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Archive for the ‘Doing’ Category

In The Mood

December 18, 2025

No, I’m not thinking about Glenn Miller, even though we’ve attended two WWII-era plays this season. (Great song, I grew up learning to play drums to big band music. Oh, to be 9 again.)

I think about how I (and most likely you) tend to wait until we’re in the mood to do things—perform a service, write that novel, say Hi to a friend, read Luke 1…

Professionals don’t wait until they are in the mood before they do the work. They do the work to get in the mood.

Same with us. Perform that charity service, write that note, visit someone. As you do, the mood will follow.

Sort of like yesterday’s thought—the world seems backward. The more we do good things, the better the mood we’re in, and the better the reciprocation of others. It spreads.

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Stuck in the Middle

November 14, 2025

“Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with you.”—Stealers Wheel

That lyric speaks to me on so many levels.

For today, I’m thinking of the middle. Our middle. The place where the heart and lungs reside. Our core (not in the Pilates sense).

My meditation teacher has us exploring the middle.

We had been exploring breath by focusing on the sensation at the upper lip. The rhythmic cooling caused by the breath.

Now it is the lungs with the rhythmic rise and fall, and the rhythm of the heart.

My exploration of the core led to realization of Jesus’s concern for the status of the heart. Not at an intellectual level, which tends to divide mind and body, but at the core of our being. It is from that core that our following lives. And from that following come the action verbs we learned from Isaiah yesterday:

Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good,
Seek justice,
Correct oppression,
Bring justice to the fatherless,
Plead the widow’s cause.

These are things pleasing to his sight. Just as Paul wrote in the concluding chapters of the Letter to the Romans. Life doesn’t stop with realization of grace—it begins. That is new life. And then we live according to the new heart.

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Prophetic Action Plan

November 13, 2025

“The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.”

Thus opens the document we call the Book of Isaiah. Isaiah proceeds to speak to the kings (and the people) words that God gave him. He takes the next several paragraphs detailing the evil ways of the people of Judah (which had split with Israel thanks to the stupidity of Solomon’s son).

I’ll not document all that right now. We can translate to today the idea of what and how do we worship and acknowledge God. Is our worship of prayers and offerings consistent with the intent of God or is it not performed with the right orientation of the heart?

Let us look at the prescription that God offers followers spoken through Isaiah. Pay attention. Look at the verbs.

Cease to do evil,
Learn to do good,
Seek justice,
Correct oppression,
Bring justice to the fatherless,
Plead the widow’s cause.

I am convicted—where have I learned to do good? Do I seek justice for everyone? How am I working to correct oppression? Where can I bring justice and peace to the oppressed of society?

Think on your own situation. You and I, we cannot do it all. But we can do something. What is it we can do today?

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Posted in Awareness, Disciplines, Doing, Intention, Justice | Leave a Comment »

Faith vs. Works?

October 29, 2025

I face false dichotomies in most areas of my thinking and writing.

My life’s work sometimes seems focused on dashing these dichotomies.

Usually when I am faced with either/or, I suggest what if either both or neither.

The three ideas dance with an intricate rhythm. Faith, Grace, Works.

What if—faith leads to the inward infusion of the Holy Spirit which manifests itself through our service, kindness, and generosity (works)?

I think that’s why James wrote, “Faith without works is dead.”

I think that is why Paul wrote the last chapters of his letter to the Romans. The letter didn’t end with grace. It ended with examples of acts that we would (should?) do because of our new relationship to God.

The same to us. Life didn’t end on some day that we were “saved.” We must continue living. And that living should be service, graciousness, generous.

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Because They Want To Live Like That

October 20, 2025

The early gatherings of Jesus followers grew in numbers and influence because people around them saw the way they lived and wished to live like that. They saw people kind and generous. When plagues rolled through the cities, they saw Jesus followers out ministering to the sick and grieving.

I picked up this thought from an Arnold Schwarzenegger newsletter, “When your actions consistently align with your principles, you don’t need to convince anyone of who you are. You become the evidence. That’s why the most powerful teachers rarely lecture; they live in a way that makes people want to follow. Integrity isn’t built in speeches — it’s built in habits, sacrifices, and how you treat others.”

I write this and convict myself. At what points to I embody my principles of peace and justice and being kind and generous? And at what points do I fall short? How can I do better?

Perhaps you need to ask these of yourself.

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How To Be A Good Person

October 15, 2025

Do something good.

Repeat.

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How To Be

September 12, 2025

How to be kind, practice kindness.

How to be more spiritual, practice spiritual disciplines.

How to be more like Jesus, practice loving your neighbor.

When we choose our actions, we choose who we seek to become.

As we act, so we become.

(Still thinking about how Paul led us into forming our spiritual life in his Letter to the Romans.)

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Giving Permission

July 21, 2025

My “virtual friend” Jon Swanson wrote in his newsletter, Finding Words in Hard Times, Do what you can. It’s enough.

He told this story:

Yesterday at the hospital, a couple came up behind me. The guy put his arm around my shoulder. I asked why they were there. It was a different person than usual that they were visiting, worrying about. I looked into her eyes and said, “Go home. Get rest. There are people here to watch by night.” And then I said, “Most of what I do is give permission. To stop. To breath. To not work so hard to measure up. To stop expecting so much.”

Our church had a weak leader once upon a time. I was on a committee but assuredly not a “leader” of the congregation. For some reason people would come to me with ideas for a ministry. I didn’t have any power, but I simply told them, “Just do it.” Like a presentation from General Colin Powell I had, “It’s easier to ask forgiveness then to ask for permission.”

I give you permission—to be kind, to be generous, to start that ministry. Just do it.

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