I'm learning that you can't outline how healing comes to people. Here's one man's unique story.
It was a cool, drab February morning, just warm enough for the snow to begin melting. As I walked the indoor track at the Park District field house, a smiling man dropped his jacket on the bleachers. We introduced ourselves by first names and shook hands, and headed off on the circuit together.
Bill asked what I did. I replied, “I do spiritual healing.”
“Oh,” he said, “I believe in that.”
“Tell me more,” I encouraged him.
He eyed me cautiously, “I found Jesus.”
“I’d like to hear about that.”
Reassured, Bill smiled. This was clearly a story he enjoyed telling. And one that moved me deeply to hear. Deeply.
“Around 2000,” he began, “There was a large Mary sculpture that was going around the country on a flat bed truck.”
“Yes I remember seeing it.” While it held no emotional meaning for me, we had taken some out-of-town Catholic friends to see work of religious art in a nearby church parking lot.
Bill and his wife were in the Catholic church till about 1967. “Then I got mad about something and walked out. We went to other churches, and for about 10 years we were Methodists. That’s where I learned about the Holy Spirit. And I’m so grateful.”
Later one day at work, Bill threw a coffee cup at a colleague. Fortunately it missed her, but he had to ask himself at that point, “What am I doing?” He asked a buddy to sign him out, and he went home for the day. His buddy called Bill’s wife to give her a heads up. “Something’s wrong with Bill. He just walked off the job, and he’s on his way home.”
His wife set up an appointment for him to see, in his words, a shrink.
Before that appointment, this Mary sculpture was in the area. They were driving, and his wife asked Bill if he’s like to see it, and he said No. They turned into the parking lot, though, and she asked if he’d like to get out and take a closer look, and he said No.
Father Paul, a hands-on healer, was there, and she asked if he’d like to talk to Father Paul, and Bill said No.
Yet he found himself talking to Father Paul who asked, “How can I help you?”
Bill said, “I don’t know. I’m very angry, and I don’t know why.”
He talked and talked and talked. Father Paul put his hand on Bill’s head and prayed. As he was praying, a storm came up - wind blowing the folding chairs around, and lightning, so intense that Bill couldn’t hear the prayer. Finally the storm quit and there was peace. He felt as though a burden had been lifted.
His wife asked, “Are you OK?
“Yes,” Bill nodded. “I think I can sleep tonight.” then he added, “Wasn’t that the strangest storm!”
His wife looked at him. “Storm? Bill, there was no storm.” Bill realized it had been his own personal turmoil raging within him. No one else saw a storm.
About a week later his wife asked Bill when he had last suffered a migraine headache. These had plagued him from childhood and, though he had tried many medications over the years, nothing had helped. He realized there had been no headaches since Father Paul had prayed for him. In addition, all the anger was gone. They canceled the doctor’s appointment.
Bill went back to work and though nothing had changed, he wasn’t upset by his work environment anymore. No more Mr. Crabby.
He had never read the Bible. But his daughter, an Evangelical Christian, gave him one after this experience. Several months later he read about the Day of Pentecost. In great excitement Bill came running to his wife, “You have to read this! This is me!” He was thrilled by the description of the Holy Spirit as a rushing, mighty wind.
He and his wife returned to the Catholic church because, as she said of Bill’s transformation, “This is real. This is real.”
His story lasted about 30 minutes. We put our jackets on and left the field house together still talking. We hugged in the parking lot. “God is good,” he said as we parted. “Yes,” I agreed, He sure is.”
Showing posts with label anger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anger. Show all posts
Feb 18, 2011
Sep 22, 2009
Law of the Garbage Truck
This metaphor came in a recent email. Thought it had a good message.
What happens to you may not be your choice. What you do about it is.
American religious leader Mary Baker Eddy, explained it another way, "Love meeting no response, but still remaining love."
One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport.
We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car sped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy; and I mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? That idiot almost ruined your car and could have sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxidriver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."
He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage -- full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it, and sometimes they'll dump it on you.
Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.
The taxi driver showed me by example that one key to a stress-free life is to not let garbage trucks determine your happiness.
What happens to you may not be your choice. What you do about it is.
American religious leader Mary Baker Eddy, explained it another way, "Love meeting no response, but still remaining love."
Mar 24, 2008
A finishing touch to our lives
The movie, “An unfinished life” reveals the unavoidability of forgiveness. There’s a sub-theme with a bear in it. The first time I saw this tough but sweet film, I couldn’t figure out how the bear related. The second time it was obvious.
Einer, a Wyoming rancher whose son had been killed a decade before in an auto accident, needs to forgive his daughter-in-law Jean – the driver during the fatal accident. Mitch, his best friend, has been badly mauled by a bear and requires some daily care.
Meanwhile Jean has been living with the terrible guilt of believing she was responsible for her husband's death. Suddenly she shows up, desperate after fleeing an abusive boyfriend.
Although he allows Jean to stay, Einer won’t or can’t forgive. And the bear becomes a metaphor for their lives – how they are all stuck regretting the past, unable to advance. As the story unfolds, Mitch forgives the bear and cajoles Einer into releasing him at night from a small tourist zoo.
The granddaughter Einer didn’t know he had, now nearly ten, becomes the catalyst that softens his heart, enables him to come to terms with life, and to ultimately forgive.
As the bear, set free by Mitch’s generous spirit, walks off into the wilderness, so forgiveness enables Einer and his small family to reverse the downward spirals of their lives and move forward together.
What can be added to this tender lesson?
If we are to live our lives to the full, we must forgive, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean we subject ourselves to further abuse. It means we drop the burden of hate, anger, or resentment from our own shoulders and rediscover the joy of sprinting ahead.
Jesus, who understood a lot about life and human nature had some choice words about forgiveness.
In today's language, he might have said, “If you want God to forgive your dumb and bad mistakes, then you need to be generous about forgiving others their dumb and bad mistakes as well.”
How long? However long we keep doing things we wish we hadn’t. That's a kind of love that adds a dimension of grace to our lives.
Einer, a Wyoming rancher whose son had been killed a decade before in an auto accident, needs to forgive his daughter-in-law Jean – the driver during the fatal accident. Mitch, his best friend, has been badly mauled by a bear and requires some daily care.
Meanwhile Jean has been living with the terrible guilt of believing she was responsible for her husband's death. Suddenly she shows up, desperate after fleeing an abusive boyfriend.
Although he allows Jean to stay, Einer won’t or can’t forgive. And the bear becomes a metaphor for their lives – how they are all stuck regretting the past, unable to advance. As the story unfolds, Mitch forgives the bear and cajoles Einer into releasing him at night from a small tourist zoo.
The granddaughter Einer didn’t know he had, now nearly ten, becomes the catalyst that softens his heart, enables him to come to terms with life, and to ultimately forgive.
As the bear, set free by Mitch’s generous spirit, walks off into the wilderness, so forgiveness enables Einer and his small family to reverse the downward spirals of their lives and move forward together.
What can be added to this tender lesson?
If we are to live our lives to the full, we must forgive, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean we subject ourselves to further abuse. It means we drop the burden of hate, anger, or resentment from our own shoulders and rediscover the joy of sprinting ahead.
Jesus, who understood a lot about life and human nature had some choice words about forgiveness.
In today's language, he might have said, “If you want God to forgive your dumb and bad mistakes, then you need to be generous about forgiving others their dumb and bad mistakes as well.”
How long? However long we keep doing things we wish we hadn’t. That's a kind of love that adds a dimension of grace to our lives.
If you are interested, the official trailer follows:
Jun 14, 2007
Episode of the cookies
Here’s an email story that’s just come around again, and is worth repeating.
A young woman was waiting in the VIP lounge for her flight. Anticipating a lengthy wait, she had brought a good book and a baggie of chocolate chip cookies.
On the seat next to her where the baggie of cookies lay, a man came and sat down. He opened his magazine and began reading.
The woman took out the first cookie, and the man also took a cookie. She was mildly annoyed, but said nothing. She waited awhile and took another cookie. The man did too. This continued till there was only one cookie remaining. She was highly offended by now, and wondered if he would eat the last one.
He took the last cookie, broke it in two, and offered her half. In a huff, she stormed out to the boarding area.
Settled in the plane, she was riffling through her purse where she discovered to her chagrin, an unopened baggie of chocolate chip cookies.
The man had shared his cookies with her, not the other way round. She couldn’t help but compare her self-righteous indignation with the stranger’s nonjudgmental and kindly generosity. Needless to say, she felt quite ashamed and humbled.
Moral: Things are often not what they appear to be.
A young woman was waiting in the VIP lounge for her flight. Anticipating a lengthy wait, she had brought a good book and a baggie of chocolate chip cookies.
On the seat next to her where the baggie of cookies lay, a man came and sat down. He opened his magazine and began reading.
The woman took out the first cookie, and the man also took a cookie. She was mildly annoyed, but said nothing. She waited awhile and took another cookie. The man did too. This continued till there was only one cookie remaining. She was highly offended by now, and wondered if he would eat the last one.
He took the last cookie, broke it in two, and offered her half. In a huff, she stormed out to the boarding area.
Settled in the plane, she was riffling through her purse where she discovered to her chagrin, an unopened baggie of chocolate chip cookies.
The man had shared his cookies with her, not the other way round. She couldn’t help but compare her self-righteous indignation with the stranger’s nonjudgmental and kindly generosity. Needless to say, she felt quite ashamed and humbled.
Moral: Things are often not what they appear to be.
-----------------------------------------------------
Bible wisdom on anger
“He that is slow to anger
is better than the mighty.” Prov 16:32
“It is better to dwell in the wilderness,
than with a contentious and an angry woman.” Prov 21:19
“Be not hasty in your spirit to be angry:
for anger rests in the bosom of fools.” Eccl 7:9
-----------------------------------------------------
Mar 30, 2007
Stress - what can we do about it?
Traffic at nightWe pretty much know what things cause, and indicate, stress. A traffic light turns green and somebody honks because the first vehicle did not immediately take off. I'm not proud to say I've been both those drivers. Maybe you have too.
How can we not be a victim of stress?
I've found that taking all my concerns to God as the one Mind helps a lot. It's good to sit back and have a conversation with this one good Mind. I tend to think of God as Father and Mother, so I might ask, "Father-Mother, here's this anxious thing going on in my life, and I don't know what to do about it. What do you say? What should I be doing here?"
And when I really want to hear what God is telling me, He/She does. It's mostly about learning to be a good listener. I've also learned that a good listener listens, he doesn't do most of the talking.
A dear friend was in the hospital recently, and I spent quite a bit of time with her concerned family, unti the crisis passed. It was a time for listening. Every report, good or bad, I took straight to God. Here are some assurances I heard, "I am the only Life, and my vital signs are very stable. Matter doesn't give life or take it away. I am the Life of all being. There is no other life."
I was comforted by these assurances and, while not voicing them, was able to comfort and support the family, until they were told by a caring medical staff that all was well.
How can we not be a victim of stress?
I've found that taking all my concerns to God as the one Mind helps a lot. It's good to sit back and have a conversation with this one good Mind. I tend to think of God as Father and Mother, so I might ask, "Father-Mother, here's this anxious thing going on in my life, and I don't know what to do about it. What do you say? What should I be doing here?"
And when I really want to hear what God is telling me, He/She does. It's mostly about learning to be a good listener. I've also learned that a good listener listens, he doesn't do most of the talking.
A dear friend was in the hospital recently, and I spent quite a bit of time with her concerned family, unti the crisis passed. It was a time for listening. Every report, good or bad, I took straight to God. Here are some assurances I heard, "I am the only Life, and my vital signs are very stable. Matter doesn't give life or take it away. I am the Life of all being. There is no other life."
I was comforted by these assurances and, while not voicing them, was able to comfort and support the family, until they were told by a caring medical staff that all was well.
Patience most valued
Dealing with stress -- Excellent discussion. Allow yourself some time -- 45 minutes.
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