Everything depends upon me.
I must bring healing to that grieving family.
If I don’t show up to lead, the work will never be done.
Maybe…
The work to be done is important. We should be serious about it.
Perhaps not so serious about ourselves. Such focus leads to pride. Which leads to a fall.
Relax. Let the spirit flow through you to do the work. Chuckle at your shortcomings. Try easy.
The little book The Way of the Pilgrim tells the story of a Russian peasant in the 19th century who takes to heart Paul’s advice to pray without ceasing. He adopts the “Jesus Prayer” praying it constantly during his wanderings around Russia.
“Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me” has formed the spiritual foundation for probably millions of spiritual seekers.
I have used it as part of my daily meditations for at least 30 years.
Musician Jon Batiste recently appeared on Tim Ferriss’s podcast. He mentioned his prayer mantra. I like this one, too. I’ve begun using it as a way to do something different in order to not be in a rut.
“Be still and know that I am God.”
It reminds me first to be still. That is so hard for us.
Next is know. Not “I think” or some other weak verb. I know.
Finally, “I am God.” The object of my knowing.
My feeble attention requires frequent reminders of my core principles.
Peace and Justice.
Peace is an action word. It’s not the Eagles’ “Peaceful Easy Feeling.” Rather practice peace through reaching out with love toward those who are hurting (which is everyone).
Justice without mercy is simply revenge dressed up. Rather practice justice through discovering others’ needs and helping.
Yes, there is a political component. In practice, it’s an attitude of individuals acting in community.
We’re back from two weeks of travels. A car at one parking lot sported a bumper sticker “Jesus Is (insert your particular politics)”.
Jesus, in fact, never directly addressed that particular statement.
I understand the deep need to feel that God is on our side.
Maybe I pray that God will support Liverpool to win and Manchester City to lose. Or, to use an American analogy, the Kansas City Chiefs to win and the San Francisco 49ers to lose. Perhaps the other side prays the same thing only in reverse.
Does God really pick these sides? Can we really constrain the God that created the universe and everything within it to fit our desires?
I can see praying for the spirit to infuse my body and soul with healing power. To provide me strength and wisdom to make the wise decisions. To fill me with capacity to love others—even those I feel like not loving.
Let us ponder questions such as these. What kind of life did Jesus live? If we are living like Jesus, would we plaster a divisive bumper sticker on our car? Maybe instead a bumper sticker that said simply “Love Others Always.”
The election is finally over in America. Sometimes I like the parliamentary system where political campaigns consume seemingly endless time, money, and attention.
Maybe, just like in most of the rest of the world, your candidate one and you feel satisfied. Or maybe your candidate lost and you feel discouraged and worried. (Just as in all of my election history, some of mine lost and some won.)
Remember what Jesus said about this. Oh, wait, Jesus said nothing about politics. Jesus told us that we live best when we live in another kingdom—God’s kingdom.
Regardless of outcome, today is another day when life goes on. We must continue to follow Jesus first, loving God and loving others.
That never changes. That always satisfies.
The idea burrows through the conscious mind to the unconscious one. Sometimes we know not the source of the idea.
Ideas resonate with an emotion and stick.
Henri Nouwen wrote a little book on prayer called With Open Hands.
He thinks about how opening our hands opens us to God in prayer.
Have you ever become aware of clenched hands? You are trying to go to sleep. You realize your hands are closed into fists.
The very act of intentionally opening your hands brings immediate relaxation.
The same with our minds.
The very act of opening our minds opens our eyes to new possibilities. New ideas can bring us to a new level of awareness.
We can leave the fixed mindsets of prejudice, opinion, bitterness, cynicism behind.
Open now to hearing Jesus’s voice calling to a better way of life.
I saw this on Rich’s Ride blog
Our love will change the world, not our opinions.
This worked once a couple of thousand years ago. Followers of Jesus walked a different way such that they changed the world.
Today is election day in America. I hope all who are citizens are voting today—for my candidate, of course. 🙂
Oh, I guess I didn’t mention who that was. Oh, well…
I went to graduate school with an idea of earning a PhD in Political Science. Things happened. I wound up back in technology with a side of philosophy. Much better off. But I donate to candidates I like and will vote. And hopefully the months-long low level anxiety will leave. And my email folder and messages folder will grow strangely silent.
Paraphrasing John Mellencamp, Oh, yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of the politicking is gone.
It’s way easier to be negative, sarcastic, and cynical. It’s much harder to be hopeful, positive, and proactive.
Everywhere we look, we see words meant to instill fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
That is the easy thing for media to write. Mainstream media and influencers alike. It generates likes and views.
It is much harder to analyze the good with the bad. The think of hopeful, positive, and proactive.
People are cynical. Oh, but think about the many people you know who are kind. Who will carry a bag for you, open a door, smile and say Hi.
Many good people exist. Also many good and helpful services to which we can contribute.
Should we find ourselves mired in negativity and fear, we can take small steps to change. We can change our information sources. We can look for just one positive thing in the next person we meet. We can notice beauty. We can take one step toward generosity.
Words.
What a wonderful invention. We can combine them to assist thinking and communicate our thoughts to others.
I forget the movie, but I remember the line—“What we have here is a failure to communicate.”
Sometimes the words just come out wrong (to paraphrase a song from somewhere). We thought we said one thing, but somehow it came out another.
I offer this thought.
“Communication is about what is received, not what is intended. If there is a gap between what you are saying and what they are hearing, you have to find a new way to say it.”
The last post discussed people of virtue avoiding sin because it was just the way they lived.
Let us take a look at the Stoics. One of the leading Stoic philosophers, Seneca, wrote essays that sounded so much like Paul that later Christian thinkers thought he was Christian. It’s unlikely that he ever heard of Jesus.
That doesn’t mean we can’t learn from them. Ryan Holliday, today’s leading exponent of Stoic philosophy, writes, “Virtue to them was a way of life. It was pivotal, essential, irreplaceable. It wasn’t something you talked about, it was something you did. Aristotle said that we acquire the virtues the same way we acquire any skill—a carpenter builds, a flutist plays, a runner runs.”
Similarly, a follower of Jesus follows. We don’t go around pointing to other people’s faults instructing them with platitudes. We participate in a way of living involving prayer, meditation, study, service. And virtue.
Gary Mintchell
Faith Venture 