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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Prayer for the Week

Each Sunday I write a prayer as an insert in our bulletin. I write them relative to one of the scriptures for the week.  I felt guided to share some of them here. This is last week's prayer.

Lord, you tell me two simple actions that are our bottom-line. I seek guidance on how to fulfill them more fully.

I do love God, but I know I can love more. Show me how to love God more completely & open my life without reserve to God.


I do not always love all of my neighbors. Cleanse my heart so that I may truly love each & every neighbor as You ask me to do. I ask that You also cleanse my heart about myself. You tell me to love my neighbor as myself, so clearly a key is to love myself. Help me forgive myself for those things that linger as hurt & pain & self-attack. Lead me to embrace what I am &what I am not. Help me have a generous heart towards myself & toward all others & be at peace.
I know that compassion is one of the signs of a spiritually mature person. I ask that You open a deeper, fuller compassion in my heart. Just as You love me, accept me, encourage me,  & guide me without judgment, help me to accept & do the same for myself & others.


I humbly surrender all that is unloving, judgmental or unlike the call to love that Jesus has given us. I walk onto a higher path as I become willing to be the love You call me to be.


Thank You, God, for hearing my prayer. Thank You for Your action in my life, leading me more fully to You & the life You ask me to live. I ask this in the name of Christ and seal it with the ancient seal of faith as I say Amen. Amen & Amen

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Time

The month is whirling by. The year is on hyperspeed. I have a theory about the relativity of time. Einstein said all is relative to the reference point. So here I am at 71 & so a day or a week are a small part of all of those years. When I was 5, a day or a week were a larger portion of those 5 years -- so they seemed longer then than they do now.

In the speeded up life I now live, each moment is even more precious & important to live well. It all goes by so quickly that I have to stay focused to be fully present so as not to miss the gift present in each moment.

I'd like to live the rest of my life without regrets -- I came to that conclusion quite a few years ago. But what I find is now the regrets I suffer are mostly from the actions of others. I have missed some precious moments as they whizzed by because of choices of others to be absent from my life. The heart ache is a different one from the one caused by more direct regrets, but it is still heart ache. The frustration inherent is different too. When the heart ache is from the choices of others, & there is nothing I can do, I feel a certain helplessness. 

Now helplessness is not usual for me. I usually can find something to do or say to move a situation. I am a doer by nature. I am not only an observer of life; I am a person who participates. When someone vanishes from my life, the helplessness is very strange & also very painful. I cannot do what I am good at. I cannot take action.

A significant part of my life has disappeared. They are gone to some unknown place doing some unknown things. They are out of my reach. I have done all I can think of doing, short of hiring a private eye. The only place they are not out of reach is my prayers.

If those who have gone, ever read this, please know I have never stopped loving you for a moment. You are constantly in my heart. The tears that fill my eyes are longings for you. The choice I have is to release you to God over & over again. There seems nothing more for me to do. 

I regret the memories we won't be making & haven't made this past year or so. I pray you are making other happy memories wherever you are.

Dear God, I am thankful to know that You are everywhere, always. You are where my loved ones are. Surround them with Your Light & Love. Protect them. Guide them. Heal them. If it is Your will, bring them back to me.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

More on Mercy

As I prepare for my forgiveness class that begins this Sunday after church, I am contemplating mercy once again. 

The model I am developing includes this: 
  • In a box on the left are resentment, judgment, fear, upset, anger, imprisonment - these are imposter values
  • In the center is forgiveness, mercy - the exchange - the genuine values
  • To the right is freedom, & there is the possibility of spiritual awakening, letting the mind be in you that was in Christ, as Paul said.
Or another way to say it might be: Cosmic trade in program - trade in bondage for peace of mind, cost = forgiveness.

We are free to choose what kind of person we will be. I choose freedom, peace of mind, Christ.

I exercise mercy. I exchange all that is unlike Christ in me with forgiveness. I accept a new freedom.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Mercy

I'm working on a new concept to me. It's not totally formed yet, but I want to write the beginnings of it as I begin to work it out.

The root of the word "mercy" is "exchange." So, when I say "Lord have mercy," I'm saying exchange this for that. Exchange this problem for Your will.

When I take the bread and the wine, God's mercy is an exchange. I exchange my separate, isolated self for joining with Christ. Let the mind be in you that is in Christ Jesus is the exchange I approach. It seems to be a process, that is the first time or the twentieth time or the two hundredth time is not the when this happens. It slowly, for most of us anyway, sort of creeps in. When we sincerely seek mercy, we move toward having the understanding of Christ express in us.

We can look to those who have successfully made this exchange to varying degrees -- from the Apostles, to the mystics, to saints, to great thinkers such as C.S. Lewis (I quoted him today on my website's Thought for the Day). If it is possible for one, it is possible for all.

Lord, I sincerely, fully say to You this day, have mercy on me. Exchange all that is unlike Christ for Christ. In the exchange, let Your Light shine & draw others to You for their own exchange. Let Your Light shine in people all over this planet. Lord, have Mercy.