Category: spirituality
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true love
This is for everybody today, those feeling lonely, those surrounded by love, those surrounded by love but still feeling lonely. you were loved before you were born you were made with purpose you are loved mightily you belong you are loved with a love you don’t deserve, freely given to you you are loved patiently…
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advent: carols
Christmas Day 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 57 year old widowed father of six children, the oldest nearly paralyzed during the civil war, wrote a poem capturing the dissonance in his own heart and in the world around him. This timeless carol is one of my favorites. May you also find hope and peace this day.…
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advent: precursor
“He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents…” (Malachi 4:6) These words, the last in the Old Testament, echo the hope and heart cry of so many, even more poignantly in this season of waiting. The verses also provide a segue to the New Testament…
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advent: the big picture
It’s easy, dare I say human to get caught up in the dailyness of living. You know – finances, family issues, food, house cleaning, car maintenance, work obligations, pets, health, time for meditation – just getting through the day and foreseeable future. Then we see Scripture challenging us to live beyond tunnel vision. We are…
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advent: utopia
We are told in the Scriptures that “the Kingdom of Heaven is among us.” As I look around, I’m not seeing the Eden of Paradise. I see religions promoting reward systems with the promise of a future utopia. It appears easier for mankind to obey religious laws and rituals than to accept the transformation offered…
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advent: the cosmos
Today I read a concept new to me, one which I will ponder – the Cosmic Christ. [I do not subscribe to our cancel culture in which disagreement causes one to lose their social or professional connections. No ability to thoughtfully consider an opinion different from one’s own, and intelligently discuss will lead to destruction…
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advent: before and after
This is for those who are feeling ill, broken hearted, outcast, lonely. Jesus comes along with compassion, identifying with those in pain; healing physically, but more importantly, healing injured and downcast souls. Medical cure is not His foremost commission. Many restorative examples are found in the New Testament. Leprosy in those days was a…
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advent: stars and stables
John Maxwell asks, “What if you follow a star and find a stable?” Consider the Magi. Wisemen from the East, donned in kingly array, bearing precious gifts for the new King. On their long journey, following the special heavenly star, anticipating a grand royal palace, royal court and kingly throne. Instead, the eastern kings find…
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advent: duality of thought
By their very nature, spiritual beliefs and doctrines present paradoxical dilemmas. God is three in one. Jesus comes as a human and is of divine nature. His mother Mary is a virgin and a mother. To understand these and other contradictions, those with rational minds search on, through other modalities: intellectual, spiritual, emotional. Creatively searching…
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advent: waiting
The word advent derives from the Latin adventus, meaning coming, arrival. For Christians, advent is a time of reflection and expectation. As Christians, we are admonished to live in a state of “non-fulfillment,” believing perfect restoration (personal, family, societal, nature, etc.) is promised to come in the future. Demanding the future we want leads to…
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