How much time do you spend paralyzed by paranoia? Do you always see the worst in everyone and everything? Are you guilty of refusing to even talk about positive thinking, let alone believe in it?
Hope. It has been called foolish, Pollyanna, unrealistic. Actually, it is getting on with life rather than choosing paralysis. It is believing in better tomorrows rather than imagining a terrorist hiding around every corner.
It’s getting back on planes, and eating in restaurants instead of supping on paranoia. It’s being a spiritual Atlas that allows you the possibility of holding the world on your shoulders rather than being crushed by it.
We all hope for longer periods of peace, for the ability to live with pain, to cope with problems and have a better understanding of this thing called life.
“It can’t be done,” laments a man; and buries his dreams, lets his talents go to waste and his life go to nothing. And yet another person says, “Maybe it can’t be done, but I’ll never know without trying.” And so by faith and hope Nobel prize winner, Jane Adams, began Hull House in Chicago, and Albert Schweitzer moved into the wilderness of Africa, and someone says, “I can change” and is changing.
What is hope? It is man’s best looking for a place to happen
This story appeared in the December 8, 2001 edition of The Miami Herald
Newspaper. An 11-year-old boy who had been told he had two to five days to live. His skin was ghostly white. Tubes were everywhere. His body, skin and bone. He suffered from a rare form of muscular dystrophy. Five months earlier he was asked, “Would you like a new toy? A favorite food?” “No,” he replied, “but I would like for someone to publish my poems so others can find in them the strength and resolve I’ve found.”
Fast forward and in not that long a period of time he could be found at a Barnes and Noble Bookstore in Alexandria, Virginia. This same little boy, Mattie Stepanek, signing copies of his newly published book, Journey Through Heartsongs, the sequel to his first book, Heartsongs, a best seller. Two books in less than half a year. . He could live two days or two years but he didn’t think small. He didn’t think small, not at all.
He is gone now but he lived longer than anyone ever thought he would and most importantly while he lived he did not just exist, he soared.
Do big dreams followed by big deeds always work out? Of course not! But at least even failure can bring a special kind of joy because you have the satisfaction of knowing you tried.
All dreams are but a hoot and a holler away from rejection because dreamers see beyond the status quo. The world stands ever ready to shoot down dreamers and their dreams. It always has. It always will.
Someone once said to a policeman who daily walked an eight-hour beat, “Yours must be a dog’s life.” “It would be, if I were a dog,” replied the policeman.
Would you have your dreams come true? Then realize that better runners are not always the fastest, but certainly the most committed.
VISIT NEIL'S ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS Just go to google and type in Neil Spiritual Vitamins
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
EASTER IS ALWAYS
(These thoughts are changed three times each week)
We’re moving toward half way to and half away from Easter and since questions concerning life and earth are not restricted to a particular place on the calendar, it is certainly appropriate to comment that at the back of many churches is a clock. A reminder to all of us that while we are mortal the fact of immortality is no less a reality.
And the message and the messenger? It all started with a shock treatment - Good Friday - and then a mystery – an empty tomb.
And then one thing for sure, if one knew only the beginning of the Easter story, a very bad beginning, and not the magnificent ending, it certainly wouldn’t have fostered a religion.
By way of emphasis, let me tell you about another moment in history - what happened after the Battle of Waterloo. It was a battle between the English army led by the Duke of Wellington and the French army led by the arrogant Napoleon, who wanted to rule the world. The outcome would determine the fate of Europe. When finally it was over, light signals began to send word of the victory back across the English Channel. But a heavy fog was fast rolling in and only the first two words of the message were received, “Wellington defeated…..” and then further communication was impossible. Hours later when the fog had finally lifted, the message was completed - “Wellington defeated the enemy.”
And that is how it was and is. The Lord’s story had a bad beginning, Jesus defeated….. but when the fog of fear lifted and the message was gloriously completed, it read….. Jesus defeated the enemy, death.
One does not have to be tired of life to talk about death. Men accept that flowers wither and fade yet they plant gardens. There is dawn and there is dusk. A great symphony has a final crescendo. I’d like to live to be a hundred, if I can keep my health, but I sure am curious about what it’s going to be like if I fail to reach 101.
We are all living on borrowed time. We just don’t happen to know the size of the loan. “
One Sunday morn as a minister was preaching on life after death, he looked out at his congregation and said, “What would heaven be like without my Willie?” His Willie, nine years old, all boy and rushing toward manhood, had been killed just the month before. All the faith in the world will not stop you from hurting when someone you love dies. It is a wrenching, terrible, torturous moment. You are allowed at that time to feel frustration, anger, despair - but when you believe in the Resurrection, cemeteries become cathedrals. For yes, knowing it is not the end but a beginning makes all the difference in the world. And remember, to live again is no more miraculous than the life we are experiencing at this moment.
The Apostle Paul tells us that after death we will have a new body. Do you find this difficult to comprehend? Why? Was not your present body miraculously created from a tiny sperm and egg into one or two hundred pounds of complexity? And cannot God who made a body suitable for earth make yet another one equally suitable for heaven?
There is an axiom of science that says no material object in the universe can be destroyed. That that which disappears in one form reappears in another. If it is true that even matter has a form of immortality, it stands to reason that man’s soul, infinitely more important, must have the same capability.
I don’t remember how it was the day I took my first baby steps, but I am sure it was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. Then one day, I learned that trees were for climbing, for lifting me up and giving me a higher perspective. And it was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience.
And one day I learned to fly, piloted a plane all by myself up above the clouds, and it was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. All these new dimensions did not diminish what had come before even though each new lifting up was bright and new and beautiful. So it will be the day I die - another expansion of perspective, a new transforming
And at that timeless moment I will know, what I have already known for such a very long, long time – that life is stronger than death. That eternity laughs in the face of clocks and calendars I am never very far away from my heavenly home.
Visit my other site ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS. The easiest way is to go to google search and simply type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins” They are BRIEF thoughts to begin your busy day with.
We’re moving toward half way to and half away from Easter and since questions concerning life and earth are not restricted to a particular place on the calendar, it is certainly appropriate to comment that at the back of many churches is a clock. A reminder to all of us that while we are mortal the fact of immortality is no less a reality.
And the message and the messenger? It all started with a shock treatment - Good Friday - and then a mystery – an empty tomb.
And then one thing for sure, if one knew only the beginning of the Easter story, a very bad beginning, and not the magnificent ending, it certainly wouldn’t have fostered a religion.
By way of emphasis, let me tell you about another moment in history - what happened after the Battle of Waterloo. It was a battle between the English army led by the Duke of Wellington and the French army led by the arrogant Napoleon, who wanted to rule the world. The outcome would determine the fate of Europe. When finally it was over, light signals began to send word of the victory back across the English Channel. But a heavy fog was fast rolling in and only the first two words of the message were received, “Wellington defeated…..” and then further communication was impossible. Hours later when the fog had finally lifted, the message was completed - “Wellington defeated the enemy.”
And that is how it was and is. The Lord’s story had a bad beginning, Jesus defeated….. but when the fog of fear lifted and the message was gloriously completed, it read….. Jesus defeated the enemy, death.
One does not have to be tired of life to talk about death. Men accept that flowers wither and fade yet they plant gardens. There is dawn and there is dusk. A great symphony has a final crescendo. I’d like to live to be a hundred, if I can keep my health, but I sure am curious about what it’s going to be like if I fail to reach 101.
We are all living on borrowed time. We just don’t happen to know the size of the loan. “
One Sunday morn as a minister was preaching on life after death, he looked out at his congregation and said, “What would heaven be like without my Willie?” His Willie, nine years old, all boy and rushing toward manhood, had been killed just the month before. All the faith in the world will not stop you from hurting when someone you love dies. It is a wrenching, terrible, torturous moment. You are allowed at that time to feel frustration, anger, despair - but when you believe in the Resurrection, cemeteries become cathedrals. For yes, knowing it is not the end but a beginning makes all the difference in the world. And remember, to live again is no more miraculous than the life we are experiencing at this moment.
The Apostle Paul tells us that after death we will have a new body. Do you find this difficult to comprehend? Why? Was not your present body miraculously created from a tiny sperm and egg into one or two hundred pounds of complexity? And cannot God who made a body suitable for earth make yet another one equally suitable for heaven?
There is an axiom of science that says no material object in the universe can be destroyed. That that which disappears in one form reappears in another. If it is true that even matter has a form of immortality, it stands to reason that man’s soul, infinitely more important, must have the same capability.
I don’t remember how it was the day I took my first baby steps, but I am sure it was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. Then one day, I learned that trees were for climbing, for lifting me up and giving me a higher perspective. And it was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience.
And one day I learned to fly, piloted a plane all by myself up above the clouds, and it was an overwhelmingly wonderful experience. All these new dimensions did not diminish what had come before even though each new lifting up was bright and new and beautiful. So it will be the day I die - another expansion of perspective, a new transforming
And at that timeless moment I will know, what I have already known for such a very long, long time – that life is stronger than death. That eternity laughs in the face of clocks and calendars I am never very far away from my heavenly home.
Visit my other site ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS. The easiest way is to go to google search and simply type in “Neil Spiritual Vitamins” They are BRIEF thoughts to begin your busy day with.
Friday, July 24, 2009
THE SCARS OF SELFISHNESS
Selfishness is not on the list of the Seven Deadly Sins, but I certainly believe that if the list were expanded to eight it would easily make it. For selfishness is mental, emotional and spiritual suicide. It builds a castle, and then places itself on the throne. Selfishness is a jackass who wants his or her own private stable from which to issue decrees. It is like a caterpillar who sells its privilege of becoming a butterfly for an extra mouthful of leaves. Yes, selfishness is truly the doorkeeper to the gates of hell.
At the opposite end of human behavior is a lady whose story I’m pleased to tell. It is a tale of those who attend the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg because of the generosity of this woman who is still simply referred to as Miss Ola. This loving, unselfish African-American took in laundry for 75 years. She never had a golden parachute to ease her financial journey through life. She never made an income anywhere near five figures. For a great deal of her life, an income of four figures was well beyond her reach. But Miss Ola daily read her tattered Bible held together with scotch tape so that her favorite chapter, the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, wouldn’t come falling out. She read it and she believed it and she practiced it - this message of love.
And oh, how this unselfish woman loved; not in a philosophical way, sit on the front porch talk about it way, but in a down-to-earth give-it-life kind of way. And so it was that in 1995, she was able to express her love for her fellow human beings in an unbelievable expression of concern. She gave $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi, an historical black college.
When asked how she could save so much when she had earned so little, her answer was simple and to the point, “It wasn’t hard. I just didn’t buy things I didn’t need. And I did it so others could gain the education I never had the chance to get.” One year and a half later after giving this unselfish gift, she died at the age of 91.
“Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others.” (Philippians 2:4) Just a reminder of how the morning’s scripture read.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many as altruistic as Miss Ola. You are probably aware of “miracle medicines” that can cure, or hold in remission some terrible diseases but which have been taken off the market because they just don’t make enough money. The people who make the decisions for the pharmaceutical companies have made that unselfish compassion behavior never gets in the way of business decisions.
Over twenty years ago, 1988 to be exact, there were two kinds of video recording systems fighting for the market. One was a Beta system which Sony invented, and kept only to itself. The other was the VHS system that everyone today uses.
The difference was that JVC, the Japanese company that invented the VHS format shared its plans with a raft of other firms. As a result, the market was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the VHS recording machines being produced. The first year, Sony lost 40% of the market and ten years later it had lost 90% of the market. Selfishness, even in the guise of good business sense, does sometimes get its just rewards.
I had my first vegetable garden during World War II, well, actually mother and daddy did and I was in charge of weed control. At any rate, if I didn’t keep the weeds at bay we wouldn’t have had much of a garden. Selfishness is a weed, and that is as kindly a definition as it is going to get. And if you allow it to take over your garden of life you will not long have a garden that grows but rather weeds that take over.
There was a blacksmith who one day was commanded by his king to make a chain, and he did as he was commanded. Then he was told to double its strength and its length. He did so, and was then commanded to do the same thing a third time. When finally he was finished, the King ordered him to wear these chains for the rest of his life.
The worst kind of selfishness can be called sanctified narcissism because it wraps its ideas in piety and turns the Golden Rule into dross. It is the worst kind of legalism that turns the Mount Everest of ethics into a thousand little mole hills of complaints.
Once upon a time, there was a farmer who heard of a highly recommended new seed corn. He bought some and produced a crop that was beyond his wildest dreams. When his farmer neighbors found out about it, and since he had bought more than he really needed, they asked if they could buy some from him. He not only would not sell it to them, he would not tell them where he had purchased the seed.
The next year he planted his crop and, with his obvious advantage, waited for it to bring him bigger profits again. Except, this year it didn’t work that way. The second year his crop was not as good. By the third year the yield was even worse. It then dawned on him what was happening. His prize corn was being cross pollinated with the inferior grade of corn in his neighbors’ fields.
In 1982, on the ABC Evening News program there was reported a very unusual piece of modern art. It was a chair to which was attached a shotgun. The viewer was required to sit in the chair while looking directly into the gun barrel. The gun was fully loaded and a timer was set so that it would go off sometime between the setting up of the exhibit and one year in the future. No one who sat there could be sure it would not go off at the very minute they took their seat.
The amazing thing is that hundreds of people waited in line for their chance to play this kind of Russian roulette. They just hoped it wouldn’t go off while they were sitting there.
Well, my friends, selfishness is a shotgun and when you sit in front of it, it does go off, not just once but many times. This is not a gambling maybe, this is a guarantee definitely!!! And it does wound you and if you are a selfish person eventually it does kill your conscience until one day you are so selfishly dead you don’t know it. You are indeed gambling with your life if you are always thinking only of yourself.
Picture in your mind what selfishness looks like and I doubt if you picture it with a smile – perhaps a sneer, but not a joyous grin.
At the opposite end of human behavior is a lady whose story I’m pleased to tell. It is a tale of those who attend the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg because of the generosity of this woman who is still simply referred to as Miss Ola. This loving, unselfish African-American took in laundry for 75 years. She never had a golden parachute to ease her financial journey through life. She never made an income anywhere near five figures. For a great deal of her life, an income of four figures was well beyond her reach. But Miss Ola daily read her tattered Bible held together with scotch tape so that her favorite chapter, the 13th chapter of First Corinthians, wouldn’t come falling out. She read it and she believed it and she practiced it - this message of love.
And oh, how this unselfish woman loved; not in a philosophical way, sit on the front porch talk about it way, but in a down-to-earth give-it-life kind of way. And so it was that in 1995, she was able to express her love for her fellow human beings in an unbelievable expression of concern. She gave $150,000 to the University of Southern Mississippi, an historical black college.
When asked how she could save so much when she had earned so little, her answer was simple and to the point, “It wasn’t hard. I just didn’t buy things I didn’t need. And I did it so others could gain the education I never had the chance to get.” One year and a half later after giving this unselfish gift, she died at the age of 91.
“Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interest of others.” (Philippians 2:4) Just a reminder of how the morning’s scripture read.
Unfortunately, there aren’t many as altruistic as Miss Ola. You are probably aware of “miracle medicines” that can cure, or hold in remission some terrible diseases but which have been taken off the market because they just don’t make enough money. The people who make the decisions for the pharmaceutical companies have made that unselfish compassion behavior never gets in the way of business decisions.
Over twenty years ago, 1988 to be exact, there were two kinds of video recording systems fighting for the market. One was a Beta system which Sony invented, and kept only to itself. The other was the VHS system that everyone today uses.
The difference was that JVC, the Japanese company that invented the VHS format shared its plans with a raft of other firms. As a result, the market was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of the VHS recording machines being produced. The first year, Sony lost 40% of the market and ten years later it had lost 90% of the market. Selfishness, even in the guise of good business sense, does sometimes get its just rewards.
I had my first vegetable garden during World War II, well, actually mother and daddy did and I was in charge of weed control. At any rate, if I didn’t keep the weeds at bay we wouldn’t have had much of a garden. Selfishness is a weed, and that is as kindly a definition as it is going to get. And if you allow it to take over your garden of life you will not long have a garden that grows but rather weeds that take over.
There was a blacksmith who one day was commanded by his king to make a chain, and he did as he was commanded. Then he was told to double its strength and its length. He did so, and was then commanded to do the same thing a third time. When finally he was finished, the King ordered him to wear these chains for the rest of his life.
The worst kind of selfishness can be called sanctified narcissism because it wraps its ideas in piety and turns the Golden Rule into dross. It is the worst kind of legalism that turns the Mount Everest of ethics into a thousand little mole hills of complaints.
Once upon a time, there was a farmer who heard of a highly recommended new seed corn. He bought some and produced a crop that was beyond his wildest dreams. When his farmer neighbors found out about it, and since he had bought more than he really needed, they asked if they could buy some from him. He not only would not sell it to them, he would not tell them where he had purchased the seed.
The next year he planted his crop and, with his obvious advantage, waited for it to bring him bigger profits again. Except, this year it didn’t work that way. The second year his crop was not as good. By the third year the yield was even worse. It then dawned on him what was happening. His prize corn was being cross pollinated with the inferior grade of corn in his neighbors’ fields.
In 1982, on the ABC Evening News program there was reported a very unusual piece of modern art. It was a chair to which was attached a shotgun. The viewer was required to sit in the chair while looking directly into the gun barrel. The gun was fully loaded and a timer was set so that it would go off sometime between the setting up of the exhibit and one year in the future. No one who sat there could be sure it would not go off at the very minute they took their seat.
The amazing thing is that hundreds of people waited in line for their chance to play this kind of Russian roulette. They just hoped it wouldn’t go off while they were sitting there.
Well, my friends, selfishness is a shotgun and when you sit in front of it, it does go off, not just once but many times. This is not a gambling maybe, this is a guarantee definitely!!! And it does wound you and if you are a selfish person eventually it does kill your conscience until one day you are so selfishly dead you don’t know it. You are indeed gambling with your life if you are always thinking only of yourself.
Picture in your mind what selfishness looks like and I doubt if you picture it with a smile – perhaps a sneer, but not a joyous grin.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
HOW ARE YOU...OR...HOW WILL YOU HANDLE GETTING OLDER?
Planning is better than punting!!!!
Anyone who lives long enough gets older. There are no other options.
Therefore, keep both eyes on life and not on the calendar. Admit your age, but don’t admit the fallacy that you have to act like it. Saying, “I’m 39 and holding,” is more tragic than humorous because it argues that age has no attributes.
There are ways to make the calendar less intimidating. Poor health and poor attitudes can be improved. Glory in new experience you seek rather than hide in shadows.. Exult in challenge. Turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.
Satchel Paige once said, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” In the late 1800’s Chancellor Otto Von Bismark started the whole idea that 65 is automatically old. There was no scientific study to prove this mathematical assertion. Rather, it grew out of a German job market that had younger workers standing out in the cold. Then, during the great depression, when our Congress instituted the Social Security System, this arbitrary age was accepted as if it were an edict from on high.
The fact of the matter is that we now live an average of seven decades plus an increasing number of more. And if we survive to sixty-five, statistics promise another sixteen. Therefore, we have to consider retiring to something rather than simply from something. A now I can, why not attitude.
Folks worry a lot these days about not having enough money to retire. Well! Start thinking about things you can do that are priceless.
Get yourself some paints and become an artist, even though forty years ago it was too impractical.
Join an amateur drama group, if this was once your dream.
Sign up for the Peace Corp.
Join a bowling league. (this may not be a trip to Europe but it will fit most budgets)
Serve lunch to the homeless.
Put together game nights for your grandchildren.
Learn to play the piano.
Become an amateur horticulturist as you expand your gardening time.
Don’t just say I have nothing to do. Beef up your choices until your cup is full. Growing old doesn’t have to mean being less active, just active in different ways.
Have you tried my One A Day, Your Spiritual Vitamins? They are short and to the point and when visited daily energize in a special way. http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/) or just go Google and type in Neil Wyrick One A Day
Anyone who lives long enough gets older. There are no other options.
Therefore, keep both eyes on life and not on the calendar. Admit your age, but don’t admit the fallacy that you have to act like it. Saying, “I’m 39 and holding,” is more tragic than humorous because it argues that age has no attributes.
There are ways to make the calendar less intimidating. Poor health and poor attitudes can be improved. Glory in new experience you seek rather than hide in shadows.. Exult in challenge. Turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones.
Satchel Paige once said, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?” In the late 1800’s Chancellor Otto Von Bismark started the whole idea that 65 is automatically old. There was no scientific study to prove this mathematical assertion. Rather, it grew out of a German job market that had younger workers standing out in the cold. Then, during the great depression, when our Congress instituted the Social Security System, this arbitrary age was accepted as if it were an edict from on high.
The fact of the matter is that we now live an average of seven decades plus an increasing number of more. And if we survive to sixty-five, statistics promise another sixteen. Therefore, we have to consider retiring to something rather than simply from something. A now I can, why not attitude.
Folks worry a lot these days about not having enough money to retire. Well! Start thinking about things you can do that are priceless.
Get yourself some paints and become an artist, even though forty years ago it was too impractical.
Join an amateur drama group, if this was once your dream.
Sign up for the Peace Corp.
Join a bowling league. (this may not be a trip to Europe but it will fit most budgets)
Serve lunch to the homeless.
Put together game nights for your grandchildren.
Learn to play the piano.
Become an amateur horticulturist as you expand your gardening time.
Don’t just say I have nothing to do. Beef up your choices until your cup is full. Growing old doesn’t have to mean being less active, just active in different ways.
Have you tried my One A Day, Your Spiritual Vitamins? They are short and to the point and when visited daily energize in a special way. http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/) or just go Google and type in Neil Wyrick One A Day
MEDIOCRITY or DEEP RESERVES OF HOLY GRANDEUR
In hockey there are players who only go all out, play with effort if their team is behind, or they haven’t scored a goal. Once they are assured their name will be listed as a scorer or their team is far enough ahead to not have to worry, they just float. Fact of the matter is, that is what they are called “floaters.”
Why? Why are so many dedicated to being dedicated to a slush pile of mediocrity?
It was many years ago that a man named Ralston Young carried bags in Grand Central Station. His destiny was small but he made it a giant with his attitude. He often explained his philosophy of life in the following manner, “I got to thinking one day of this station as a Cathedral and I said to myself, You carry these people’s burdens as well as their bags by how you act. So I decided I would give everyone whose bags I carried a smile. Not a mediocre, half-hearted smile, but a put into it everything I could. And I did, and it was amazing how many people who had been frowning just smiled right back at me.”
Stretch or shrink, that’s what it is all about! “Mediocrity don’t make no mistakes because mediocrity don’t do nothing,” said one backwoods philosopher. Mediocrity is the child of excuses raised in a family of rationalization.
Yes, I believe there is an angel inside ever one just waiting for the chance to live. Making history or allowing ourselves to be made by it? Molding society or shaped by it.
It is easy to follow the crowd. And really, quite easy to get the crowd to follow you. Do you doubt me? Then this very afternoon go to downtown Miami, look up and point toward the sky. In no time at all everyone around you will be looking up. It happens. People follow.
Natural history teaches us that those animals that acquired a spinal column and a backbone were the non-conformists. And then there are the jellyfish species, those drifters with the tide creations. One day a voice teacher was laboring with one of her worst students. When both were on the brink of despair, the student suddenly came out with a fantastic improvement. “That’s it! That’s it!” cried the delighted teacher. “But that’s not my natural voice,” said the student. “Certainly it’s your natural voice. You mean it is not your usual voice. But you made the sound, didn’t you? It is as much your own natural voice as the one you have spoken with for most of your life. Your best voice is just as natural as your worst.”
It is fine to be committed to being a decent human being. No one can argue against that. It is excellent to be committed to family. And great to be committed to a savings account, prudent financial practice is a sign of maturity. It is a good thing to be committed to some relaxation and recreation. The weary are no more holy than the rested. But, out in the night there is a cross, and the Man hanging there cannot really be taken down till every man, every woman and every child comes to take Him down.
And yes, I believe there are deep reserves of holy grandeur in every single human being. because ere now and then a punk does decide to become a punk no more. Ere now and then a bad man does make a decision to be a good man.
Show me the morning newspaper with its headlines of rape, murder and assassinations, and I will still believe in the ultimate goodness of man. Quote me what you heard on a radio or television news program and I will still, in spite of everything, continue to see in every human being a life that was made to image God.
I like the way ? puts it “………………………….”
Why? Why are so many dedicated to being dedicated to a slush pile of mediocrity?
It was many years ago that a man named Ralston Young carried bags in Grand Central Station. His destiny was small but he made it a giant with his attitude. He often explained his philosophy of life in the following manner, “I got to thinking one day of this station as a Cathedral and I said to myself, You carry these people’s burdens as well as their bags by how you act. So I decided I would give everyone whose bags I carried a smile. Not a mediocre, half-hearted smile, but a put into it everything I could. And I did, and it was amazing how many people who had been frowning just smiled right back at me.”
Stretch or shrink, that’s what it is all about! “Mediocrity don’t make no mistakes because mediocrity don’t do nothing,” said one backwoods philosopher. Mediocrity is the child of excuses raised in a family of rationalization.
Yes, I believe there is an angel inside ever one just waiting for the chance to live. Making history or allowing ourselves to be made by it? Molding society or shaped by it.
It is easy to follow the crowd. And really, quite easy to get the crowd to follow you. Do you doubt me? Then this very afternoon go to downtown Miami, look up and point toward the sky. In no time at all everyone around you will be looking up. It happens. People follow.
Natural history teaches us that those animals that acquired a spinal column and a backbone were the non-conformists. And then there are the jellyfish species, those drifters with the tide creations. One day a voice teacher was laboring with one of her worst students. When both were on the brink of despair, the student suddenly came out with a fantastic improvement. “That’s it! That’s it!” cried the delighted teacher. “But that’s not my natural voice,” said the student. “Certainly it’s your natural voice. You mean it is not your usual voice. But you made the sound, didn’t you? It is as much your own natural voice as the one you have spoken with for most of your life. Your best voice is just as natural as your worst.”
It is fine to be committed to being a decent human being. No one can argue against that. It is excellent to be committed to family. And great to be committed to a savings account, prudent financial practice is a sign of maturity. It is a good thing to be committed to some relaxation and recreation. The weary are no more holy than the rested. But, out in the night there is a cross, and the Man hanging there cannot really be taken down till every man, every woman and every child comes to take Him down.
And yes, I believe there are deep reserves of holy grandeur in every single human being. because ere now and then a punk does decide to become a punk no more. Ere now and then a bad man does make a decision to be a good man.
Show me the morning newspaper with its headlines of rape, murder and assassinations, and I will still believe in the ultimate goodness of man. Quote me what you heard on a radio or television news program and I will still, in spite of everything, continue to see in every human being a life that was made to image God.
I like the way ? puts it “………………………….”
Sunday, July 19, 2009
YOUR BELIEF SYSTEM! WHAT IS IT? WHY IS IT? WHAT DOES IT ACCOMPLISH?
In 1762, Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote, “One half of all children die by their 8th birthday. This is nature’s law. Do not try to contradict it.” In the 19th century, the head of the U.S. Patent Office wanted to close it down. He believed that all inventions that would create change had already been invented.
And there are those who believe that there are some people who can never change. This may be a contradiction in terms, but one of the constants in our lives is that change is inevitable. We all change, all the time. From birth to death we never stay the same. We get better or we get worse. We never stay the same. For some the changes are small – they have decided who they are and whom they will follow – but…even THEY do not remain static.
And for those who want to change, and please note I did not say wish to change - your commitment to your belief system must be greater than just a wish - the decision is really not can I change but to what will I change. Who do I chose to emulate and follow.
A man named Gerald Mann wrote the following and I have taken the liberty to do a bit of rewrite. Listen and think about these thoughts for there is so much of your tomorrows in it.
There is no rut so deep you (cannot climb out of it.)
There is no dream so lost you cannot retrieve it.
There is no hurt so bad you (cannot learn from it.)
There is no sin so bad that God cannot cure it.
Have you considered putting all or an edited version of these ideas in your newsletter or your churches newsletter or your blog?
Have you visited my other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
And there are those who believe that there are some people who can never change. This may be a contradiction in terms, but one of the constants in our lives is that change is inevitable. We all change, all the time. From birth to death we never stay the same. We get better or we get worse. We never stay the same. For some the changes are small – they have decided who they are and whom they will follow – but…even THEY do not remain static.
And for those who want to change, and please note I did not say wish to change - your commitment to your belief system must be greater than just a wish - the decision is really not can I change but to what will I change. Who do I chose to emulate and follow.
A man named Gerald Mann wrote the following and I have taken the liberty to do a bit of rewrite. Listen and think about these thoughts for there is so much of your tomorrows in it.
There is no rut so deep you (cannot climb out of it.)
There is no dream so lost you cannot retrieve it.
There is no hurt so bad you (cannot learn from it.)
There is no sin so bad that God cannot cure it.
Have you considered putting all or an edited version of these ideas in your newsletter or your churches newsletter or your blog?
Have you visited my other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
Thursday, July 16, 2009
10 STEPS TO A HAPPIER RETIREMENT AND DON'T SAY I'M NOT OLD ENOUGH
(These thoughts are added to three times each week and cover a large variety of subjects and insights)
It has been said that the trouble with retirement is you never get a day off. Therefore, to benefit the most from it…think on the following. And even if retirement is quite a ways in the future…start thinking about and planning your plans even now.
Think of retirement not as a time of being “over the hill” but rather a time to view the world from a different hill. Consider what you are retiring to, not just what you are retiring from. Yes, it should be a time for smelling the roses, but also a time for planting some.
1.You may be working into your nineties and loving every minute of it but whether it is a vacation or an avocation, nature abhors a vacuum. In short, when you retire…not what are your retiring from but what are you retiring to.
2.Whatever amount of time you have left before retirement, save more and spend less. Don’t buy everything within sight. Rather try buying with more insight.
3.And as a motivation, stop and figure out what your annual income would be if you were forced into retirement tomorrow. Then figure what you will retire with at say 70, not even thinking 65.
4.Today, the experts figure you need twenty times your present income in the bank, if you want to retire in the same financial neighborhood of your present income.
5.When the time comes think long and hard before you move into a retirement community or a smaller home. That is what about a third of retirees do, but you need to make your decision based on your own list of “Why To’s” and “Why Not’s”. Neither is bad idea, just two ideas that need careful thought.
6.When you think of long term nursing care, think statistics – the average nursing home stay is two to three years. Consider a bigger deductible vs. a bigger premium. But then, don’t spend so much time thinking you become your own worst enemy. And yes, let any conclusion simmer for awhile rather than immediately bringing them to a boil.
7.If at all possible, pay off your mortgage. It’s very comforting to know that, if needed, there is the possibility of a reverse mortgage rather than an ongoing mortgage payment.
8.Think capital preservation as well as capital appreciation. There are countless formulas, but the stock market is always a giant question mark. Remember, if an investment seems to be too good to be true, it probably is.
9.Last and certainly not least talk to a financial manager. However, check them out carefully because you don’t want one with any kind of vested interest in his or her proposals. And you certainly want first class recommendations about financial managers from friends rather than ads.
It may be an over-simplification but I think not too much so; Prepare for retirement so it will not be a time of sadness but of hope.
Have you considered putting all or an edited version of these ideas in your newsletter or your churches newsletter or your blog? IF YOU DO NOT GET A NEW IDEA EVERY DAY, LOOK WHAT YOU ARE LOSING. IF YOU DO NOT SHARE A NEW IDEA EVERY DAY, LOOK WHAT YOU ARE LOSING.
It has been said that the trouble with retirement is you never get a day off. Therefore, to benefit the most from it…think on the following. And even if retirement is quite a ways in the future…start thinking about and planning your plans even now.
Think of retirement not as a time of being “over the hill” but rather a time to view the world from a different hill. Consider what you are retiring to, not just what you are retiring from. Yes, it should be a time for smelling the roses, but also a time for planting some.
1.You may be working into your nineties and loving every minute of it but whether it is a vacation or an avocation, nature abhors a vacuum. In short, when you retire…not what are your retiring from but what are you retiring to.
2.Whatever amount of time you have left before retirement, save more and spend less. Don’t buy everything within sight. Rather try buying with more insight.
3.And as a motivation, stop and figure out what your annual income would be if you were forced into retirement tomorrow. Then figure what you will retire with at say 70, not even thinking 65.
4.Today, the experts figure you need twenty times your present income in the bank, if you want to retire in the same financial neighborhood of your present income.
5.When the time comes think long and hard before you move into a retirement community or a smaller home. That is what about a third of retirees do, but you need to make your decision based on your own list of “Why To’s” and “Why Not’s”. Neither is bad idea, just two ideas that need careful thought.
6.When you think of long term nursing care, think statistics – the average nursing home stay is two to three years. Consider a bigger deductible vs. a bigger premium. But then, don’t spend so much time thinking you become your own worst enemy. And yes, let any conclusion simmer for awhile rather than immediately bringing them to a boil.
7.If at all possible, pay off your mortgage. It’s very comforting to know that, if needed, there is the possibility of a reverse mortgage rather than an ongoing mortgage payment.
8.Think capital preservation as well as capital appreciation. There are countless formulas, but the stock market is always a giant question mark. Remember, if an investment seems to be too good to be true, it probably is.
9.Last and certainly not least talk to a financial manager. However, check them out carefully because you don’t want one with any kind of vested interest in his or her proposals. And you certainly want first class recommendations about financial managers from friends rather than ads.
It may be an over-simplification but I think not too much so; Prepare for retirement so it will not be a time of sadness but of hope.
Have you considered putting all or an edited version of these ideas in your newsletter or your churches newsletter or your blog? IF YOU DO NOT GET A NEW IDEA EVERY DAY, LOOK WHAT YOU ARE LOSING. IF YOU DO NOT SHARE A NEW IDEA EVERY DAY, LOOK WHAT YOU ARE LOSING.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
ARE YOU DELETING YOUR DREAMS AND LETTING GOOD IDEAS DIE?
(These thoughts are added to three times a week and cover a multitude of different approaches and insights)
Along about 2000 BC someone said “If it’s so good to drink why don’t we freeze it and I’ll bet it will be better.”
By such creativity ancient man became happier because had had just invented ice cream. Along about the same time someone had what others thought was a half baked idea. He ignored them and bread was born. Not to be outdone, another innovator took meat that had been around for a lot longer and made the first sandwich. It’s never too early or too late to dream a new dream and follow through on it. To not allow yourself to be pressured by peers to just do everything the same old same old way when you have just come up with something better.
Your new insight may be simple. It may be profound. It may be just an improvement on something someone else did (Ben Franklin was great for doing that) But give yourself the gift of believing in better tomorrows. Of being willing to make changes or even just one change. Of not being afraid to experiment. To go for the gusto with a grin on your face rather than a tremor in your voice.
Be creative when you play, “Yes, I am an old dog but I can teach myself new tricks.” Be creative in your marriage. Jump start the marital battery with something NEW ON YOUR THRESHOLD. Be creative when it comes to work.
Like the company that was stagnating in building it’s business and improving profit. What did they do? They stopped giving the salesman 10% of new client sales and began to give them 100%. This motivated the salesman to work harder at getting new clients and everyone was better off.
Extend yourself. Wondrous things will happen. Yes, innovation can be scary. Doing anything differently is always harder. But consider that it makes life more exciting to make yourself a new improved mental, emotional, physical, spiritual or emotional proposal.
(For more pithy prose check my new ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/)
Along about 2000 BC someone said “If it’s so good to drink why don’t we freeze it and I’ll bet it will be better.”
By such creativity ancient man became happier because had had just invented ice cream. Along about the same time someone had what others thought was a half baked idea. He ignored them and bread was born. Not to be outdone, another innovator took meat that had been around for a lot longer and made the first sandwich. It’s never too early or too late to dream a new dream and follow through on it. To not allow yourself to be pressured by peers to just do everything the same old same old way when you have just come up with something better.
Your new insight may be simple. It may be profound. It may be just an improvement on something someone else did (Ben Franklin was great for doing that) But give yourself the gift of believing in better tomorrows. Of being willing to make changes or even just one change. Of not being afraid to experiment. To go for the gusto with a grin on your face rather than a tremor in your voice.
Be creative when you play, “Yes, I am an old dog but I can teach myself new tricks.” Be creative in your marriage. Jump start the marital battery with something NEW ON YOUR THRESHOLD. Be creative when it comes to work.
Like the company that was stagnating in building it’s business and improving profit. What did they do? They stopped giving the salesman 10% of new client sales and began to give them 100%. This motivated the salesman to work harder at getting new clients and everyone was better off.
Extend yourself. Wondrous things will happen. Yes, innovation can be scary. Doing anything differently is always harder. But consider that it makes life more exciting to make yourself a new improved mental, emotional, physical, spiritual or emotional proposal.
(For more pithy prose check my new ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/)
Sunday, July 12, 2009
THE WORRY STICK
(These thoughts are changed three times a week and cover a wide variety of ideas and insights)
One “Do you know what this is?”
Two “Just a plain ordinary stick, if you ask me.”
One “I ask you alright, but that’s not what it is. It’s a worry stick.”
Two “A what?’
One “A worry stick. I carry it with me everywhere I go. It reminds me to worry. I would like everybody to carry one. Then the whole world would be happy.”
Two “It makes you happy to worry?’
One “Of course. When I worry, I can just feel things getting better. If I don’t worry, there’s no telling what might happen.”
Two “Such as?’
One “Oh, storms, droughts, sickness, my husband might lose his job, my children might die, the house might burn down.”
Two “You are a worry wart, aren’t you?
One “No, I’m a worry-mountain. I’m the biggest worrier in the whole world. I’ve made a practice of worrying for so long that now I can worry about anything. Why do you know I can worry about things no one else even thought of worrying about?”
Two “You’re sick.”
One “No, wise. True worry is true wisdom.”
Two “Where did you read that?’
One “I didn’t. I made it up. I’ve made up some more. Would you like to hear them?”
Two “Not really.”
One “Good. I’ll quote you some. ‘Do not laugh, do not smile, just sit and worry with me awhile.’ Funny, huh? No? Well, here’s another one. ‘If you are going to worry, worry a lot and get your money’s worth.” In fact, I’m taking contributions to start a Worry Foundation.”
Two “A what?’
One “A Worry Foundation. You know, study what worry is. How to promote better worrying. The proper approach to worry in urban and rural situations.”
Two “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
One “Of course, I’m serious. I’m going over to see some of my best friends in the ulcer ward as soon as I get through talking to you.”
Two “Will you be taking that along?’
One “My worry stick? Oh no. When I go places like that, I don’t need this as a reminder. I’ll leave it with you. Well, I really must be going. The best of anxiety to you.”
“How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?…” Psalm 13:2
(For more pithy prose check my new ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
One “Do you know what this is?”
Two “Just a plain ordinary stick, if you ask me.”
One “I ask you alright, but that’s not what it is. It’s a worry stick.”
Two “A what?’
One “A worry stick. I carry it with me everywhere I go. It reminds me to worry. I would like everybody to carry one. Then the whole world would be happy.”
Two “It makes you happy to worry?’
One “Of course. When I worry, I can just feel things getting better. If I don’t worry, there’s no telling what might happen.”
Two “Such as?’
One “Oh, storms, droughts, sickness, my husband might lose his job, my children might die, the house might burn down.”
Two “You are a worry wart, aren’t you?
One “No, I’m a worry-mountain. I’m the biggest worrier in the whole world. I’ve made a practice of worrying for so long that now I can worry about anything. Why do you know I can worry about things no one else even thought of worrying about?”
Two “You’re sick.”
One “No, wise. True worry is true wisdom.”
Two “Where did you read that?’
One “I didn’t. I made it up. I’ve made up some more. Would you like to hear them?”
Two “Not really.”
One “Good. I’ll quote you some. ‘Do not laugh, do not smile, just sit and worry with me awhile.’ Funny, huh? No? Well, here’s another one. ‘If you are going to worry, worry a lot and get your money’s worth.” In fact, I’m taking contributions to start a Worry Foundation.”
Two “A what?’
One “A Worry Foundation. You know, study what worry is. How to promote better worrying. The proper approach to worry in urban and rural situations.”
Two “You’re serious, aren’t you?”
One “Of course, I’m serious. I’m going over to see some of my best friends in the ulcer ward as soon as I get through talking to you.”
Two “Will you be taking that along?’
One “My worry stick? Oh no. When I go places like that, I don’t need this as a reminder. I’ll leave it with you. Well, I really must be going. The best of anxiety to you.”
“How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart?…” Psalm 13:2
(For more pithy prose check my new ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
Friday, July 10, 2009
A MOST UNUSUAL DAY
(New thoughts are added three or four times each week)
He could not explain the feeling. Two words “relevant antiquity” rose up in his consciousness. What in heavens name does that mean? He was not a man given to deep thought.
He wore his forty six years like a badge of honor, not happy with the slight bulge in his mid-section or the beginning of baldness that kept increasing the size of his forehead. He wore glasses for reading and should have worn them for driving. His vision of traffic was as if he were looking through the bottom of a coke bottle. “God”, and he always felt a sense of reverence at the word, “didn’t do me just right in the vision department.”
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" He had not meant to be philosophical or theological in his thought. Four more words appeared on the front of his thinking “eternity is an always.”
His breakfast was a monument to habit that never varied. One egg, one cup of coffee, one piece of toast with minimal butter and marmalade. If he varied from this chosen path with two spicy sausages he was never happy with the results. “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” What was his mind doing to him? He looked skyward, heavenward was his actual consideration. He saw nothing, found no answer. He felt strangely at peace.
Traffic became each day more and more a battlefield and his one-acre of lawn a challenge. If someone had asked him if he was happy he would have replied, “What do you think?” or “Are you trying to be my shrink?”
During the early years of his marriage the sun had shined brightly. Most recently storm clouds hovered or hurried from the horizon more often than he would like to remember. “I am come that you might have peace and that you might have it more abundantly.” He momentarily thought it was the Lord having a personal conversation with him, a rehashing of an old truth. I must be losing my mind. I didn’t initiate any such conversation.
Another long day lay ahead of him. He was terribly weary. He had not slept well. His wife greeted him with a smile and a voice as sweet as the syrup offered for pancakes that sat steaming and ready before him. “What’s this for?” he asked, wary to say the least.
“This is for the pancakes,” she answered. “You’ve been looking tired lately and I thought I would get up a little earlier and fix you something special.” In a state of shock he downed four pancakes, one brimming glass of orange juice and on leaving kissed her goodbye with extra gusto. As he left he called back “Have a nice day darling,” At that moment, even the angels in heaven knew there was something remarkable about this day. “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” The sun was hardly more than tree high on the horizon and he was remembering old Sunday school lessons or they were remembering him, or both. He shook his head to clear it or something.
As he turned the key the starter on his car made a telltale “karump” in slow motion and then no “karump” at all. The battery had been in its death throes for several weeks now and it had picked this morning for its final demise. And then it happened, or did not happen, however it should be looked at. He did not rave and rant, as he would most normally have done. Instead, he calmly walked back in, called the nearest Auto Shop and was assured that help would soon be on its way. “Must be getting old, can’t even get a good mad on anymore!” As a kind of overlay another thought captured his attention, “God’s in His heavens and all is right with the world.”
An hour and ten minutes later he found himself in the mornings traffic jam. But something was missing. No one seemed to be blasting on their horns. What is happening? It was not so much a question as an observation. It mingled with words that now had a voice behind them, “…I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
Just ahead as the light turned green a elderly lady stepped in front of his car and slowly began to cross the street. A cacophony of impatience should have happened. It didn’t. Everyone just waited. Not even a single toot from cars way back in line.
The rest of the journey was as it had been all morning. The slow cars stayed on the right. Those in more of a hurry stayed on the left. No one exceeded the speed limit. The morning was brighter than he could ever remember. No, bright was not the word, but he could think of no other word to properly describe it.
Three blocks from the bridge the stop light was out and not a policeman in sight, but by a kind of silent agreement, the cars from the west would proceed for one minute, and then the cars from the south would move ahead for the same period of time. He shook his head several times to see if maybe it wasn’t all a dream.
Since he was so late for work he expected a major confrontation with his manager, a particularly obnoxious individual who majored in vituperation. A long standing joke was that he was the re-incarnation of Scrooge himself.” “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” The pages of the Bible seemed to be turning back and forth along the avenues of his brain. It made no sense. It made all the sense in the world. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
“Good morning, Mr. Longworthy, sorry to see you late. Have any trouble?” He looked close to see the familiar sarcastic turn of mouth, but it was not there. “Never mind,” the manager continued, “A man who’s not been late in heaven knows how long should certainly be allowed one morning. Am I not right?” He was speechless. He simply shook his head.
“By the way,” the manager continued,” here’s a rush order and I’d appreciate it if you’d get this out ahead of all the other stuff. I know you’ve been overworked lately and I’ll see if I can’t send my secretary over to help you catch up.”
During lunch, he closeted himself in his favorite booth in a local eatery and began to read the morning paper. The first page was a revelation. There was not one murder or assault and battery to be found. There were no accidents on the highway. There were no rapes or robberies.
In the upper left hand corner of the front page was the headline, “Black Cobras go to work on Slums.” The story read, “The Black Cobras, until recently a gang which has been terrorizing it’s neighborhood have organized themselves into Help Battalions. Armed with paint brushes, hammers and nails, instead of guns and switch blades, they are knocking on doors and telling people, ‘We want to make where we all live a place to be proud of. We’d welcome your helping us.” “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them.” And somehow he knew there was no worry here, his only worry being why he had turned into this constant quoting of scripture or scripture being quoted at him.
On the evening news it was reported that something was happening that could not be explained. “There is a contentment in the air,” said one newscaster. He seemed ready to say something else. Instead he cut to a commercial.
It was further reported that every war that had been in progress had come to a halt, the politicians had stopped posturing and had sat down and were bending over backwards to be fair and unprejudiced in their responses. All soldiers on all sides had been issued orders to lay down their arms. A growing number of CEO’s were asking that their salaries be decreased and the monies used to forestall a number of instances where layoffs would otherwise take place. “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” These were the opening words to every editorial across America. It was like some giant force of good had captured each editors thought and…no one even tried to explain it.
Mr. Longworthy pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. All it produced was a rather loud and punctuated “ouch .“ “…everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.” He was filled with such overwhelming goodwill he almost wept.
As he left the office he called out, “Good night everybody, have a safe trip home.” What’s wrong with me? He thought to himself. I usually leave as grumpy as an old bear.
As he picked up his car in the parking lot the attendant gave him a note with a name and address on it. “Some teen-ager scraped you fender this afternoon as he backed out. He said call him and the two of you could work it out. He said he has no insurance but he’ll pay whatever repairs cost by working at his after school job a little longer.” “…everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”
His wife met him at the door with a big smile and hefty hug, “Mr. Nicholson down the street just called. He noticed you ran out of paint just as you were about to finish the fence. He says he has just a little of the same kind left, and you are welcome to it if you want it.”
“Will wonders never cease,” thought Mr. Longworthy. “Mr. Nicholson hasn’t spoken to me for six months. Ever since someone told him I thought he used poor judgement in buying that property out in the boondocks.” Like a giant heavenly email his mind continued to receive the same kind of messages. Without ceasing! Without ceasing!
He wondered if others were receiving messages that were as relevant to the days particular challenges as the ones he had received. Another message was coming through. “I say to you to have no limit to the times you forgive, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
He unrolled the evening paper to see if there were any more bits of astounding news. And there it was. BIG BLACK BOLD HEAD LINES: JESUS CHRIST SPEAKS TO THE WORLD. “Almost 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ spoke to the world about a better way of being. “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and love thy neighbor as thyself.” In an unprecedented world report millions have suddenly began to put these words into practice, experienced their content in a way no one seems able to explain.
By a kind of unbelievable coincidence or imprint of majesty newspaper across the world were writing editorials and reporting news of almost equal content.
And at the top of every page…only four words in 72 point fonts A MOST UNUSUAL DAY.
(For more pithy prose check my new ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/)
He could not explain the feeling. Two words “relevant antiquity” rose up in his consciousness. What in heavens name does that mean? He was not a man given to deep thought.
He wore his forty six years like a badge of honor, not happy with the slight bulge in his mid-section or the beginning of baldness that kept increasing the size of his forehead. He wore glasses for reading and should have worn them for driving. His vision of traffic was as if he were looking through the bottom of a coke bottle. “God”, and he always felt a sense of reverence at the word, “didn’t do me just right in the vision department.”
“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" He had not meant to be philosophical or theological in his thought. Four more words appeared on the front of his thinking “eternity is an always.”
His breakfast was a monument to habit that never varied. One egg, one cup of coffee, one piece of toast with minimal butter and marmalade. If he varied from this chosen path with two spicy sausages he was never happy with the results. “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” What was his mind doing to him? He looked skyward, heavenward was his actual consideration. He saw nothing, found no answer. He felt strangely at peace.
Traffic became each day more and more a battlefield and his one-acre of lawn a challenge. If someone had asked him if he was happy he would have replied, “What do you think?” or “Are you trying to be my shrink?”
During the early years of his marriage the sun had shined brightly. Most recently storm clouds hovered or hurried from the horizon more often than he would like to remember. “I am come that you might have peace and that you might have it more abundantly.” He momentarily thought it was the Lord having a personal conversation with him, a rehashing of an old truth. I must be losing my mind. I didn’t initiate any such conversation.
Another long day lay ahead of him. He was terribly weary. He had not slept well. His wife greeted him with a smile and a voice as sweet as the syrup offered for pancakes that sat steaming and ready before him. “What’s this for?” he asked, wary to say the least.
“This is for the pancakes,” she answered. “You’ve been looking tired lately and I thought I would get up a little earlier and fix you something special.” In a state of shock he downed four pancakes, one brimming glass of orange juice and on leaving kissed her goodbye with extra gusto. As he left he called back “Have a nice day darling,” At that moment, even the angels in heaven knew there was something remarkable about this day. “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?” The sun was hardly more than tree high on the horizon and he was remembering old Sunday school lessons or they were remembering him, or both. He shook his head to clear it or something.
As he turned the key the starter on his car made a telltale “karump” in slow motion and then no “karump” at all. The battery had been in its death throes for several weeks now and it had picked this morning for its final demise. And then it happened, or did not happen, however it should be looked at. He did not rave and rant, as he would most normally have done. Instead, he calmly walked back in, called the nearest Auto Shop and was assured that help would soon be on its way. “Must be getting old, can’t even get a good mad on anymore!” As a kind of overlay another thought captured his attention, “God’s in His heavens and all is right with the world.”
An hour and ten minutes later he found himself in the mornings traffic jam. But something was missing. No one seemed to be blasting on their horns. What is happening? It was not so much a question as an observation. It mingled with words that now had a voice behind them, “…I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”
Just ahead as the light turned green a elderly lady stepped in front of his car and slowly began to cross the street. A cacophony of impatience should have happened. It didn’t. Everyone just waited. Not even a single toot from cars way back in line.
The rest of the journey was as it had been all morning. The slow cars stayed on the right. Those in more of a hurry stayed on the left. No one exceeded the speed limit. The morning was brighter than he could ever remember. No, bright was not the word, but he could think of no other word to properly describe it.
Three blocks from the bridge the stop light was out and not a policeman in sight, but by a kind of silent agreement, the cars from the west would proceed for one minute, and then the cars from the south would move ahead for the same period of time. He shook his head several times to see if maybe it wasn’t all a dream.
Since he was so late for work he expected a major confrontation with his manager, a particularly obnoxious individual who majored in vituperation. A long standing joke was that he was the re-incarnation of Scrooge himself.” “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” The pages of the Bible seemed to be turning back and forth along the avenues of his brain. It made no sense. It made all the sense in the world. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”
“Good morning, Mr. Longworthy, sorry to see you late. Have any trouble?” He looked close to see the familiar sarcastic turn of mouth, but it was not there. “Never mind,” the manager continued, “A man who’s not been late in heaven knows how long should certainly be allowed one morning. Am I not right?” He was speechless. He simply shook his head.
“By the way,” the manager continued,” here’s a rush order and I’d appreciate it if you’d get this out ahead of all the other stuff. I know you’ve been overworked lately and I’ll see if I can’t send my secretary over to help you catch up.”
During lunch, he closeted himself in his favorite booth in a local eatery and began to read the morning paper. The first page was a revelation. There was not one murder or assault and battery to be found. There were no accidents on the highway. There were no rapes or robberies.
In the upper left hand corner of the front page was the headline, “Black Cobras go to work on Slums.” The story read, “The Black Cobras, until recently a gang which has been terrorizing it’s neighborhood have organized themselves into Help Battalions. Armed with paint brushes, hammers and nails, instead of guns and switch blades, they are knocking on doors and telling people, ‘We want to make where we all live a place to be proud of. We’d welcome your helping us.” “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness before men, to be seen by them.” And somehow he knew there was no worry here, his only worry being why he had turned into this constant quoting of scripture or scripture being quoted at him.
On the evening news it was reported that something was happening that could not be explained. “There is a contentment in the air,” said one newscaster. He seemed ready to say something else. Instead he cut to a commercial.
It was further reported that every war that had been in progress had come to a halt, the politicians had stopped posturing and had sat down and were bending over backwards to be fair and unprejudiced in their responses. All soldiers on all sides had been issued orders to lay down their arms. A growing number of CEO’s were asking that their salaries be decreased and the monies used to forestall a number of instances where layoffs would otherwise take place. “Enter through the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” These were the opening words to every editorial across America. It was like some giant force of good had captured each editors thought and…no one even tried to explain it.
Mr. Longworthy pinched himself to see if he was dreaming. All it produced was a rather loud and punctuated “ouch .“ “…everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock.” He was filled with such overwhelming goodwill he almost wept.
As he left the office he called out, “Good night everybody, have a safe trip home.” What’s wrong with me? He thought to himself. I usually leave as grumpy as an old bear.
As he picked up his car in the parking lot the attendant gave him a note with a name and address on it. “Some teen-ager scraped you fender this afternoon as he backed out. He said call him and the two of you could work it out. He said he has no insurance but he’ll pay whatever repairs cost by working at his after school job a little longer.” “…everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.”
His wife met him at the door with a big smile and hefty hug, “Mr. Nicholson down the street just called. He noticed you ran out of paint just as you were about to finish the fence. He says he has just a little of the same kind left, and you are welcome to it if you want it.”
“Will wonders never cease,” thought Mr. Longworthy. “Mr. Nicholson hasn’t spoken to me for six months. Ever since someone told him I thought he used poor judgement in buying that property out in the boondocks.” Like a giant heavenly email his mind continued to receive the same kind of messages. Without ceasing! Without ceasing!
He wondered if others were receiving messages that were as relevant to the days particular challenges as the ones he had received. Another message was coming through. “I say to you to have no limit to the times you forgive, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”
He unrolled the evening paper to see if there were any more bits of astounding news. And there it was. BIG BLACK BOLD HEAD LINES: JESUS CHRIST SPEAKS TO THE WORLD. “Almost 2000 years ago, Jesus Christ spoke to the world about a better way of being. “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and love thy neighbor as thyself.” In an unprecedented world report millions have suddenly began to put these words into practice, experienced their content in a way no one seems able to explain.
By a kind of unbelievable coincidence or imprint of majesty newspaper across the world were writing editorials and reporting news of almost equal content.
And at the top of every page…only four words in 72 point fonts A MOST UNUSUAL DAY.
(For more pithy prose check my new ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/)
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
JUST SOME THOUGHTS ON HOW TO ACHIEVE MORE DAYS OF BETTER LIVING
JUST SOME THOUGHTS ON HOW TO ACHIEVE MORE DAYS OF BETTER LIVING!
(These thoughts are added to three times each week and run the gamut of subjects and insights)
1. Putting your foot in your mouth isn’t all bad…that way you may think before you speak.
2. Love is a prescription you need to fill often and take regularly.
3. Everyone deserves your best and not your worst. And even if they don’t…you need to give it.
4. No one is perfect, so learn to live with each other’s imperfections.
5. When you make bitterness a business partner you court emotional bankruptcy.
6. You should keep your words soft and tender, because tomorrow you may have to eat them.
7. A frown is an expensive way to loose friends and not influence people.
8. You can’t choose how you feel, but you can chose how you act. A reminder…You can’t help it when the bad birds fly but you don’t have to let them make a nest in your hair.
9. It isn’t how many enemies you have but whether you are willing to ask yourself why they are your enemies.
10. Where you live isn’t as important as how you live.
(For more pithy prose check my new ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/)
(These thoughts are added to three times each week and run the gamut of subjects and insights)
1. Putting your foot in your mouth isn’t all bad…that way you may think before you speak.
2. Love is a prescription you need to fill often and take regularly.
3. Everyone deserves your best and not your worst. And even if they don’t…you need to give it.
4. No one is perfect, so learn to live with each other’s imperfections.
5. When you make bitterness a business partner you court emotional bankruptcy.
6. You should keep your words soft and tender, because tomorrow you may have to eat them.
7. A frown is an expensive way to loose friends and not influence people.
8. You can’t choose how you feel, but you can chose how you act. A reminder…You can’t help it when the bad birds fly but you don’t have to let them make a nest in your hair.
9. It isn’t how many enemies you have but whether you are willing to ask yourself why they are your enemies.
10. Where you live isn’t as important as how you live.
(For more pithy prose check my new ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/)
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
A GOOD DESTINY IS OPPORTUNITY WITH A SMILE ON ITS FACE
(These thoughts are changed three times a week and cover a gamut of subjects, approaches and insights) (STARTING TODAY JULY 7TH (a new blog) ONE A DAY YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS)http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/
or type into google the title ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
In the year 1880, a homeless little Chinese boy wandered the docks of Shanghai. When no one was looking he smuggled himself aboard an American vessel loading cargo. For days he hid in a drain where garbage and rubbish were daily dumped. For days he fought the rats for the stinking scraps that were thrown through the opening above him.
Finally, however, it became too much even for his determination so he climbed out of his hiding place and was discovered. It was the custom in those days to throw stowaways overboard with neither sympathy nor ceremony. But the captain of the ship, a man by the name of Charles Jones, was strangely drawn to this indomitable spirit.
So he kept the boy with him for the remainder of the voyage and fed him back to some semblance of health. When the boat docked at Wilmington, North Carolina, he turned the boy over to the minister of the church he attended when in port.
The minister befriended this tiny package of humanity and named him Charlie, after the captain who had saved him. Raised in the minister's home, when Charlie grew older he went away to Trinity College (now Duke University). Then he entered a theological seminary from which he graduated and was ordained.
Returning to China, he married a Chinese girl and set up a home out of which came six children. One daughter became the wife of the Minister of Finance; another daughter became the wife of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese Republic; and the third daughter became the wife of Chiang Kai-shek. One son became the founder of the Bank of China; another son became the Collector of customs of Chinese ports; and the third son became the manager of the export-import business of China. So the Soong dynasty was founded.
If there is a lesson here it can be learned from a sea captain who when he first went to sea never knew how a simple act of love and kindness would change the world.
And, yes what opportunity awaits each of us around the next bend in the road. And will we take it or pass it by, never to know what might have been.
or type into google the title ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS
In the year 1880, a homeless little Chinese boy wandered the docks of Shanghai. When no one was looking he smuggled himself aboard an American vessel loading cargo. For days he hid in a drain where garbage and rubbish were daily dumped. For days he fought the rats for the stinking scraps that were thrown through the opening above him.
Finally, however, it became too much even for his determination so he climbed out of his hiding place and was discovered. It was the custom in those days to throw stowaways overboard with neither sympathy nor ceremony. But the captain of the ship, a man by the name of Charles Jones, was strangely drawn to this indomitable spirit.
So he kept the boy with him for the remainder of the voyage and fed him back to some semblance of health. When the boat docked at Wilmington, North Carolina, he turned the boy over to the minister of the church he attended when in port.
The minister befriended this tiny package of humanity and named him Charlie, after the captain who had saved him. Raised in the minister's home, when Charlie grew older he went away to Trinity College (now Duke University). Then he entered a theological seminary from which he graduated and was ordained.
Returning to China, he married a Chinese girl and set up a home out of which came six children. One daughter became the wife of the Minister of Finance; another daughter became the wife of Sun Yat-sen, founder of the Chinese Republic; and the third daughter became the wife of Chiang Kai-shek. One son became the founder of the Bank of China; another son became the Collector of customs of Chinese ports; and the third son became the manager of the export-import business of China. So the Soong dynasty was founded.
If there is a lesson here it can be learned from a sea captain who when he first went to sea never knew how a simple act of love and kindness would change the world.
And, yes what opportunity awaits each of us around the next bend in the road. And will we take it or pass it by, never to know what might have been.
Monday, July 6, 2009
PICKED AND PRECIOUS
(These thoughts are changed three times a week and cover a gamut of subjects, approaches and insights) (For those of you who continue to share with friends; thanks)
To be adopted is not a secret to be kept with shame. It is a glory to be shouted to the sky. It means you were not an accident to be taken care of with regrets, but picked and precious in the picking, you were on a loving wanted list.
If you are adopted, it means you were not chosen for a party, a game, or an afternoon, but for a lifetime. That pulse-beat of joy in your mother’s eyes says you were a rose plucked from a glorious garden of little angels; homeless but not unwanted, tightly bound, not by flesh and blood, but by a great cohesion called love. Can you, an adopted child, be loved as much as if you were not adopted? Why not? Your adoptive parents are not flesh of flesh, or blood of blood, yet they are one.
To be adopted is not a secret to be kept with shame. It is a glory to be shouted to the sky. It means you were not an accident to be taken care of with regrets, but picked and precious in the picking, you were on a loving wanted list.
If you are adopted, it means you were not chosen for a party, a game, or an afternoon, but for a lifetime. That pulse-beat of joy in your mother’s eyes says you were a rose plucked from a glorious garden of little angels; homeless but not unwanted, tightly bound, not by flesh and blood, but by a great cohesion called love. Can you, an adopted child, be loved as much as if you were not adopted? Why not? Your adoptive parents are not flesh of flesh, or blood of blood, yet they are one.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
GRIEF AND SURVIVAL
(These thoughts are added to three or four times each week and cover a wide variety of subjects and insights)
This is much longer than anything I usually write on this blog but as I began to write I realized that to do justice to the subject I could not do otherwise.
It is largely a rewrite of what I wrote several months ago. Are there some new thoughts below newly expressed? Yes, that too.
I am presenting it again because it has now been buried in time and new readers may not have read it.
In my counseling I have seen first hand, so many times, how sorrow, for whatever reason rips and tears at the human psyche. And I have seen how some of the insights below have touched particular needs in a practical and positive way. There are FIFTY FIVE YEARS of listening and learning and studying behind these comments. I can but hope they have some of the healing balm in them.
GRIEF HURTS. It is a knife that cuts and rips and slashes and makes us cry out in terrible pain. It is an agony of the soul. When it comes, we feel out of control.
All of us have experienced it for one reason or the other: death, terrible sickness in our own bodies or the bodies of those we love, divorce, the loss of a career, the loss of a child. It comes in different guises, but in some form it ALWAYS COMES TO EVERYONE. It always does.
HOW BEST THEN CAN WE DEAL this emotional winter storm? This ripping and tearing at our stability. Some weep until there are no more tears left to cry with. Some try to drown their sorrow in a bottle or the impact of a pill. Some try to repress their heartache and, like a kettle with no escape valve, eventually explode.
But some…some take their wounded selves to God. And there, before the compassionate throne of grace, cry out, “Dear Lord, let them debate the psychology of loss in the classroom, trying philosophically to dissect it - I am beyond that. I ask now only for YOUR SPECIAL SOLACE.”
And what is God’s special solace? “It is the GIFT of being that allows us to laugh in the face of time and bow in awe at the opening of Eternity.” (anonymous)
One thing is for sure, WE ALL HANDLE THE EMOTION of anguish differently.
A husband and wife spent many weekends fishing together. When she asked for a divorce and left him – he never fished again.
A father and son played golf together each Saturday morning. When the boy was killed in an automobile accident – the father put their clubs out for the trash man.
Two friends enjoyed hiking together.
Then they had a terrible fight and went their separate ways. Afterwards, one of them never again walked the forest.
Would you ease your own GRIEVING TIME? Then go out, and though still hurting or remembering how badly once you hurt, use your personal knowledge of pain to help others. Sharing your remembrances will hurt, but it will remind the one to whom you speak that thay are not alone and that someone is now caring enough to give their very best.
Yes, search for some other HURTING SURVIVOR. Hold the palsied hand of someone old and alone, or give patient love to a little lad or lass who obviously gets very little of it at home. Be a loving friend who takes a day off from work to stand in those final moments by a grave with someone who knows you went out of your way to show you care. You are too busy? Oh, yes...if this is a speed bump on your way toward active compassion...you are indeed too busy.
In other words, move from the theological to the practical. Study the Sermon on the Mount and start building your OWN LITTLE HILL OF CONCERN.
Helen Keller was deaf, dumb and blind, but she didn’t spend her life sitting alone in dark, dumb, dingy silence feeling sorry for herself. Did not burden herself by grieving for a life that might have been. Rather she got up every morning and WENT OUT. Went out to where the birds were singing, and people were talking and the world was living, all of which she could neither hear nor see. Went out to pour the sweet perfume of noble thoughts on others and feel some of it splashing back upon herself.
Don’t misunderstand me, she wasn’t born with this wonderful attitude. In her youth she would literally flail at family and teachers, making loud almost animal-like sounds of frustration. She was daily angry and allowed herself to be filled with hopelessness. Then one day, her teacher got through to her that there is more than one kind of blindness. That, yes, there is physical blindness that cannot see light, but there is also spiritual emotional blindness that will not search for light. And so she decided to make the most of life and not the least, to look for the best and not the worst. She decided not to daily grieve over her misfortune, but instead deal with it with a multitude of positive actions minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day until she had lived out a lifetime of service.
More than once I have placed my hand on the shoulder of another human being bent low with hurting and said, “Weep…cry…. Slowly siphon it out of your system. Then turn and begin to walk away from your wounding. Otherwise, you but nurture A GHOST that will haunt you the rest of your days.” In short, when pain and problem come, pray deeply and then deeper still, do all you can and then get on with living.
Over and over again we must seek to turn our stumbling block called grief into A STEPPING STONE.
Would you find healing or advise someone else how to find healing? Sup then on those things that feed and soothe your soul. Walk outside and breathe in the spirit of CREATION speaking to you from the existence of millions of blinking stars. Look up at the universe and feel the eternal extension of it. Walk quietly where there is the roar of an ocean shouting its power against the shore, or the rippling of a stream playing its musical notes against the stones, or the hint of a new day blushing the horizon. Plant a seed. Hold a leaf in your hand. Henry David Thoreau in his little house by Walden Pond once wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush (is) aflame with God.”
Do not succumb to thoughts that are TATTLE GRAY. When tears are falling, the first thing you need to do is paint the dull, dead landscape of your thinking with colorful thoughts and a colorful faith. Things are not going well so you are not thinking bright yellow or bold red? It is understandable.
Should you attend a funeral service in PULSING PINK? Probably not, but permanent black for an incessant forever isn’t a good idea either. You want to be alone when your world has come apart at the seams? Quite likely. But this is why you shouldn’t give in to giving up. Rather unclench your fist and reach for heaven's radiance. Let loose the vigor of God on the lethargy of your sorrow.
“Grief,” said Disraeli, “is the agony of an instant. The indulgence of grief is the BLUNDER of a lifetime.”
There is a thin line between those who have CONQUERED LIFE or been conquered by it. Each additional year of living does not necessarily bring maturity, sainthood and sweetness, or spiritual wisdom. Strength is not an automatic.
What then to do?
Believe God chose your day of birth and knows your day of death as he did and does for those you love and are or were loved by. These are two very important decisions that are His and His alone. And accepting this knowledge is A GOOD PLACE TO START in the battle for stability.
It’s the last thing you want to do when you are overcome with grief but force yourself to watch a funny movie. Read a funny book. Laugh at a funny cartoon. It is a prescription from the book of Proverbs, “THE CHEERFUL HEART is good medicine.” (Proverbs 17:22)
Go for the gusto in mind, body and spirit and it pays off. But when you have done all you can, in ever way you can to solve a problem or a pain, don’t beat your head bloody and your soul ragged continuing after the impossible.
Learn to finally say and mean, “I am thine Lord. I present myself as a spiritual sponge. Ready to absorb at whatever pace solace comes. Give me patience for I DO NOT HAVE IT and it looks like I am not going to find any immediate. You are mine and I am thine. Stamp this truth upon every fiber of my being.
If grieving is caused by what we no longer have, cannot thanksgiving for what we do still have be of help? There is much truth in the words, It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
James Barrie put it this way, “God gave us memories that we (might) have roses in December,”
This is much longer than anything I usually write on this blog but as I began to write I realized that to do justice to the subject I could not do otherwise.
It is largely a rewrite of what I wrote several months ago. Are there some new thoughts below newly expressed? Yes, that too.
I am presenting it again because it has now been buried in time and new readers may not have read it.
In my counseling I have seen first hand, so many times, how sorrow, for whatever reason rips and tears at the human psyche. And I have seen how some of the insights below have touched particular needs in a practical and positive way. There are FIFTY FIVE YEARS of listening and learning and studying behind these comments. I can but hope they have some of the healing balm in them.
GRIEF HURTS. It is a knife that cuts and rips and slashes and makes us cry out in terrible pain. It is an agony of the soul. When it comes, we feel out of control.
All of us have experienced it for one reason or the other: death, terrible sickness in our own bodies or the bodies of those we love, divorce, the loss of a career, the loss of a child. It comes in different guises, but in some form it ALWAYS COMES TO EVERYONE. It always does.
HOW BEST THEN CAN WE DEAL this emotional winter storm? This ripping and tearing at our stability. Some weep until there are no more tears left to cry with. Some try to drown their sorrow in a bottle or the impact of a pill. Some try to repress their heartache and, like a kettle with no escape valve, eventually explode.
But some…some take their wounded selves to God. And there, before the compassionate throne of grace, cry out, “Dear Lord, let them debate the psychology of loss in the classroom, trying philosophically to dissect it - I am beyond that. I ask now only for YOUR SPECIAL SOLACE.”
And what is God’s special solace? “It is the GIFT of being that allows us to laugh in the face of time and bow in awe at the opening of Eternity.” (anonymous)
One thing is for sure, WE ALL HANDLE THE EMOTION of anguish differently.
A husband and wife spent many weekends fishing together. When she asked for a divorce and left him – he never fished again.
A father and son played golf together each Saturday morning. When the boy was killed in an automobile accident – the father put their clubs out for the trash man.
Two friends enjoyed hiking together.
Then they had a terrible fight and went their separate ways. Afterwards, one of them never again walked the forest.
Would you ease your own GRIEVING TIME? Then go out, and though still hurting or remembering how badly once you hurt, use your personal knowledge of pain to help others. Sharing your remembrances will hurt, but it will remind the one to whom you speak that thay are not alone and that someone is now caring enough to give their very best.
Yes, search for some other HURTING SURVIVOR. Hold the palsied hand of someone old and alone, or give patient love to a little lad or lass who obviously gets very little of it at home. Be a loving friend who takes a day off from work to stand in those final moments by a grave with someone who knows you went out of your way to show you care. You are too busy? Oh, yes...if this is a speed bump on your way toward active compassion...you are indeed too busy.
In other words, move from the theological to the practical. Study the Sermon on the Mount and start building your OWN LITTLE HILL OF CONCERN.
Helen Keller was deaf, dumb and blind, but she didn’t spend her life sitting alone in dark, dumb, dingy silence feeling sorry for herself. Did not burden herself by grieving for a life that might have been. Rather she got up every morning and WENT OUT. Went out to where the birds were singing, and people were talking and the world was living, all of which she could neither hear nor see. Went out to pour the sweet perfume of noble thoughts on others and feel some of it splashing back upon herself.
Don’t misunderstand me, she wasn’t born with this wonderful attitude. In her youth she would literally flail at family and teachers, making loud almost animal-like sounds of frustration. She was daily angry and allowed herself to be filled with hopelessness. Then one day, her teacher got through to her that there is more than one kind of blindness. That, yes, there is physical blindness that cannot see light, but there is also spiritual emotional blindness that will not search for light. And so she decided to make the most of life and not the least, to look for the best and not the worst. She decided not to daily grieve over her misfortune, but instead deal with it with a multitude of positive actions minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day until she had lived out a lifetime of service.
More than once I have placed my hand on the shoulder of another human being bent low with hurting and said, “Weep…cry…. Slowly siphon it out of your system. Then turn and begin to walk away from your wounding. Otherwise, you but nurture A GHOST that will haunt you the rest of your days.” In short, when pain and problem come, pray deeply and then deeper still, do all you can and then get on with living.
Over and over again we must seek to turn our stumbling block called grief into A STEPPING STONE.
Would you find healing or advise someone else how to find healing? Sup then on those things that feed and soothe your soul. Walk outside and breathe in the spirit of CREATION speaking to you from the existence of millions of blinking stars. Look up at the universe and feel the eternal extension of it. Walk quietly where there is the roar of an ocean shouting its power against the shore, or the rippling of a stream playing its musical notes against the stones, or the hint of a new day blushing the horizon. Plant a seed. Hold a leaf in your hand. Henry David Thoreau in his little house by Walden Pond once wrote, “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush (is) aflame with God.”
Do not succumb to thoughts that are TATTLE GRAY. When tears are falling, the first thing you need to do is paint the dull, dead landscape of your thinking with colorful thoughts and a colorful faith. Things are not going well so you are not thinking bright yellow or bold red? It is understandable.
Should you attend a funeral service in PULSING PINK? Probably not, but permanent black for an incessant forever isn’t a good idea either. You want to be alone when your world has come apart at the seams? Quite likely. But this is why you shouldn’t give in to giving up. Rather unclench your fist and reach for heaven's radiance. Let loose the vigor of God on the lethargy of your sorrow.
“Grief,” said Disraeli, “is the agony of an instant. The indulgence of grief is the BLUNDER of a lifetime.”
There is a thin line between those who have CONQUERED LIFE or been conquered by it. Each additional year of living does not necessarily bring maturity, sainthood and sweetness, or spiritual wisdom. Strength is not an automatic.
What then to do?
Believe God chose your day of birth and knows your day of death as he did and does for those you love and are or were loved by. These are two very important decisions that are His and His alone. And accepting this knowledge is A GOOD PLACE TO START in the battle for stability.
It’s the last thing you want to do when you are overcome with grief but force yourself to watch a funny movie. Read a funny book. Laugh at a funny cartoon. It is a prescription from the book of Proverbs, “THE CHEERFUL HEART is good medicine.” (Proverbs 17:22)
Go for the gusto in mind, body and spirit and it pays off. But when you have done all you can, in ever way you can to solve a problem or a pain, don’t beat your head bloody and your soul ragged continuing after the impossible.
Learn to finally say and mean, “I am thine Lord. I present myself as a spiritual sponge. Ready to absorb at whatever pace solace comes. Give me patience for I DO NOT HAVE IT and it looks like I am not going to find any immediate. You are mine and I am thine. Stamp this truth upon every fiber of my being.
If grieving is caused by what we no longer have, cannot thanksgiving for what we do still have be of help? There is much truth in the words, It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
James Barrie put it this way, “God gave us memories that we (might) have roses in December,”
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
HE SAID, I'LL GIVE IT 200 YEARS
HE SAID, “I’LL GIVE IT 200 YEARS”
(The readers of this commentary blog continue to grow at a rapid rate because so many of you share the writings with friends. Thank you. Neil Wyrick)
Try to imagine Ben Franklin and fifty-five other Founding Fathers sweltering in Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 125 DEGREES HEAT. It was July but the real reason it was so hot inside the hall was that all the doors and windows were shut as tight as a drum. They rightly realized that in order to accomplish the job set before them, there must be no leaks for either press or gossipers to spread far and wide. Thank goodness they were equal to the task of putting together a Declaration of Independence that has become a model for all the world to follow.
It certainly was not a lack of courage that led these men to chose to become a part of this group so revered down through the years. FIVE, BRANDED AS TRAITORS, were captured by the British forces. Five others watched their homes stripped bare and then burned to the ground. The sons of two of them paid the ultimate sacrifice. Nine died of wounds sustained in battle or from the hardships of war itself.
Many of them inherited poverty and loss of property for their trouble. They were always on the run, LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDERS. Sure that what they had done was right; unsure of the final victory that did gloriously come to pass. But then, it could not have come as any surprise. Voluntarily they had put their heads and hearts on the line. Voluntarily they were resolute to the end.
THEY WERE A DIVERSE GROUP. Eleven brought to the signing table skills as merchants which hardly prepared them for what was to come. Twenty-four came equipped with legal skills. Nine were farmers who were more accustomed to growing crops than a harvest of freedom. Just ordinary men at first glance, but were they? For all brought a sense of dedication that raised them head and shoulders above the common crowd.
Therefore, with the spirits of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson looking over our shoulders, let us sing “Happy Birthday” to this great land. Lady of Liberty with outstretched arms, we salute you. On this Fourth of July we will fly the flag that once held a lesser number of stars but certainly no less degree of love for our beloved country.
How do those songs go that raise our spirits in the singing of them? “My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.” “O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain.” “Oh, say, can you see, by the dawns early light.”
Home of the brave, land of the free. What a heritage. What a responsibility.
It has been awhile since I have been back to Washington, D.C., but I will soon be going again. It is a needed journey to remind myself of all THOSE MAGNIFICENT YESTERDAYS. To stand and look up at the face of Lincoln. To linger by the Vietnam Memorial and the new monument to the fighting forces in World War II. To visit the Smithsonian and have so much of yesterday no more than a fingertip away.
Have you in the last few reading minutes perhaps started to think of that bearded patriot with the steely eyes TO WHOM WE ARE ALL RELATED. Uncle Sam dressed in striped pants, long-tailed coat and a tall hat covered with stars and stripes.
Or, have you thought of the bald eagle made the symbol of America in 1782? Better than the turkey that Ben Franklin first suggested. Perhaps your mind has focused on the Liberty Bell that was rung as the Declaration of Independence was being signed.
One thing is for sure, the world is filled with millions who want to live here; live here in this place with all its warts, a country over two hundred years old and not yet done.
Benjamin Franklin, after he had signed the Constitution threw it down upon the table and said, “I’LL GIVE IT TWO HUNDRED YEARS” He never thought it would last any longer than that because he knew that the greatest danger to freedom is freedom itself. And that there are not enough policemen or soldiers to keep freedom alive and well, only self-discipline can do that. That’s you and I wanting freedom enough we will vote each time we have the chance. Obey the laws when no one is looking. And define freedom not only by how we enjoy it but how we are also willing to give it to each and every one of our fellow citizens.
(The readers of this commentary blog continue to grow at a rapid rate because so many of you share the writings with friends. Thank you. Neil Wyrick)
Try to imagine Ben Franklin and fifty-five other Founding Fathers sweltering in Independence Hall in Philadelphia in 125 DEGREES HEAT. It was July but the real reason it was so hot inside the hall was that all the doors and windows were shut as tight as a drum. They rightly realized that in order to accomplish the job set before them, there must be no leaks for either press or gossipers to spread far and wide. Thank goodness they were equal to the task of putting together a Declaration of Independence that has become a model for all the world to follow.
It certainly was not a lack of courage that led these men to chose to become a part of this group so revered down through the years. FIVE, BRANDED AS TRAITORS, were captured by the British forces. Five others watched their homes stripped bare and then burned to the ground. The sons of two of them paid the ultimate sacrifice. Nine died of wounds sustained in battle or from the hardships of war itself.
Many of them inherited poverty and loss of property for their trouble. They were always on the run, LOOKING OVER THEIR SHOULDERS. Sure that what they had done was right; unsure of the final victory that did gloriously come to pass. But then, it could not have come as any surprise. Voluntarily they had put their heads and hearts on the line. Voluntarily they were resolute to the end.
THEY WERE A DIVERSE GROUP. Eleven brought to the signing table skills as merchants which hardly prepared them for what was to come. Twenty-four came equipped with legal skills. Nine were farmers who were more accustomed to growing crops than a harvest of freedom. Just ordinary men at first glance, but were they? For all brought a sense of dedication that raised them head and shoulders above the common crowd.
Therefore, with the spirits of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson looking over our shoulders, let us sing “Happy Birthday” to this great land. Lady of Liberty with outstretched arms, we salute you. On this Fourth of July we will fly the flag that once held a lesser number of stars but certainly no less degree of love for our beloved country.
How do those songs go that raise our spirits in the singing of them? “My country tis of thee, sweet land of liberty.” “O beautiful for spacious skies, for amber waves of grain.” “Oh, say, can you see, by the dawns early light.”
Home of the brave, land of the free. What a heritage. What a responsibility.
It has been awhile since I have been back to Washington, D.C., but I will soon be going again. It is a needed journey to remind myself of all THOSE MAGNIFICENT YESTERDAYS. To stand and look up at the face of Lincoln. To linger by the Vietnam Memorial and the new monument to the fighting forces in World War II. To visit the Smithsonian and have so much of yesterday no more than a fingertip away.
Have you in the last few reading minutes perhaps started to think of that bearded patriot with the steely eyes TO WHOM WE ARE ALL RELATED. Uncle Sam dressed in striped pants, long-tailed coat and a tall hat covered with stars and stripes.
Or, have you thought of the bald eagle made the symbol of America in 1782? Better than the turkey that Ben Franklin first suggested. Perhaps your mind has focused on the Liberty Bell that was rung as the Declaration of Independence was being signed.
One thing is for sure, the world is filled with millions who want to live here; live here in this place with all its warts, a country over two hundred years old and not yet done.
Benjamin Franklin, after he had signed the Constitution threw it down upon the table and said, “I’LL GIVE IT TWO HUNDRED YEARS” He never thought it would last any longer than that because he knew that the greatest danger to freedom is freedom itself. And that there are not enough policemen or soldiers to keep freedom alive and well, only self-discipline can do that. That’s you and I wanting freedom enough we will vote each time we have the chance. Obey the laws when no one is looking. And define freedom not only by how we enjoy it but how we are also willing to give it to each and every one of our fellow citizens.
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