Check out my new 'World Reflections" Section
Interesting stories and anecdotes that reach into insights I have gained abroad.
Healing Grief, On-line Course, by Terry Douglas.
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week, on-line course, entitled
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Meditation – March 24, 2009
Posted on Tuesday, March 24th, 2009
Scripture: Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again to a mountain by himself. John 6:15
Prayer: How often a verse that I have read quickly holds a meaning that I overlooked previously – as with this verse.
Response: It is like finally getting to the pastry crust and discovering a flavor missed in the filling. Yes, this verse captures for you the rhythm of Christ’s movement among you – even now. Just when you have figured things out – at least you think so – the author of life takes a turn and you are left to reflect on the meaning. All the signs of the miracle on the mountainside proclaimed that a worldly kingship, freedom from worldly oppression, the satisfaction of basic needs, and the list would expand if you were to interview all present – and consider yourself present as well. And just at that moment, anticipating the answer, he withdraws to a mountain by himself. What are you to make of it?
Make of it timing, timing in your life, letting go of what you want to control, and dissolve those desires in acceptance of what is – or put another way, allow those desires to dissolve into God’s will for you in this present moment. Observe the strength of character that you are witnessing in that withdrawal that he offers you in your daily life. How many times have you withdrawn to a quiet place – like now – to ponder a scene, a word, a thought, an insight before resuming your journey? So it was as Jesus withdrew again – it was not the first time, nor would it be the last – by himself.
For today, see if you can snatch a moment in time to withdraw and consider the passage of time as you journey on the path. You see in the withdrawal you greet the unfolding of who you are becoming.
All for this morning.
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Meditation – March 23, 2009
Posted on Monday, March 23rd, 2009
Scripture: “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares he Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31:33-34
Prayer: Help me to know better what is written on my heart.
Response: Consider how you would be in the world, if you accepted these words of Jeremiah literally as they are meant. Suppose you accepted that your neighbor close, and those who live far from you, because I have written it on their hearts? Is that the divine spark that you talk of when far off you come to recognize a characteristic, a trait, a sparkle in someone that you have discovered earlier within you? Is it in that moment that you put aside fear and hesitancy to find common bond? And you don’t have to be far off in a less traveled land to make this discovery – you could be in a convenience store, a mall, or in the pew of a familiar house of worship.
What would it take to look boldly into your neighbor’s eyes and see recognition – recognition of a traveled soul on the path homebound? How much courage would it take to put aside the pride of knowing and acknowledge in your actions that your fellow traveler will know me from the least and humble to those who occupy positions of authority, to those who speak in foreign tongues and display cultures with which you are not familiar?
You all will know me – even those strangers. I have written my message of love on their hearts.
All for this morning.
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Meditation – March 22, 2009
Posted on Sunday, March 22nd, 2009
Scripture: . . . and a great crowd of people followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he had performed on the sick. Then Jesus went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples. John 6:2-3
Prayer: Help me to enter the scene that John depicts.
Response: Think of a time when you hiked with friends or family and came to a spot of unmatched beauty. There was an unconscious desire on the part of all of you to prolong this moment in time, and so you paused. This is what is happening in this scene. Notice I say is because this scene is in the present time for you this morning. And realize that it was not the natural beauty that gave everyone pause as much as being in the company, for the disciples the select company, of someone who spoke in an other-worldly sense of matters that active people customarily overlook; and not only in words did he mesmerize his followers and the huge crowds that followed at a distance. No, he reinforced his words of love with action and service to those in need.
The great discovery of the select, who on the surface seemed fine – one might even say prosperous in matters of health and livelihood, was that his comments and instruction touched a nerve of recognition, one that they had neglected for so long. They could not get enough of his words and actions, sensing that he would not be in their midst for long. That’s the scene for you to enter, and in entering you come to realize that all you need is a quiet place to be there now. It isn’t as if you were successful transporting yourself back in time, but rather, and this is important even critical for you to understand, this moment on the mountain side is now. So observe and listen.
Before you give voice to what you hear and observe around you, begin with what [...]
Meditation- March 20, 2009
Posted on Friday, March 20th, 2009
Scripture: While you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. Jeremiah 7:13
Prayer: Lord, this verse seems as applicable to me now as it was directed to Jeremiah 2,500 years ago. Help me to keep my attention.
Response: What further reminder do you need that my word is freshly anointed? I mean that in reading my word with an attentive heart, you become the Jeremiah, the disciple, the lonely soul in the desert repeating the words silently to oneself and the words are as immediate as when Jeremiah first received them. Clearly, he thought them worthy enough to copy them down. I am not asking you to take out pen or paper, or sit before a keyboard, but I do ask you to remember the verse and respond individually to my declaration. More importantly, I ask what are you going to do about it?
Yes, I am looking for you to move on from the state described in the verse. That’s the kind of doing I am asking for. Because in that doing, that action, you discover a becoming within yourself that you did not consider possible. Perhaps, you think I am suggesting that you limit your ease, or at least you consider it so – to perform at a multi-tasking pace. Well, I am. Take time to listen – and that means in stillness. You don’t need any interpreter for my words, or any special acoustic devices to snatch these words from the airwaves. No, I speak to each of you individually and my voice is distinct, my message is clear. Don’t ask for a summary, just take time to listen.
And do you know what? You will be surprised at how you alter your day’s activities; experience the calmness that enters what might have been a house of bedlam and I don’t mean structures but [...]
Meditation – March 18, 2009
Posted on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009
Scripture: But if I go to the east he is not there; if I go to the west I do not find him. When he is at work in the north I do not see him; when he turns to the south I catch no glimpse of him. But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me I will come forth as gold. Psalm 23:8-10
Prayer: Reassure me Lord that you do not lose sight of me.
Response: No, I do not lose sight of you. In fact your searching, sometimes frantic, as you look north and south, east and west, would be better spent looking within. You see, I have never left your side. It is, however, in your search that you, yes you, realize this thirst and it is in your thirst that your search is realized in my presence recognized.
If in a desert, you would discover that the thirst you seek to slack is immediately below you in the sand, needed only your soft tap to experience the gushing of my grace over you. Quite an incredible image for you to contemplate, when you are next dehydrated by the concerns, even anxieties of your circumstances.
This is not a game of hide and seek. In your search you learn action and service – not indulging yourself to ponder over and over your fate. Rather it is in your search for me that you shake the dust from your sandals and minister to those who also wander sometimes without purpose across your path. And you might even find that these searchers resemble you as they are members of your family or among your closest confidantes.
All for this morning.
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