23rd Psalm - a thoughtful view

Sheep trust their shepherd to keep them safe.

This came in an email. Someone sat down and asked the question of each line, "What does this mean?" Thought you might enjoy these conclusions.

Psalm 23
The Lord is my Shepherd = The most important Relationship, one of trust!

I shall not want = Supply!

He makes me to lie down in green pastures = Rest!

He leads me beside the still waters = Refreshment!

He restores my soul = Healing!

He leads me in the paths of righteousness = Guidance!

For His name sake = Purpose!

Yea, though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death = Courage!

I will fear no evil = Protection!

For You are with me = Dependability!

Your rod and Your staff they comfort me = Discipline and safety!

You even prepare a table before me in the
presence of mine enemies = Peace!

You annoint my head with oil = Consecration!

My cup overflows = Abundance!

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
all the days of my life = Peace and Blessing !

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord = Security!

Forever = Eternity!

A Lifetime Relationship

Keen boots!

Hiking feet need to be happy feet. In my quest for comfortable hiking boots, I stopped at the local REI store.

The knowledgeable clerks offered guidance and answered questions I didn’t even know I had. And the boots felt like bedroom slippers. Well, pretty close. I had no idea hiking boots could be comfortable!

As I clutched the boot box to my bosom, the clerk asked if I knew about REI membership. I admitted I was not a member now, but had been in the early 70s. “Well then,” he smiled, “You are still a member. It’s a lifetime membership! All they need is your phone number or your address.”

In 1970 we had lived in Carmichael, California, many phone numbers and many addresses ago. It didn’t sound promising. Yet the check-out guy and his computer successfully retrieved my membership from the “archives.”

The integrity of the transaction pleased and amazed me -- that a business would remain so true to its intent, as to have recorded memberships that began over a decade before computers were generally available.

And then I thought of the relationship of mankind to God. That’s a lifetime relationship of integrity too. Even if we don’t report in for years, our creator as infinite Mind knows everyone of His/Her ideas. Wherever we are, whatever our circumstance, this infinite intelligence is right here for us.

So that when we suddenly decide to re-establish that connection, it’s incredibly simple. We haven’t even been archived! We are always on the active list. It’s easier than driving into the parking lot and walking in the door.

A sincere desire to really discover who we are in relation to infinity becomes a mental and spiritual reaching out to the Life of the universe. That help desk is open 24/7 and answers in the language of the heart. And the heart and the feet that make that journey are happy ones.

What's growing?

Decorative autumn corn

My friend Arthur writes:

"My parents owned a livestock farm from my high school years until after my marriage. I loved the farm and made it my home.

Many bags of seed corn have I planted, so I know first hand what takes place.

As the kernel of corn planted in the ground absorbs moisture from its surroundings, it begins to change. It is a slow process of molecule to molecule transferring from the soil to the kernel. Then several days later, the sprout swells and breaks through the tough skin surrounding it and heads towards the surface.

The sprout begins its life above the earth as a single green blade. It quickly becomes two blades, and then on upward as it gains strength from the soil.

Each day adds to its growth, until many weeks later it develops one or two ears of corn and they slowly "fill out," and the one kernel becomes hundreds of kernels. The promise of a single kernel of corn has been fulfilled, but the full ear did not appear first.

The kernel of Truth in the human consciousness develops much the same way. When the seed of some eternal truth first dawns on us, though awe inspiring and beautiful, it is not always fully understood until later. "

It has to grow in its own quiet way. If we love and nurture that truth, it will sprout and develop, send down its squiggly roots, and shoot up its slender blades.

Watching corn grow teaches us patience, hope, and expectancy. Just so, whatever we are cherishing in our thinking grows -- until it becomes part of who we are, how we think, and the way we live. And like the single kernel of corn, multiplies in its maturity to be shared among many and planted broadly.

Since this is true of whatever we are cherishing in thought, let’s be sure that what we are cherishing is something we really want to have become part of our lives.

The good news is that our Maker gives us the intelligence and wisdom to make these choices, helps us honor truth and goodness, the genuine corn, so much that there remains no entry for worldly weirdness to hijack our thinking and take it in unpleasant directions.

Goodnight Sweetheart!

Most of us have seen a mom or dad or grandparent singing to an infant. The lullaby comforts, soothes, calms. Sometimes it puts the weary little one to sleep.

Here’s a YouTube you might enjoy. Important to have your volume way up so you can hear the man telling the puppies it's time to go to bed, as well as the fact that he is actually singing to them.




As infants and toddlers nestle safely in their parent’s arms, so you and I can nestle in the ever-presence of our Father-Mother as Spirit, or Truth, or Love.

May we all feel this closeness that the puppies respond to. It describes our relationship with our Maker as interactive, caring, present, safe and comforting.

Laying aside every weight

Based on the shape of a carriage

this boxy Ford represented wonderful progress.

Let’s assume life is a progressive experience. It moves forward. Life doesn’t have to reach a peak and decline even though Western society has pretty much accepted this pattern as the norm.

The fact of human life is that experience teaches us wisdom

This isn’t necessarily because we’re so clever that we never make any mistakes; rather it’s because we have an ability to learn from them. So we go forward and try not to repeat previous gaffes.

As we make better decisions – individually and socially – life becomes less complicated because we don’t have to spend so much effort extricating ourselves from the tangles of dishonesty, inattentiveness, or just plain foolishness.

The writer to the early Hebrew Christians viewed life as a race to be run. The purpose was to reach the goal, not necessarily to be the first one there, but simply to finish.

His approach was to drop all the weights, all the distractions that slow us down, and to focus on the finish line – for him this would be Christ.

He wrote, “Let us strip off anything that slows us down or holds us back, and especially those sins that wrap themselves so tightly around our feet and trip us up.” Living Bible

What great advice. As we go forward, let’s strip away whatever holds us back or makes us stumble.

We can see this concept in new car designs, the goal of which is to diminish wind resistance. The engineers strip away obstacles to moving forward, and sleeker, more graceful vehicles become realities.

If, for instance, my goal is to be a blessing, then I am going to strip away selfishness, self-will and self-importance because I know those inward-turning characteristics interfere with the unselfed love that reaches out to find the blessings in relationships.

Sure it takes effort. Some days are better than others. But if the goal is worthwhile, we’ll stick to it and reach the finish – the point where being a blessing becomes more second nature and less hard work.

The gift of giving

Helene's son Kenny on his horse Cowboy

- about 50 years ago

A favorite song by Peter Link says God’s gifts are given generously to each of us. That each of us has at least one specialty: perhaps patience, kindness, generosity, mothering, fathering, teaching, healing. That these gifts are God’s love in action.

He goes on to say that sharing these gifts goes on endlessly, because the giving of our goodness to one another is never done!

Don’t you love this sense of purpose unconfined!

My friend Helene celebrated her 93rd birthday earlier this week. She thought nothing would give her more joy than to have her favorite birthday pie, lemon meringue, surrounded by her best friends. So she prepared two tables with crocheted placemats and her fine china for this select group of women. I was honored to be included as one of four not from her generation.

As we ate, blue jays, cardinals, goldfinches, and hummingbirds provided constant entertainment for those facing the windows.

The conversation was lively and stimulating. At one point I wished I had one of those new Flip camcorders to record some of the local history being recounted.

These vibrant women were gifts to me that day. They included a retired school teacher, a retired business owner, a woman still active in her family business in her ninth decade, a retired mayor, as well as those who had been simply devoted to their families, now grown and flown.

They stay active, interested in their communities and their neighbors. Their lives say they understand that the giving goes on endlessly, because the gifts God has given us are always fresh and new. They never wear out, never deplete, never deprive or compete.

Each of us has our special gifts that need to be shared.

Love, the great communicator

OK for all you animal lovers, here’s the best footage I’ve found so far of Christian the Lion.

The story is in the captions.

Even people to people, love and respect remains the best communicator.

Want to stay connected? Try love!

John Templeton was an philanthropist and a shrewd global investor.

In a tribute to this deeply spiritual man from Presbyterian roots, Gary Moore writes in tomorrow's The Christian Science Monitor, “John worked very intentionally to live the spiritual qualities he prized. And while he may have valued reason, prosperity, tradition, and spirituality, he gave top priority to love, the connecting force that holds us together despite our differences – even the largest ones.”

“Love, the connecting force that holds us together despite our differences.”

Don't you love it!

Families are often like that. Siblings and relatives can be totally unlike in their careers, marriage partners, life-styles, their worship, or non-worship. If they weren’t family, they would have little in common.

Yet when they come together for holidays or other gatherings, they come with love that finds expression in respect, appreciation, and warm affection.

And it's true. This kind of love transcends differences. It isn't critical, it doesn't gossip. It isn't resentful and doesn't hold grudges. It keeps busy doing good.

Love is an amazing universal connecting force that flows through generous hearts.

Bread

Bread right out of the oven

Joan, my Canadian friend, makes all their own bread. It fits into the morning’s routine. When she needs a break from her home office, she walks down the hall to the kitchen, measures the ingredients into her bread machine and returns 20 minutes later refreshed, to her desk.

By noon, there’s a fresh loaf of wheat bread ready to make into sandwiches.

Joan kindly shared her recipes with me. No wonder the bread is so hearty – sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, seven-grain cereal.

Back in the Midwest after experimenting a couple of times to get it right, I took some warm thick slices to my German friend and neighbor. Hanna was ecstatic. Dabbing some honey on one corner she took a bite and exclaimed, “Now this is bread!”

“Man shall not live by bread alone.” Just about everybody knows those words, if not their source or even what follows – “But by every word that comes from God’s mouth.”

What originates in God as good and true is more vital to us than even Joan’s hearty bread. What Mind, the intelligence of the universe, has to share with us is more sustaining than food.

What the Life of all being reveals about purpose, caring, and relationships nourishes our hearts. And these days, people’s hearts need good nourishment.

We can hear this nurturing when we are quiet, when we turn from the distractions of the day and silence all the chatter inside our heads; when we listen for what’s important, for what’s eternally true, good, beautiful, and lasting.

What is God's message of love for you today?

Indepence Day

Canada celebrated a sort of Independence Day July 1. But their departure from British rule in 1867 was gentler than had been that of those rebellious American colonies some 90 years earlier.

Maybe both Canada and Great Britain had learned something about the value of a peaceful parting of ways in the interim.

My sister and her husband, my Minnesota cousin, and I drove into Chicago for the July 3 fireworks display.

We found dinner at Taste of Chicago, listened to the Grant Park Orchestra, and oohed and aahed at the fireworks bursting over the lakeside treetops.

What does Independence Day mean today? I like to view it in broader terms – that it’s mankind’s independence from peer pressure, marketing skills, drug culture, materialism.

I believe mankind has a wonderful legacy of learning to lean on the Almighty – both for important and less important life decisions. That there’s a universal intelligence that cares about His/Her creation, and is constantly speaking to each of us with specific good, useful, and productive ideas.

If this is so, we don’t have to be dependent on selfishness, greed, ignorance, or fear for making individual or national decisions.

This is the Independence Day celebration I love to participate in.

Hundreds of thousands of pedestrians
exit Grant Park after the fireworks

How to live - concisely

Live simply

Someone sent an email, and these words were tucked away at the bottom:

Live simply
Love generously
Care deeply
Speak kindly
Leave the rest to God.

There's a lot of wisdom here.

To live simply is to not be possessed by our possessions.

To live generously is to share good freely.

To care deeply is to be where we are needed, and to know when silent comfort may mean more than words.

To speak kindly is to love enough to curb sharp words and replace them with encouragement.

If we do this, we will be good Christians, good Jews, good Muslims, good agnostics even. This is because while people look at physical attributes, God looks into our hearts, finds the good there, and strengthens it.

It sheds another dimension on the above advice to take your favorite concept of God -- such as Truth, Love, Allah, Higher Power, Light, Source of all goodness, Creator -- and substitute that term for God.

Such as, "Live simply. . . and leave the rest to Truth."

Hope for world peace

Mother love is where you find it

This YouTube clip shows an unusual bonding between a crow and a homeless kitten.

The crow feeds and cares for the kitten, and they remain friends long after the kitten is eating on its own.



In Christian and Jewish writings, Isaiah the prophet brings predator and prey together in safety. Some 2,500 years ago, he foresaw a lion lying down peacefully with a lamb.

Many people have dogs and cats that live and play happily together.

If peace, caring and friendship can evolve so unexpectedly, this gives me greater hope for world peace.