a wonderful time. The barbed remarks balanced out, as near as I could tell, amid much cleverness and fun.
Intelligent silliness refreshes these pre-election weeks, while the real campaign ads unsubtly avoid discussing issues by attacking the opponents.
So where does this political muck leave you and me – average citizens chiefly interested in an honest government, in paying our bills and having something left over?
Too many Americans, soured by the mud-slinging, turn their backs on the political process and mentally walk away.
There is an alternative. It involves refusing to become cynical and turning instead to what Christ Jesus described as the Kingdom of heaven within us. He provoked his listeners with the startling statement that the Kingdom of heaven wasn’t out there someplace, but within consciousness.
Jesus lived when the Jewish community was occupied by no non-sense Roman troops. Yet he showed how we can find peace and stability in our lives through discovering God’s goodness and presence – despite economic slumps and political infighting.
Have you ever noticed how refusing to engage in debate, how mentally stepping back and listening for what the one infinite Mind is saying, often transforms or defuses heated words? It’s true.
Next time you encounter an emotional discussion, try mentally extricating yourself and turning to the Maker of the universe for good ideas. God gives us the ability to make this decision, and see more of His/Her present government already at hand.
For more ideas on how to pray about dealing with election exhaustion, click here.
Sep 13, 2008
Beyond the mess, a Master plan
Puddles, posts, stakes --is it a hopeless mess?
In this case, the mess is not the remains of Hurricane Ike or a clear-cut forest, or a kid’s room; it’s a carefully thought-out project.
The fire station next door is getting a new home. We’ll be sorry to lose them, as the firemen have been good neighbors. The new location just around the corner, like any construction project, has plenty of interested observers.
First heavy equipment broke into chunks and removed the blacktop lot that had served for storing village vehicles.
By this weekend the pile driver had driven many posts into the excavated area leaving them sticking up at unexplainably odd and various heights. Flagged stakes sprout among the posts. Serious puddles increase as weekend rain continues. More posts remain to be pounded Monday. A newly delivered green porta-potty sits adjacent to a hill of excavated gravel.
In short, it’s a mess.
And this is where the planning comes in. An artist’s rendering fastened to the chain-link fence shows how the new fire station will look – more than double the space of their present quarters.
The vision that will
eventually replace the mess!
Anybody who’s remodeled, or painted their walls, or installed new flooring or carpets can appreciate the planned disorder that leads eventually to beauty and progress.
But what if the disorder in our lives isn't planned? Sometimes kids or adults go through rough times, maybe the result of poor decisions, or of ignorance.
Those feeling the brunt of Gustav or Ike, whether their address is Galveston, Houston, Cuba, or Haiti, might well feel their lives are in shambles.
It’s important to remember there is a Master plan for each of us, and what we are observing is not the end of the project. Our prayers can contribute to the steps that reveal that Master plan in each life.
The God who is infinitely intelligent Love knows what needs to happen to keep His/Her creation aligned with beauty, order, and goodness. This universal Mind ceaselessly acts as law for His/Her creation, moving each of us along to find our groove, our natural harmony with God and the universe.
So don’t give up on the mess in your life. Consult the Master plan, or find someone whose love and wisdom assures you that they understand it. Many feel Christ Jesus is one such individual.
It’s important to remember there is a Master plan for each of us, and what we are observing is not the end of the project. Our prayers can contribute to the steps that reveal that Master plan in each life.
The God who is infinitely intelligent Love knows what needs to happen to keep His/Her creation aligned with beauty, order, and goodness. This universal Mind ceaselessly acts as law for His/Her creation, moving each of us along to find our groove, our natural harmony with God and the universe.
So don’t give up on the mess in your life. Consult the Master plan, or find someone whose love and wisdom assures you that they understand it. Many feel Christ Jesus is one such individual.
Then make choices to move in the direction that conforms to that ideal. Be satisfied with one good step at a time. You will get there in one piece, maybe sooner than you think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)