Sunday, March 25, 2007

a beautiful day

Today was a beautiful day. I sat at a park and read some, thought some, and just sat. The trees sang with blooms. The grass danced with little flowers. The breeze carried some of my cares away. But not all of them...
Jesus said that in this world we would have tribulation, but to be of good cheer and not let our hearts be troubled. Only through God can we not let our hearts be troubled. Through His Spirit in us, for those of us who believe. Sometimes it's a process, just like the seasons. Sometimes the trees are bare and skeleton-like... and then spring comes and surprises us. We can't control it. We wait for spring. It comes at the right time, though it seems to tarry. The seasons change, but there will always be Spring

Friday, March 16, 2007

We are too busy

On my last blog I had been thinking about slowing down... how God blesses me when I do... Like when I go for a walk and just listen... that's where that "quote" came from. I don't think I'm Aristotle or anything.
I've really been thinking everyone is too busy. Why are we so busy? I thinks there’s a lot of reasons...
I have chronic fatigue syndrome which leaves me unable to be pointlessly busy for the most part. This can be a blessing in disguise...I know there’s a good kind of busyness and productiveness of course, but I’m talking about our restless need to always be doing something in order not to really think or feel, in order to perhaps escape our problems and pain or just life's common disappointments. It never works. It doesn’t.

What about all these “busy” people I see at Bread Co. They have their suits, their laptops and are by themselves; some of their faces despondent. Is busyness a cover for loneliness? Are crowds shuffling around together in loneliness? Have we lost our ability to connect? We’re all guarded, we’ve got a schedule to keep, no room for much
but do, do, do. We can barely respond to emergencies, because they’re not in our schedule or our programs. We probably don't even know what constitutes an emergency.
I know I'm talking in general terms here, so I'll be specific. I think we Americans are very selfish people. We worship comfort and entertainment. We have our plans for fun, and God forbid something or someone interfere with that, say, like a hurting friend or neighbor. God forbid we should include people in our "fun plans" that don't look, dress, or think like us, or that we don't know too well. We're just so shallow. I hope I can really fall out of this stupid box. We think we are righteous cause we've "scheduled" in time to help others. Well, what about the needs that don't fall within our schedule or our neat little agenda? There's plenty of those. They get totally overlooked or ignored. People get overlooked and forgotten.
Do I think goals are bad? No. Is planning bad? No. But are we pursuing our own goals to the exclusion of being a good neighbor, or of really caring for other people, which is what life is all about. Of course we can’t do that without God.
Yesterday, I heard on the radio some interesting statistics. Americans are the most bible illiterate we've ever been. Most Americans don't even know one of the ten commandments (and this includes church goers) and here's a funny/ sad thing--the most quoted "bible" verse is "God helps those who help themselves" which isn't even in the bible. Most people think this is one of the 10 commandments. If people live by this, no wonder everyone watches out for #1. We all do it. It's sick, but everyone else is doing it, so we think it's normal.
Without being still sometimes, we can’t even hear God. Our very busyness now may be the very thing that’s killing our soul or keeping it dead, though we might be too numb with comforts to notice, until it's too late? Hopefully not. I'm wakin' up. God help me. God help us.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Keep your eyes open

Keep your eyes open. Don't look too hard for what isn't there, but don't rush along missing what is. Something may speak to you. Something may surprise you. You don't have to stumble along. Keep your eyes open. Don't accept everything at face value. Things are always deeper than the surface. See the beauty