Curl Up with His Words

~~~ Isaiah 55:10-11 ~~~ Psalm 34 ~~~ Matthew 6:7-15 ~~~

So shall my word be
that goes forth from my mouth;
It shall not return to me void,
but shall do my will,
achieving the end for which I sent it.

When we are toddlers our words are oftentimes unintelligible.
A young child does the best he/she can
 to imitate what the adults are saying.
Are we so different when it comes to the words of God?
In the beginning we repeat his words best we can.

For God, his words give spirit and life.
He sent his Son, The Word, to become one of us.
Our words cannot compare to God's words,
but the more we immerse ourselves into his words the better
we will be at using them ourselves.

Lent is a very good time to curl up with His words.
Reading the scriptures everyday allows
 his words to be firmly planted into your heart.

A time to surrender to his will, revealed to us through his words.

The more we allow his words to become a part of who we are
 the easier it is for us to speak those words to others.
The toddler does learn enough words to gradually communicate.

Soon the Our Father becomes much more
 than just a string of words.

Especially with the words we routinely speak
it helps to slow down the tempo...to speak softly...
let the words seep deeper into your soul.

Jesus does not ever speak idle words.
Jesus speaks words with purpose.
Jesus speaks words to change people's minds,
hearts, their very bodies.

God Blesses you with his living word each and every day.
How are you letting it change you?
~~~Peace~~~

Are We Using Words?

~~~ Saint Anthony ~~~

~~~ Hebrews 4:12-16 ~~~ Psalm 19 ~~~ Mark 2:13-17 ~~~ 

Your words, Lord, are Spirit and life.

We have numerous examples of the words
 of God and from Jesus
attesting to their Spirit and Life.

Jesus does not need fancy speech.
He does not speak in some exotic language or dialect.
Jesus speak the words of the people.

The words of Jesus inspire people
 to drop everything and follow him.
The words of Jesus quiet wild demons.
The words of Jesus offer forgiveness to the sinner.
The words of Jesus heal the sick and lame.
The words of Jesus teach us he is our Savior.

How are we using our words?
Do our words extend life to suffering souls?
Do our words offer hope to those in pain?
Do our words bring the joy of the Lord to those in exile?

Jesus says I am the way the truth and the life.

Paul writes this about Jesus...
The word of God is living and effective...
...penetrating even between soul and spirit,
joints and marrow,
and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart.

Jesus is Spirit and life because he is the Word made flesh.
It was with his words that God created all of creation.

Words have the power to motivate or destroy others.
Words are one way we convey our love for one another.
Words can also be used as weapons to instill
 fear into our hearts.

We must use our own words wisely
with care and love.
Our words can also be filled with the Spirit of the Lord.

May God Bless your words.
May they be used in a life giving manner.
~~~Peace~~~

Pray Before You Speak

 

~~~ Romans 4:13, 16-18 ~~~ Psalm 105 ~~~ Luke 12:8-12 ~~~

 

...the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.
 

In 2004 Marlo Thomas wrote a book titled

 The Right Words at the Right Time.

The book is a collection of inspiring stories written

by popular successful people.

People who were often told they would basically

never amount to very much.

 

I guess we never really know the impact our words

 may have on any one individual.

As a life long educator

 I think I have always innately known the power of words.

 

Oftentimes the words we hear as a child

will remain with us forever...

be they positive or negative words.

The spoken word is a strong vehicle to express emotions.

 

Jesus is speaking today about the words that come out of our mouths.

The words you hear or say can change your life.

Jesus is saying be careful with your choice of words.

 

He is also saying to have no fear.

If you are speaking on behalf of God the Holy Spirit

will give you the words.

It is God who makes all things work for good.

In the same way, the Spirit too comes to the aid of our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
 but the Spirit itself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
Romans 8:26

  

 

The Spirit, the breath of God,

 will place upon your heart the words you are to speak.

In order for this to happen you must be one with the Spirit.

You cannot be struggling within yourself over

God's unconditional love for you.

 

You can only speak

the words of God if you have them first within your heart.

You must believe and trust in the Lord.

When you are immersed in the words of the Lord 

there is no need to be concerned

over what you will say when the time comes. 

God blesses us with his assurance of peace.

There is no need to be anxious....

the right words will spring forth from your lips.

The words of the Lord have been planted deep within your soul.

May the Holy Spirit

Bless our lips to speak His holy words.

Are Your Words and Actions Congruent

 

~~~ Jeremiah 20:10-13 ~~~ Psalm 18 ~~~ John 10:31-42 ~~~

 

If I do not perform my Father’s works, do not believe me;
but if I perform them, even if you do not believe me,
believe the works, so that you may realize and understand
that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

 

Jesus is defending himself with words

while simultaneously saying look at my actions.

If you cannot believe my words;

 can you at least consider what my actions are saying.

 

The word became flesh yet the words of Jesus are not taken seriously.

His words alone have cured the crippled right before their eyes.

He has repeatedly stated that he came to do the will of the Father.

 

Jesus was completely congruent with the words he spoke

and the actions he performed.

Even with this perfect complement he was condemned.

 

 

As much as I might try to have the right intention,

 my actions often fall short of the words I say.

 

Or my words do not reflect what should be in my heart.

We need to have constant reminders concerning our actions.

 

Actions do speak louder than, but in the case with Jesus

his actions coupled with his words was still not good enough.

 

We hear 'the truth will set you free'.

In the case with Jesus the truth in his actions and his words

condemned him to death;

only to set us free.

We have been saved by the truth...

the truth that no one could love us more than God loves us.

I pray that I will have the grace to think before I act.

I want my words and actions to be congruent

with the words and actions of Jesus.

God's Vocabulary

~~~ 1 John 2:18-21 ~~~ Psalm 96 ~~~ John 1:1-18 ~~~

 

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.

 

God communicated with us through his Word.

He brought to life his Word.

His words are Life itself.

 

People say a picture is worth a thousand words,

God chose to communicate with us

by taking his words and turning them into

more than just a picture...

 

Think for a moment the power of our human words.

We can make or break another person with or own words.

A parent or teacher can inspire a child to be a wonderful person.

Or the negative words a child hears can keep them trapped in a world of fear.

 

A single word of praise or criticism can influence your whole day.

Words can illicit a wide range of emotions

from laughter to sadness.

Our words can hurt or heal.

Our words can express love or hatred.

So often we do not think about the impact of our words.

 

Parents eagerly wait for their child's first word...

will it be dada or momma?

Words can set you free.

 

Words tumble from our mouths as if we have no control.

Too many times we do not think about what we are saying.

 

We have the ability to use our words for good.

Do you?

The power of words has been used by many through the practice

of positive affirmations.

Visualizing our words can improve the chances of

their coming into reality in our life.

God has given us a tiny little piece of his magnificent power.

 

'...And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us...'

 

God speaks all things into being.

His words give us light and life.

His word became one of us in flesh and blood.

His word made flesh came to save us.

 

I have loved words for many years...

as this year comes to a close

I invite you to consider how you have used the power

of your words the past twelve months.

 

If we pay attention to the impact of our words we may

never feel the need to take them back.

The challenge is to speak words from God's vocabulary...

LOVE.

 

 

Today marks a goal that I set for myself...

to write each day about the scripture readings.

Some days it was more challenging than others but always

it led me to a deeper understanding

and appreciation for the inspired

Words of God.

 

I truly appreciate everyone who has followed this blog during 2012.

I appreciate those also who accidently stumbled upon my writings.

 

The question I am now asking is

should I continue this daily writing project?

If you have any thoughts I would love to hear from you.

 

May God Bless you as another year comes to an end.

Truth...Audible Light

~~~~ 2 Tim. 2: 8-15 ~~~ Psalm 25 ~~~ Mark 12: 28-34 ~~~



I could not but help thinking about attorneys in a courtroom arguing

their client's side of the case...'stop disputing about words'.

We are a culture of words...we love words...we use words for all sorts of reasons...

we even create our own words for local things.

Paul goes on to say, 'This (disputing) serves no useful purpose

since it harms those who listen'.

Okay I am probably guilty of using words that harmed someone else;

even if it was unintentional. We are indirectly harmed by words heard

from the media and those in authority positions.

Pause for a moment to examine the words you use and

the intention with which you have spoken them.

We can become confused and misled by the words of others.

We can be deceived by the words of others.

Paul completes his thought with some advice.

"Be eager to present yourself as acceptable to God,

a workman who causes no disgrace,

imparting the word of truth without deviation."

"...Imparting the word of truth..."

Herein lies the tricky part; that is what is the truth. It seems pretty easy to think that what you hear or read is mostly the truth, but in reality that is not always the case.

Flash back to the courtroom scenerio for a moment...

Which side is representing the truth?

It is often hard to decipher.

I have gotten numerous emails passed on to me that look and sound true,

only to discover through further checking that they are indeed false.

Speaking the truth takes great virtue and a strong character.

The truth is not always what others prefer to hear.

Which leads me to the exchange between Jesus and one of the Scribes from today's gospel recorded in Mark. Jesus uses words of truth to answer the scribes question,

...the Lord our God is Lord alone...

The scribe recognizes the words spoken by Jesus as truth...

A rare occasion when these opposite sides so readily agree.

The words used by Jesus resonated as truth directly to the heart of the scribe.

The words of Jesus were transparent with truth even if they fell on deaf ears

or were not fully comprehended by the listeners.

Speak words of truth, but temper them with compassion.

For words spoken in haste can leave vicious bite marks.

Let your words be the audible lights of truth.

Curse or Blessing: Which Do You Speak?

 ~~~~ James 3: 1-10 ~~~~ Psalm 12 ~~~~ Mark 9: 2-13 ~~~~

Did you know the tongue is the strongest muscle in the body and the most flexible. The tongue is crucial to speaking, eating and swallowing. The tongue heals the fastest...that is an interesting fact. Like your fingerprint everyone has a tongue print.

Today I could write about the glorious Transfiguration; when Jesus took his three closest friends with him to the mountain top. I think in his frustration that they were really not catching on as to who he actually was he wanted to give them a glimpse. Or he took his three closest friends and wanted to share with them a tiny taste of the glory that was to come. Perhaps he was trying to give them hope since he knew they were going to be witnessing the events of his crucifixion.

I have decided instead to reflect on the writing of St. James today. He has written before about keeping the tongue in control, but today he gets very graphic. I have often thought it is curious that we cannot close our ears from hearing, we have eyelids to keep our eyes from seeing, but our mouth has both teeth and lips to keep us from speaking.

It is so difficult at times to control the tongue. From the time that we are about two years old the tongue begins to get us in trouble. If you are a parent or even been around a small child you know what I am talking about. It is the little word 'No'. As a toddler we begin to test out who we are as an individual by exercising our tongue to speak the word no.

Today James is saying you have gone way beyond just saying no...you tongue is out of control. In fact he suggests that if you cannot speak well your tongue should be bridled. A bit should be placed in your mouth just as we do with a horse. That is a pretty strong image and statement.

The bridle is made of metal and covers a good part of the face in order to keep it from slipping out of the mouth. James is saying look this is what we use to make a horse obey, in fact the bridle helps the rider guide the whole horse. It does not just effect the mouth of the horse. James says,'In the same way the tongue is a small member and yet has great pretensions.'

The truth is we have difficulty controlling what we say. It is at times like our tongue has a mind of it's own. But in reality we know we are in control of what comes out of our mouth. There is a saying I heard as a child. 'Sticks and stones will break my bones, words will never hurt me.' I really do not know where that originated, but I think we would all agree it just is not true. The words we say to another person can be very cruel and devastating. Consider the recent news stories about bullying, which often begins with cruel words directed to the intended victim.

James is saying 'no man can tame the tongue...it is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.'

Full of deadly poison...just picture for a moment what your tongue would look like when you spoke words which hurt another. What if when you spoke hateful words your tongue would turn a dark shade of gray, brown, or black depending on their severity. Even after the words had been released and heard by another you would still carry on your own tongue the tell tale remnants. I think if that were to happen we might think twice before we let ugliness pass our lips.

On the other hand we have the power to speak words of kindness, love, praise, encouragement, compassion etc. These words come from the same mouth, the same tongue can form words of beauty. James says, 'From the same mouth come blessing and cursing...this need not be so.'

Back to my analogy for if when we spoke uplifting words our tongue dawned something beautiful for all to see. I think if people could see that you spoke kind loving words most of the time the whole world would be different. God, however, in his infinite wisdom did not chose to leave a visible mark on us for what comes out of our mouths.

Jesus spoke words of kindness and healing. He gave us the words of the Our Father. He taught us how to pray. We decide what words come out of our mouths.
Next time you go to Communion and place upon your tongue the Body of Christ, I invite you to pause for a minute and consider the words you speak with that same tongue.

Are they words worthy of laying Our Lord upon?
If that thought is our bridle will it change how we speak?
How will you choose to speak?

I took this picture a couple years ago of the monstrance with stained glass window in the background.
I chose this kaleidoscope image because the colors brown and green.
Do you speak words of brown that you cannot take back?
Do you speak words of green and gold that are blessings and praise?

You can chose to control your tongue without the horse's bridle...
Will you?

Do Your Actions Speak Louder than Your Words?

Mark 7: 1-13

"Actions speak louder than words" a saying I heard most of my life. When there is an in congruence between what you are doing and what you are saying it creates a dissonance. It is like listening to a composition by Igor Stravinsky. The manner in which he arranged his notes make you feel uncomfortable at times. The Firebird Suite is one of those compositions; you might listen to it sometime and see what you think. I would not recommend his music for meditation!

When you look at yourself, how do you see yourself? Sometimes I ask myself, "Are my actions truly revealing to those around the words I speak or in this case the words I write?" I think what you write is no different from what you say.

Today we are almost numb by the media. The political candidates are almost contradictory within themselves. Unless you know a candidate you can never be sure of what you hear coming from their lips. Our society today has conditioned us to be skeptical of what we hear. A person's actions speak for themselves even if we do not know the reason for said action. Your actions tell more about who you are than you might think.

Today attorney's routinely higher a person who specializes in reading body language. Yes even the slightest blink of an eye or the way you lean forward can be interpreted by this professional. By nature we watch peoples expressions to help us derive more meaning from their words. Are they rolling their eyes, looking away, or shrugging their shoulders?

As a parent and teacher I got pretty adept at reading body language.

So where am I going with this in connection with today's gospel from Mark? The Pharisees and some scribes observed the strict rules and laws regarding clean and unclean. They literally had hundreds of these rituals to observe. Since they were the enforcer of these rules they were very meticulous about performing them. They were constantly on the look out for those not following the prescribed rituals. They became quick to judge and admonish those in violation. The Pharisees were all about the actions. What you did was far more important than anything you said.

There were no acceptable excuses...you had no options...no circumstances would free you from these rituals. So I can just imagine how livid they were when they observed Jesus and his disciples eating without carefully washing their hands. And even worse not purifying upon returning from the market were they would have encountered many 'unclean' items. I am further reminded now of how Jesus healed people right in the middle of the market place; one of the most unclean places of all.

In reply to their objections Jesus quotes Isaiah's prophecy. Interesting since they were scholars who were very familiar with the Isaiah text. As it is written, "This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines human precepts."

Jesus always knew exactly what to say to every objection flung at him by the Pharisees. He did not allow their preoccupation with the rules and rituals keep him from proclaiming the message he was sent to deliver.

What would Jesus say to us today? Are we more like the strict rule observing Pharisees or are we more intent on continuing to walk  alongside the Lord?

Our actions really do speak louder than our words. There will always be the temptation to let ourselves get carried away with rules and rituals. There is a certain amount of comfort in following every letter of the law I admit.

I am reminded that Jesus walked along the edge. He was not afraid to preach a radical message of love. He blessed us with radical mercy and grace. He ate with sinners and he is constantly inviting us to the table too. He welcomes even the 'unclean' to dine with him.

I chose this original Celtic Wisdom Mandala because it symbolizes the wisdom Jesus came to teach us. This captured kaleidoscope image depicts the beauty and growth within the teachings of Jesus. The black representing the judgement from those who wanted to trap Jesus in the laws. Jesus is the light filled center. His teachings reached beyond the rules.

Let your actions today speak louder than any words you might want to say.