Strength in weakness

"God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom and God's weakness is stronger than human strength."

1 Corinthians 1:25

 

I wish I'd read this yesterday!  I was way too human yesterday in so many of my dealings through the day.  As I did my little Examen at the end of the day I shuddered.  Yep, way too human.  Short-tempered, whiny, said things I wish I could stuff back into my mouth.  That was me yesterday...human weakness without one thought of asking God for help.  Lucky for me, and all of us, we have another shot at it today!  We can be more aware, alert, awake to seeing God in the day instead of all the frustrating humans we may run into.  Like I told one of the people who were at the unfortunate end of an encounter with me yesterday, we learn more from doing it wrong than we learn from always doing it right!  Here's to doing it "righter" today! Love, heidi

Can anything good come from...

"Can anything good come from Nazareth?"
John 1:46

So, we haven't learned anything about regional prejudices and hasty judgments since biblical times? Nathaniel learns about Jesus from Philip; "We have found the one about whom Moses wrote...Jesus of Nazareth." (v. 45) And Nathaniel's rather disparaging response, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Ouch. Fast forward to our world today and we hear, "Can anything good come from Syria? Mexico? Pakistan?" We are just as shamefully prejudicial today, as if we haven't learned a thing from past mistakes. Turns out, Nathaniel was dismissing the Son of God.  Are we dismissing the Children of God? Let's think about that today...Love, heidi

Loving the mystery...

"Mystery is not something you can't know. Mystery is endless knowability."
Fr. Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, 8/23

As I'm getting older, I am more comfortable with not knowing stuff. Oh, I get frustrated with not understanding all the technology needed for my job, but I'm talking about bigger "not knowing"...mystery.  One time I was talking with a fellow whose religion has a good deal all figured out.  They believe that after we die this happens, then that.  He asked me what my religion taught about heaven and the afterlife.  I answered that we really don't know. I fumbled around for the "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard..." scripture. We don't know what it's like or who will be there, but that is perfectly OK with me. I'm happy with the mystery; I'm just happy anticipating it will be great! I think accepting the mystery is a lot easier than trying to figure it all out, frankly. Knowing all about everything sounds like Too Much Information for me just now. So, in accepting the mystery of Whatever Happens is, in some sense a knowability (which keeps coming up on spellcheck as not really a word, but that's OK with me, too) I am happy knowing that I don't know. In fact, that's worth celebrating...So, this later August Tuesday, let's find ourselves OK with the not-knowing of mystery. We don't need to know what happens at the end. Let's just be grateful for today! Love, heidi

The "Just This" moments...

"Just This"
Fr. Richard Rohr

Our lives are full of Just This moments if we are just aware and open to seeing them. A Just This moment is a flash in time, an instant of awareness that you want to freeze and bask in. A moment of clear awareness of the Grace and Love of God because the moment is so perfect.  Maybe it is a moment around a campfire with family or friends. Maybe it occurs while driving a scenic road with the autumn leaves turning. Maybe it is sitting in the back of a pickup truck on a country road with friends from high school, singing TV theme songs. (Yes, this past weekend was the Girls of '74 gathering!) But, the beauty of the Just This moment is recognizing God in our own personal experience, in our little human lives. Because God is there! God is in the gathering, the sharing the joyful laughter.  God is in the comradery, the hugs and tears, the memories. God is in the silence, the pondering, the stillness. God gives us the Just This moments and is present in them for the seeing.  Let's be especially aware as we embark on a waning summer Monday. Love, heidi