hmmm

anonymous, geez, winter 2006
"our prosperity has not been sinful . . . but if it seperates us so much from the poor, how can we say it is a blessing from God?"

Super interesting. Is it possible that what we normally consider blessings to actually be curses, seperating us from richer blessings?

Hmm.

pain

anonymous, Geez, Winter 2006
The closer you are to pain is the closer you are to God. Instead of fixing people and cleaning up the cities, we should be seeking to celebrate the gifts of the people, find functional places for them in small communities, and continue to communiate to them their immediate and eternal importance as hosts of the spirit of love and agents of healing to others who have been hurt . . . we will not save people through words and sinners prayers, but through vibrant love.

love this.

On Sabbath: We can teach ourselves the art of prayerfully and re-creatively wasting time. Most of us are already able to waste considerable time joylessly and unintentionally . . . the deliberate wasting of time by doing nothing can be an important spiritual discipline, especially if it is done with joy and in the spirit of re-creation. We may feel guilty and definitley out of step since everyone else looks so purposeful and busy. Yet a little holy time-wasting can create a bit of a true sabbath . . . we can rejoice in God's gift of time as we slow down to savor it. -Margaret Guenther

rest.

Excessive busyness, particularly in the service of a good cause, is an effective way of hiding from God and from our own deepest self. -Margaret Guenther


Wow. That one cuts deep, yeah?

I think there is a lot of wisdom in this quote. I have found it to be very true in my own life. There was a time where I was so busy busy busy running around, doing ministry in the providence dorm and in my church plant and within my family and within my youth group that I never allowed time for self-reflection or for personal development. I once believed that this was the way to go; that we are called to lives of giving giving giving, working hard and looking forward to the next life for rest.

But I can’t do that anymore. And I don’t want to. It took so long to make the mental shift from considering time spent alone as being selfish to seeing time spent alone being vital to selflessness. That ministry is not something to give away, but to be and live and find joy and rest in. That my soul is just as valuable as the next, that I am not called to sacrificing myself and my health to the point where I am destroyed, that listening to God’s voice requires the life quietness which only true rest can bring.

But rest is difficult. Not only because my mind is haunted by the million of things that it seems I should be doing, but because it is difficult to sit. To be myself. To reflect on who I am and who God in in ways which are healthy and not self-condemning. The enjoyment you get from conversing with yourself is completely dependent on how much you like yourself as a person and as a spiritual being. Sitting by yourself when you feel comfortable in your own skin is torturous. And important. And may be the only place where you can experience true grace.

Random thoughts.

i guess i'm a communist.

When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist. -Dom Helder Camara