Thursday, June 25, 2009

To see the summer sky

Is poetry, though never in a book it lie -
True poems flee.
~Emily Dickinson

Poems, many graces, flee. We are given them for just while. So let us welcome and share them with grateful hearts.

(The Thought For the Day will be on a short summer break. It will return July 14.)

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;

what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.

~ Albert Pike

... or as the scripture tells us, "God is love" (1 John 4:16). The love that we participate in links us up to a Grace that "remains and is immortal". So be a part for something great and lasting today. Do something for others.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The person you are now,

the person you have been, 

the person you will yet be --

this person God has chosen as beloved.

~ William Countryman

We live in a world the tells us that we are loved if we are rich, if we are beautiful, if we are successful. The gospel tells us that God loves us now, as we are. As we grow in faith we let go of, more and more, the false values of the world and live into the radical grace of God. So today may you remember that there is nothing you can do to make God love you any more and nothing you can do to make God love you any less. 

Monday, June 22, 2009

Could it be that the noise of hard work, production, and organization often prevents us from finding God? Could it be that silence often reveals God?

~ John Wijngaards

Sometimes during the summer months we have some time away from work or regular routines and surroundings. This can be a time to reconnect with the deeper rhythms of Grace in our lives. The disciples often met Jesus by the lakeshore. And we might meet the One who calls us to remember what the busyness of life often causes us to forget. 

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall.

Think of it - always.

~ Mahatma Gandhi

The trend of time moves toward grace and justice. There my be setbacks along the way, but we are moving toward greater love and truth in the world. This is a long-term, multi-generational evolution, so we often grow impatient. But to trust and to allow the growing grace to work through us overcomes despair and allow us to be a part of the healing. "Think of it - always."

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creature that cannot.

~ Mark Twain

For humans it not so easy. We can go either way. My sense is that Franklin, my dog, doesn't face the same challenge. That is why we need to walk a spiritual path. For us to be companions of Christ, to practice our faith is what keeps us centered in grace and allows to (not perfectly) make the better choice. So let's live up to our billing as those created in the Image of Grace.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Nothing lowers the level of conversation more than raising the voice.

~ Stanley Horowitz

... or as the Book of James says in somewhat more poetic and venerable language, "But no one can tame the tongue—a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse those who are made in the likeness of God" (James 3:8-9).

Some say more than we ought and wish we could be take it back. Others don't say enough and wish they had a chance to say want needed to be said. Either way, our words have the power to bless or to break, to heal or to hurt. Let's use those words wisely and with grace.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

God gave us an imagination to compensate us for what we are not;

and a sense of humor to console us for what we are.

~ Francis Bacon

We can imagine how we and our world ought to be, but if we are too hard on ourselves and others we create more suffering and more judgmentalism. Our faith always calls us to aspire to higher things, but often we fall short. That is were humor and not taking ourselves too seriously is a gift of grace. To walk lightly and gently is as important as having high ideals.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Mediocre minds usually dismiss anything which reaches beyond their own understanding.

~ Francois, Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Open mindedness is a key to growth. Not that we believe everything we hear, but that we do not dismiss that which is beyond us. John counsels, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God" (1 John 4:). We are offered insight, grace, and newness each day. So let's welcome today's bread for our journey.

Monday, June 8, 2009

When you long for life without difficulties,

remember that oaks grow strong in contrary winds,

and diamonds are made under pressure.

~ Peter Marshall

And a stress free life is not possible. The question is not getting rid of or avoiding stress but rather how we deal with our pressures. Do we accept them as ways God is trying to form and strengthen us, or do we see them as something to be denied and rejected? 

Faith can give us the confidence that indeed, "all things work together for good for those who love God" (Romans 8:28).

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Compassion is sometimes the fatal capacity for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin. It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy finally for you too.  

~ Fredrick Buechner

Jesus saw the Kingdom of God in this life as a share community of grace. It is not just about the status of my individual soul. We are freed to be not so obsessed about ourselves alone but focused on compassion. May we welcome that saving grace.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

What is love?" 

"The total absence of fear," said the Master.
"What is it we fear?"
"Love," said the Master 

~ Anthony de Mello

Fear is about our need to control, coerce, and correct. Love is about trust and acceptance. Love may involve expectations. But if expectations and requirements are the tenor of our relationships, we have fallen into our fears. Grace tells us that God has taken care of anything we think separates us from love. Let's live into that Grace and allow it to shape us.

Monday, June 1, 2009

When I have money, I get rid of it quickly, lest it find a way into my heart.

~ John Wesley

Or... as Jesus tells us, "for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matt. 6:21). 

Our culture tells us to put much trust in money. And so we seem to believe it will make us happy and perhaps even give our lives meaning. While we obviously need to take care of ourselves and our loved ones financially, the great emphasis of our faith tells us to trust more in relationships, relationship with God and others. Only that love can save us, make us safe, and give our hearts a place of rest that truly is secure.