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How great is our love?

Of course I don't judge people by their looks. 

Of course you don't either!

This video shows an experiment revealing how many of us are intimated by appearances. Stay with the video to the end.

God told the prophet Samuel not to be impressed by appearances, because God looks into a person's heart.  Jesus taught his followers to not be deceived by appearances.

I wonder if, in this experiment, I would have been able to look past appearances. I think so. I hope so.

(Don't be distracted by the discovery that a brewery promoted the experiment.) 

Innovative Hallelujah from Quinhagak, Alaska

Innovation
                      CreaTivity                       Spontaneity
                                            Fun
    Precision                                         
                                                                     IncluSiveness.

                 Order

                                                   FamilY

 Participation
                                                                             Timing

          Out of the boX!
                                             Did we say fun yet?

Praising God should be happy.  It should be spontaneous and inclusive.  And so these fifth graders in Quinhagak, a fishing village of perhaps 560 people, did all of this and more.

They are celebrating their school, their village, their families, and life itself.

What a wonderful teacher stands modestly somewhere behind the scenes, who let the kids accomplish a project on such a scale of delight that the whole world smiles.

What your bumper stickers say about you

Sometimes, maybe most of the time, our actions speak louder than our words.  Occasionally our words confirm our behavior.  This can be good, if our behavior is good; or not so good if we are so wrapped up in ourselves that we forget that life is not all about us.

Striving to be consistent with one's highest ideals takes effort.  This facetious little reminder keeps making the email rounds.   

Yellow -- prepare to stop?

The light turned yellow, just in front of him. The driver did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection. 

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, cursed in frustration at missing her chance to get through the intersection.  Not to mention her annoyance at having dropped her cell phone and her makeup. 

As she was in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. 

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. 

Instant response

Here's an amazing video.  Stacy Westfall is a horse trainer -- I'm not sure trainer is the politically correct word these days.  What's the new word?  Does anyone know?

You'll see her ride this horse without saddle or bridle.  Figure eights, gallop, twirl, side pass, fast/slow.  They move as one.  She makes the calls, and he executes her wishes.  Instantly.

Patience is the keyword.  She achieved this kind of oneness with a horse after many months of working together.

In this clip you can see her feet giving some of the cues.  And a lot of those cues are where and how she places her toes or her heels.  The horse is pleased to do exactly what Stacy is asking.

So of course I had to ask myself, How quick am I to respond to the cues divine Love gives me throughout the day?  How quick do I move with those nudges -- from a walk to a run and back to a walk again?  How seamlessly

Your light can't be hidden.

Another thoughtful email making the rounds.  This one assumed only Christians are loved by God, so I took the liberty of editing so it says what I believe -- that everyone has the Christ light shining within them.  And this creative process sounds so much like what a mom would do, doesn't it?

 Being a child of God is like being a pumpkin.   

She lifts you up, takes you in, and washes all off all the dirt.  

She opens you up, touches you deep inside 

and scoops out all the yucky stuff --

seeds of doubt, hate, greed, fear.  

Then She carves you a new smiling face 

and puts Her light inside you to shine for all the world to see.

Every pumpkin, every person, is unique in God's eyes

Hints from Nature

Swans about to leave the shallows

Across the lake the swan family worked the shallows,  Last spring six gray, fluffy babies had joined the proud parents.  Lately I had seen only seven swans, so it was good to spot the whole group.

About 10 minutes later when I reached their area, the cob (papa), the pen (mama) and five of their nearly full-grown babies were busy eating plants from the bottom in a close-knit group.  The sixth was also eating -- several yards away.

When the cob decided it was time to leave, he set out across the lake.  Five youngsters and Mama obediently lined up single-file behind him.  The sixth swan child ignored their departure.  Eventually she swam into the lake a little bit, then settled into a cove with a couple of mallards far from her family who had selected distant shoreline.

At first I wondered if this was a rebellious youngster.  But there is safety

Expanding relationships

 “Love God with all your heart and soul and strength and mind,” Jesus said.  He was quoting a demand from Hebrew scriptures which was ancient even then.

What occurred to me is that this describes half a relationship -- our half.  Humanity’s relationship to God.  It’s what we are supposed to do in this life.  Align our whole being -- heart, soul, mind -- with the purpose of the Higher Power.

Who is this Higher Power?  Supposing we agree with Jesus' life mission to reveal a God who is totally good?  This means our having no will that isn’t good as God sees it.  Praying for my team to win the football game, for instance,

The power of one good idea

Humanity -- what an amazing resource of talents, skills, hopes, and achievements we are! 

Unfortunately opportunity doesn't play out equally around the globe.  Especially in third-world countries, women are expected to be the oxen, the toilers.  But things are not hopeless.

I believe there is a universal Mind who cares about Her creation, who is infinite in resources and practical ideas for transforming lives.  It does take people with vision and unselfish lives to bridge the gap.

This great little video shows how one creative idea can improve the lives of an entire village.  Although it starts out on a gloomy note, stick with it to the joyous conclusion.

Church World Service (CWS) is one organization which finances life-changing projects.

Let there be light!

Jesus announced that he was the light of the world. He was this at many levels.

He lived a life that threw healing light on the darkness of hopelessness and illness.

His light of truth-speaking exposed the hypocrisy of religious traditions in his day. Traditions which allowed, for instance, a donkey to be released from its stall on the sabbath for a drink of water, but condemned freeing a sick woman from a long-standing illness on the sabbath.

His light of insight into what life is really about, still blinds materialism with its encouragement to love your enemies, be honest, pure, fair, generous; not to judge.

Fast forward to contemporary culture with its poor still struggling to survive. A man shares a simple and brilliant (pun intended) solution to literally shine light into the homes of people who cannot afford electricity.

I think Jesus would be pleased.