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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.

To the unsung heroes of 9/11

A post 9/11 tenth anniversary tribute to the heroes of the Manhattan Island boat lift.

There's something very spiritual about unity, when people come together of one mind, unselfishly, to help their fellows in need.

Enduring comedy

Here's some real substance.  We know there's something special when we find ourselves smiling at the joy, gentle good-humor, fellowship, skill and talent. How about timing and coordination?

This little video reminds us that these qualities are timeless.  

Lightning McQueen in Africa?

My grandson came for an overnight recently.  He loves movies and brought two DVDs for us to watch.  Kung Fu Panda, and Cars. 

Despite my misgivings, these animations turned out to be well-told stories with good morals.  When others see him initially only as a noodle cook, the humble panda clings to hope, works hard, and finally achieves self-worth.  

Lightning McQueen (race car) learns the importance of being part of a team and of practical caring for others.  Not bad life lessons.

Jump to the world scene.  In Africa right now, millions are on the brink of starvation due to drought and political turmoil.  Self-worth takes second place to survival.  Practical caring is what the rest of the world can offer.  Distribution of basic necessities can be a nightmare.

The Spirit of Christ, Allah, whoever you think of as the higher power, animates each of us to care for and help one another. 

Here’s a tmcyouth link to some prayers being offered for those in great need.  Feel free to add yours.

Story of hope in an unlikely place

People who care.  That's what it takes to make a difference.

In Zambia, at risk youth are being given an opportunity to move their lives forward.  About 200 young people were asked to think about their future.  They decided they'd like to go into business.  So the youths were taught how to do a market assessment and how to select a business that would manageable and profitable.

They chose a banana plantation.  This video shows their steps of hope.

Here's the link to the article in The Christian Science Monitor.

Shipwrecked

This little story has been making recent email rounds.  The moral is useful, especially for anyone going through hard times.

The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him. Every day he scanned the horizon for help, but nothing changed. 

Shipwreck

Over time he he built a little hut out of driftwood and palm fronds to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions. 

One day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, with smoke curling up to the sky.  Stunned with disbelief, grief, and anger, he cried out, "God!  How could you let this happen?"

Early the next day, he was awakened by the sound of a ship's horn!  It had come to rescue him! "How did you know I was here?" the survivor asked his rescuers. 

"We saw your smoke signal," they replied. 


The Moral of This Story: It's easy to get discouraged when things are going badly, but we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even at our darkest moments.
  

Remember that the next time your little hut seems to be burning to the ground. It just may be a smoke signal that summons the Grace of God. 



Cheers for those angel messages!

Our first hike in the Sierras a couple of weeks ago had to be aborted.  The very name of our destination, Saucer Lake, just over the ridge, inspired my 11-year old grandson, my good friend, Margaret, and me with eagerness.  The hike started well enough, over granite boulders, through manzanita bushes, across noisy rivulets of snowmelt. 

It had been a late summer in the mountains, though.  As recently as two weeks before our adventure, Echo lake still boasted ice.  As we now ascended, bits of snowfields lurked over parts of the trail.  At first we worked around them, picking up the switchback a few yards further on.  The incline sharpened, the snowfields became broader and increasingly treacherous -- as in steep and slippery, with very hard boulders or worse, cliffs, at their bases.  

A small snowfield -- fun and safe to slide down

I’d begun praying quite earnestly about safety probably half an hour before, when continuing the climb began to feel not right.  It was a humble prayer, just asking God to place each step so that She would be praised by this activity.  Neither did it feel right for Grandma (me) to be the one to say we needed to turn back.  So each time I was tempted, I prayed the more earnestly.

Finally, about 2/3 of the way up, we reached the largest snowfield yet.  We could not see where to pick up the trail on either the right or the left of it. 

Boots too small?

King of the snow cave (carved by a rivulet, between his feet)

What I'd like to draw your attention to here is not the snow cave, although standing triumphantly on its thin arched roof was the purpose of the photo.  Rather the boots.

Wonderful, comfortable, hiking boots

It's the boots that will be outgrown by next summer.

I was thinking today how with kids it's easy to know what no longer fits.  Wrists hang out of sleeves, pant cuffs creep upward, the shoes are too tight, and it's obvious.

Somewhere into adulthood we we start accumulating clothes that used to be passed along to friends, relatives, or the local thrift store.  Closets gradually begin to bulge, not so subtly demanding a sorting.

It isn't all that different with our thinking.  As kids grow and learn, they discard outgrown thinking -- tooth fairies and monsters under the bed, and cute

Music to the eyes

I don't know how this works, but perhaps you will agree that it is beautiful.  As one person put it, "Music to the eyes."

Herding Cats?

Nope.  Not herding cats.  Training them.  Or rather, finding out what they like to do, and then rewarding them for it.

I grew up with dogs and cats together.  I can think of three different pairs.  They would snuggle together in a sunny spot on the floor on a winter's day.  Or cuddle together on the couch.  Yes, we did allow our adopted greyhound on the couch.

The most fun was watching these creatures wrestle -- the dog being careful not to overwhelm the cat; and the cat being careful to keep her claws sheathed.  Over and over, round and round they'd go.

Cats who perform is a whole different circus.  Yet here's a guy who has figured it out.  Hope you enjoy their entertainment.

Meet the Mayor of Mississauga

My neighbor was complaining the other day of her curtailed activities now that she "is up in years."  She didn't want to hear another perspective, at least not at that time. 

Seniors have lots of jokes about aging, and all of them accept the premise that aging includes limits, vulnerability, and diminishing faculties.  So the jokes are an effort to make the best of a bad situation.

There used to be an upbeat TV show called, "Life begins at 80."  Week after week the host interviewed lively, busy octogenarians.  These folks did not placidly accept restrictions on their abilities and capacities to do good.  Most of them led active and interesting lives.

Here, from Canada, is a contemporary role model.  It's so refreshing to meet someone whose life quietly challenges these negative assumptions.