People-pleasing

The Trojan Horse

From the "Heavenly Mind" chapter of my manuscript: Peter reminds Christians to help out only if their mind is willing, not by feeling obligated to do so (1 Peter 5:2).  Have you ever noticed that "people-pleasing" can lead to bitterness and resentment?  A free will offering is always preferable to a grudging gift.  What looks like a grand gift (Trojan Horse) may spill out discord and drama from its unrighteous intentions.  May I offer my life today as a gift to my Creator.  Living life this way may not always please other people, as Jesus well knew.

Alone, Yet Not Alone (song) - Joni Eareckson Tada

Always Ready

Etching by Albrecht Durer

What would it take for me to honestly ready myself on a daily basis for the appearance of Christ Jesus, and for the Tribulation?  This weekend I have encountered a modern apocalyptic secular prophet Paul Kingsnorth and his Dark Mountain Manifesto.  It's easy to understand his giving up on the environmental activism which has defined his life for decades.  What is hard to understand is how  he can live without the hope of Easter and the Second Coming.  I'm grateful to be asked by God's grace to pay attention to these issues.  Apocalyptic literature in the Bible is something that I've been avoiding.  Through Paul Kingsnorth's secular literature, I am now embracing the Bible's message of tribulation, destruction, and the New Earth, the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Witness

Have you ever experienced the calm presence of another person when you were suffering in body, mind, and spirit? Have you ever provided this kind of witness to someone who needed it?  I remember the visits of a little boy who stood outside and looked through the window of my isolation room when I was hospitalized at age 12.  Danny was a patient on the same floor.   He visited every day and just connected to me through the window with his eyes. Today in thinking about Mary's presence at the crucifixion of her son Jesus, I wonder how she was in her spirit.  I wonder when Jesus could not feel God's presence during his ordeal if he felt the comforting presence of his mother.

Heaven

from the movie "Heaven is for Real"

I love the subplot about the young artist who as a four-year-old saw Jesus in a near death experience; and she continues to paint images of heaven.  There's a lot of convincing mystery in the new movie "Heaven is for Real." Who hasn't had experiences that can't be explained?   Whether the mystery is inside us where Jesus suggests we can find a heavenly home, or whether heaven is a real experience outside of ourselves, or both, we can improve the quality of today just by thinking about it.  That's what this movie did for me; and I'm hoping it might do the same for you.

Children

"And a Little Child Shall Lead Them" by Ken Hesler

To A Child

The greatest poem ever known
Is one all poets have outgrown:
The poetry, innate, untold,
Of being only four years old.

Still young enough to be a part
Of Nature's great impulsive heart,
Born comrade of bird, beast, and tree
And unselfconscious as the bee-

And yet with lovely reason skilled
Each day new paradise to build;
Elate explorer of each sense,
Without dismay, without pretense!

In your unstained transparent eyes
There is no conscience, no surprise:
Life's queer conundrums you accept,
Your strange divinity still kept.

Being, that now absorbs you, all
Harmonious, unit, integral,
Will shred into perplexing bits,-
Oh, contradictions of the wits!

And Life, that sets all things in rhyme,
may make you poet, too, in time-
But there were days, O tender elf,
When you were Poetry itself!

Christopher Morley 

Nonviolence

For the past twelve years I have been studying Nonviolent Communication.  My first workshop was with Miki Kashtan who has recently published a visionary book on this subject--Spinning Threads of Radical Aliveness: Transcending the Legacy of Separation in Our Individual Lives.
It strikes me that Palm Sunday was a lovely and memorable example of nonviolence.  Jesus led his followers into the center of worldly power riding on a young colt or an ass.  His action boldly communicated that he claimed to be a king of peace (Zechariah 9:9). The consequences of this peaceful action were certainly clear to him.  Nonviolence takes a tremendous amount of courage.  Speak truth peacefully today!

Words and Creation

The power of the word: "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1)
About a month ago I gave a little wood-burned word to a person who was struggling.  How could I have known how much it would mean to them?  Never did I think that they would carry it every day from then until now. It humbles me at the same time as I remember the many words I have spoken in life which were meant to hurt.  If my need for verbal temperance is a common need, it's no wonder there are hundreds of verses in the Bible about bridling our tongues and guarding our mouths. Following is an excerpt from my manuscript The Heavenly Body:

A good man out of the good treasure of his heart

bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man

out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth

that which is evil:  for of the abundance of the heart

his mouth speaketh.

Luke 6:45

 What is a repeated theme for me when I am talking?  What does this tell me about my values?

Sacred Sex

"The Kiss" by Gustav Klimt

Have you ever thought that romantic love was just not beautiful enough when you watch movies from Hollywood?  Have you ever wondered what the Bible has to say about sex?  Take a look at the Song of Solomon (just after Ecclesiastes and before Isaiah).  What a book! Here is how it starts "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine" Song of Solomon Ch. 1, v. 2).  If you're thinking of getting married, or have already done that, inspire yourself with the poetry of sacred physical connection as found in the Bible; and "many waters...(will not) quench (your) love" Song of Solomon Ch. 8, v.7a.

Well-being

Because he (the hypocrite) knows no quietness

in his belly, he will not save anything he desires,

Nothing is left for him to eat; Therefore his well-being

will not last.  In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress.

Job 20: 20-21a

If my belly knows no quiet and no calmness, perhaps I might consider the cause of the distress.  Today how am I willing to lessen the stress by adjusting my habit of self-sufficiency?

Gentle Spring Rain

Behold, God is great, and we know him not, 

neither can the number of his years be searched out.

for he maketh small the drops of water:

they pour down rain according to the vapor thereof;

which the clouds do drop

and distill upon man abundantly.

Job 36:26-27

In high school my history teacher Janet Eisendrath taught the Book of Job as literature.  I have always cherished the way she opened a world of beauty and meaning to us with that class; and I have approached the Bible in very much the same way that she taught ever since.  This verse from Job enhances my experience of today's Spring rain.

Dedication and Obedience

Maria Kutschera of Salzberg wanted nothing more than to serve God by spending her whole life as a nun in a very strict convent.  God, however, had another idea. When Captain Von Trapp asked Maria to marry him, she ran to the convent hoping to be readmitted there.  The nuns answered her by saying that God wanted her to marry the Captain; and she must obey. Today my daughter and I are at the Von Trapp Family Lodge in Vermont, enjoying the story of Maria and her faith.

Slowing Down

Song of Solomon 2:11-13

King James Version (KJV)

11 For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone;

12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land...

Thank God for good friends!  Spending time walking slowly around Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge with an old friend this morning brought so much peace, especially when some painted turtles "spoke" to us. 

Bird Lore

Isn't it time to listen to the language of birds again! There is a thrill in recognizing our old friends who made themselves absent for much of the winter. Christian tradition can enhance the enjoyment of birds. For example, the robin has a heroic place in Christian lore.  At the crucifixion, the robin felt with Jesus in his agony, and went to pull out one of the thorns from the Lord's brow.  It was Jesus' blood that stained the robin's breast red.

April Fools

One of my favorite stories in the Bible is the one about Balaam, a false prophet hired to curse Israel, and his talking ass (Numbers 22:21-39) .  Balaam stubbornly beat his donkey repeatedly when it stopped on the path.  When the donkey asks Balaam the reason for the beatings, Balaam responds that the donkey has made a fool of him.  Really the donkey sees the angel of the Lord with drawn sword blocking the path,  God has spoken through the mouth of the ass.  Let us then, suffer fools wisely, and tolerate being one if necessary for the will of God.