Tag Archives: christianity

To that, I will not object.

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Daily writing prompt
What are three objects you couldn’t live without?
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Well, on the material side of things, coffee? Maybe having blue tooth so I can listen to my radio station from when I was growing up. Kind of tough to answer that one. I could go to tea, or water if needed. Have before. Sometimes a local radio station will suffice. That is still only two. Not sure.

But that is one definition of object. A material thing that can be seen and touched. Huh. Maybe that disqualifies the blue tooth. Unless the holding the phone and pushing the site on the screen counts. But blue tooth really cannot be seen or touched. So perhaps that statement needs to be amended to “having a phone with blue tooth so I can listen to my radio station from when I was growing up.” There. Is my OCD an object? But I digress….

The other is ” a person or thing to which a specified action or feeling is directed.” If you look at it in this fashion, three things immediately come to mind.

Trust.

Intention.

Faith.

Trust can generate some very specific actions and feelings. What you come to allow in others as well as in yourself. It has been my experience of late that I find it way easier to do so with othose around me than it has ever been with myself. That is changing. Still some things yet to prove on my end. It is an object I cannot live without.

Add to that, intention. Something deeper than “want to”, commitment or goal. Intention reflects a direct investment of self into another object that has no guaranteed outcome. Just that in many ways and means needs to be employed and embraced. Not as a thing to be touched or seen. But a depth of giving of onself that is sensed, felt and fully woven into one’s being.

The intention may be to have a positive impact on another. And then again, it may be to have one on yourself. No guarantees. Just a way of being that goes beyond once incorporated, spreading inward and outwards.

Lastly, faith.

Not really lastly. Really firstly. Because it is only through faith that you are able to actively engage in patience with perseverance. There is a knowing component that provides the salve for the waiting. The continuous deployment of trust in the direction and intentional thoughts, words and deeds through the acts of perseverance.

Objects are of little importance to me.

Objects to which a trusted, intentional action, guided by faith is directed, are.

To that, I will not object.

For this resurrection is ongoing.

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So, this time of year holds a special sense of wonder for me. Not that it always has. It was a long time comin’. Whether it has been the passage of time, the growing honesty within, a gathering awareness of the value of humility or just that I understand things better now. And each day brings with it ever more clarity, definition and peace.

For that I am eternally grateful.

I have come to know this opportunity for growth and an abundant life from two paths. Separate, and yet, intermeshed. Ineinander; in to one another. Increasingly conscious that this event, if you will, is not merely consigned to a set space on the calendar or the defining moment of known spirituality. The wisdom, precious insight and ultimately truth that is being offered is present to all, right here. Right now.

Within some of the readings, our fellowship, faith services and other avenues traveled by the truth, this simple prayer fully resides within my heart, mind and soul. A declaration consisting of six, simple, being altering assurances.

“Empty me.

Fill me.

Use me.” *

A precept woven into our fellowship, our faith and where God as we understood him resides in our lives. A trinity of revival, renewal and rebirth.

About a week ago, we received the symbol of our essence and our mortality. An emblem to encourage us to embrace reflection, reverence and repentance. A badge that is intended to be worn with the utmost humility and gratitude. An admonition to forsake ego.

The farther along the path I currently venture. I have come to realize that you can wear that emblem every day, providing comfort as you are emptied of destructiveness, deceit, disillusionment. distrust, despair. Filling you with unmeasured grace, forgiveness and love. Using you to disperse these gifts back to all.

In one sense, we will leave this spiritual ark in thirty some days. And yet the compelling nature of the undertaking merits complete collaborative, lifelong inhabitation. Within our trinity.

There need not be an end to this season for any of us.

For this resurrection is ongoing.

  • Sr. Miriam – Hallowed

Love.

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Daily writing prompt
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
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In today’s climes, this is quite the topic. It gets bantied about like no body’s business. It has a more sacred meaning to me. That being said, what follows will truly be shocking to those that have come to know how this football noggin works. I went a little deeper to find the origins of the word.

Turns out, it’s Greek to me. Well, Greek to all. But I digress…

The root Patēr (πατήρ), meaning “father is from where it stems. Then, becoming patrios, meaning “of one’s father,”  followed by patriot (πατριώτης), meaning “from the same country” or “fellow countryman”.

Now there are fathers and there is a Father. It only stands to reason then there are fatherlands and a Fatherland. My perspective regarding things have been the subject reflection and change of late. And if you look at things the way I have been, we are all of one Father. Hence, then we are all born out of the same Fatherland.

This means that we are all from the same country and are fellow country men. And women. It is just that the corresponding topography is immense, far and ever so wide. Commutes may require planes, trains, automobiles, or even ships. Thank goodness for Apple Translate. Talk about gerrymandering. Sheesh.

A patriot, then is meant to support, serve and defend our country men and women. Primarily through sacrifice, selflessness, respect and above all love. That is how our Father would want us to serve our fellow countrymen and women. Through out the Fatherland.

You will notice there is no mention of ego in how I choose to regard this subject. That is because it isn’t needed to support, serve and defend our country men and women. All that is required is sacrifice, selflessness, respect and above all love.

The type given to us by our Father.

Throughout all of the Fatherland.

Love.

“Ephphatha” 

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Today’s reading was very compelling. Especially the reflection that was offered thereafter.

It shared the story of the deaf man with a speech impediment that was given his hearing and his tongue. How He chose to grant this gift away from the crowds. How the connection was essentially made to plug the man back into life. To the current of truth.

Like then, finding space away from the crowds today can be a tall order. Especially when we need to be present so that we can truly hear.

“The raucous voices of so many, the insistent bray of the advertising culture, the confusing Babel of competing spiritualities—all of it makes us deaf to His word.” *

Not only does this distract us from the truth, it also removes us from the moment. It can send us back in time to past mistakes, errors in judgement and flaws in character. A path that can then rocket us forward to wishing and embracing a self inflicting narrative of deflection, defect and defeat.

“Things will never get better or change the way I want them to because I am just not worth it.”

And yet, as I am starting to finally realize, if you can just stay right where you are, in the here and now, then you enter into a wonderful sense of peace and serenity. Acknowledging you cannot go back or jump forward is centering. It can help stave off remorse over what cannot be changed while inhibting anxiety over what change may – or may not – be coming.

There is no time better than where you are right now.

Maintaining your presence within this very moment is a place of true connection. With those all around you. With yourself. And most of all, with the One that simply desires to be there with you.

Perhaps He led that afflicted soul away from the crowds to defer the imminent accolades and preeminence for Him as he regained his ability to hear. And maybe it was also to bring that instant of healing first and foremost in his memory. Within that one moment.

It’s ironic that being moved to a place of silence created connection and belonging by listening.

To a voice meant to be heard above the bray.

“Ephphatha” 

  • Bishop Robert Barron

Reaping what we sow.

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There are those in life that play “farmer” with you.

The one that really wishes for “this” or wants “that”. Something, a favor. Special treatment. So to yield that desired crop, they pant seeds. “Innocent” asides that pop up out of no where. Return again when the season of the moment is favorable. Get watered. Copious amounts of fertilizer, if you know what I mean. Aggregated so as to produce the yield they wish to harvest. And should that happen, your field will not lay fallow. It will be planted again. And again.

But then there is another breed of farmer.

One that also sows seeds, hoping they may take root. But maybe never really knowing if they ever will or when, if they do so. By coincidence, they may come across another who chose to accept it into their garden, tended to it and made something grow out of that all but brief interaction.

Some of the seeds I speak of flow from that loop of grace.

Sowing small acts of care, support and love onto what may be barren landscapes and rocky terrain. Tending to the needs of others in that moment, helping to raise them up, if for only an instant. Bringing some light to a time of darkness. Providing assurance for a gathering storm or respite from a downpour. Not out of a requisite or perceived demand.

But because you get to.

This brand of sowing goes even further. The farmer you are will be seen and heard by eyes and ears not obvious to you. An act of kindness witnessed from a distance, but understood as such may spur that farmer to plant in the same fashion. Even the act of attentiveness and hearing once seen may inspire the giving of similar gifts in others.

Words of kindness, support, understanding, empathy and love ripple outward, connecting your heart and soul to theirs. Seeds that find their way into them, encouraging them to share alike. You can never really know for sure what your affirmation of one will do so to another, impressing upon the the joy to be found in giving those gifts to others. The land you tend is much larger than imagined. Your acts and voice travel to all corners of it.

From a seed and farmer context, this loop can grow into acres and acres of growth and true connection. Not because we have to. Just because we get to. There is no deed associated with this. We were simply given a most wonderful opportunity to farm.

Reaping what we sow.