The Infinity Pool

~~~ Daniel 9:4B-10 ~~~ Psalm 79 ~~~ Luke 6:36-38 ~~~

But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!

Day after day, Lord, we are sinners.

We do not listen as we should, Lord.

We do not follow your commands, Lord, as we should.

We judge others...we are quick to condemn.

We are slow to forgive...reluctant to love our enemies...

Yet, Lord, we beg for your kindness.

Look upon us with eyes of love.

...may your compassion quickly come to us,

We are a bit liked spoiled children...creating mischief,

 disobeying, expecting to have everything our way...and yes, 

believing that God will love us just the same.

While it is true God does love us in spite of how we misbehave,

He does have his limits.

He gives us the invitation to repent and turn away 

from our sinful ways.

How long do you think he should wait for you?

A month, a year, five years, ten years, fifty years, 

until you are on your deathbed?

How long will you keep him waiting?

Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Stop judging...stop condemning...forgive...

give and gifts will be given to you.

All leads back to the single commandment...

Love you neighbor as yourself...

treat others as you would want them to treat you.

Is that really such a hard concept to grasp?

God's ways are compassion and forgiveness.

God replaces condemnation with compassion.

God replaces hatred with forgiveness.

Without His love would we know true compassion?

Without His mercy would we know true forgiveness?

Whatever mercy and compassion we think we have

 there is always more to be given to us.

We need to look deep within our hearts and see the infinity pool.

Infinity edge pools are often seen at exotic resorts or exclusive estates.

God is the perfect infinity pool of love and mercy.

There are no limits...no boundaries.

God wants to be seamless, exclusive in our hearts...

no artificial boundaries to contain Him.

Lent is about striving to be the better person 

God knows you can become.

He sends his Blessings to help us along the way.

Make sure you are paying attention.

~~~ Peace ~~~

The Two Shall Be One Flesh

~~~ James 5:9-12 ~~~ Psalm 103 ~~~ Mark 10:1-12 ~~~

All things are passing...there is no time
to waste on petty things such as...

complaining and judging others.

Have perseverance like that of Job, never tire
 of returning to the Lord.

The Lord is kind and merciful.

God is more kind, compassionate, merciful, and just
than any one person is capable of being.
He does not hold grudges against us.
He looks to see how we are doing well.
He is waiting with words of encouragement when we fail.

Not sure what Jesus was teaching about the day the Pharisees
decided to bring up the whole issue of divorce.

Clearly it was just another attempt on their part to trip Jesus up.
They have tried several times before to get him
to openly contradict the existing laws;
today it is concerning whether
or not a man is allowed to divorce his wife.

Divorce then simply meant
the husband was tired of his wife or unhappy with her.
He simply signed a paper releasing her from her union with him.

They were both free to go about their merry ways.

But Jesus goes back to the beginning of creation.
He quotes the book of Genesis...
God made them male and female.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.
So they are no longer two but one flesh.

Therefore what God has joined together,
no human being must separate.”

Marriage is the joining of a man and a woman;
becoming one flesh.
God has brought them together to live as one.

Divorce even today is a very touchy situation.
No one can say two people should never get a divorce,
but on the other hand should it be so easy to get divorced.

Adultery tied so closely to divorce seems very
 counter-cultural in society today.

Remaining in a marriage requires a great deal
 of selfless love on the part of each party.

The traditional marriage sums it up...
until death do us part...
in sickness and in health...
for richer or poor...
until death.
Be kind and merciful as the Lord;
you will be able to persevere in your marriage.
Blessed to receive daily the grace to
 gladly honor my wedding vows.

Peace.

How Do You Measure?

~~~ Daniel 9:4b-10 ~~~ Psalm 79 ~~~ Luke 6:36-38 ~~~

 

 

O LORD, we are shamefaced...
for having sinned against you.

But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness!

 

The prophet Daniel writes words appropriate for us today.

We are shamefaced for the many offenses we have committed against God.

We face our weaknesses and short comings.

We must admit where we need to improve for the future.

The main reason we are able to face our sinfulness is because we believe

our God is compassionate and forgiving. 

 

Lord, do not deal with us according to our sins.

 

In addition to the Ten Commandments given to Moses by God,

Jesus is consistently giving us little kernels of advice.

Keeping the commandments is important, but there is more we can be doing.

He gave us the perfect prayer...the Our Father.

Now he is speaking to us about how we should live our lives.

 

If we live according to these simple phrases

we will find keeping the commandments to be much easier.

 

When I was young there was a children's program called Romper Room.

Mr. 'Do Bee' was regular character.

Today Jesus is giving us some simple 'Do Bees' and 'Don't Bees'.

Jesus knew that that the more often he could give us

 these nuggets of guidance the more likely

we would be to remember them later.

Just as the creators of Romper Room were delivering

little reminders for proper behavior.

 

 

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be merciful...
Stop judging...
Stop condemning...
Forgive...
Give...
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

How would you characterize your ability to measure goodness out to others?

There is never a time when you have given enough goodness.

You can always extend a greater abundance of goodness to others.

Practice just for today...

challenge yourself to give more goodness to those you meet.

You are Loved beyond measure!

~The Dark Side of Power~

2 Samuel 11:1-4a, 5-10a, 13-17

Lust, Kidnapping, Rape, Deceit, Lies, Murder....

POWER....

Who are we talking about? No, it cannot be. We cannot be talking about the one anointed by God through Samuel. The one who repeatedly spared Saul's life. The one who killed the giant with a single stone. The composer of psalms of love. How can it be that today we are reading about the same person?

I think it can be summed up in one word and that is POWER. David, a brilliant leader, has been consumed by his position. No one person is more powerful than God; this is a fact.

When people come into positions of power all too often they lose sight of who they are. We see this all the time in various walks of life from politics and the cooperate to even among some who claim to be ministers.

When in a position of power you have been given a certain amount of control. In David's case he has control over entire armies of men who have pledged their loyalty to him. Men willing to lose their lives on his behalf.

If power corrupted David how can we expect to be exempt from the pitfalls of power?

If you are in a position of power you have a daunting task to stay focused and exercise wisdom in all your decisions. There used to be a little bracelet inscribed with the phrase "What would Jesus do?" I used to think it was a little corny in a way. If we would, however, all take those words more serious we might be blessed to live in a very different world.

David certainly had a relationship with God. He composed beautiful psalms of praise on his harp. But somewhere along the way he crossed to the 'dark side'. I do not think this reading was just about the lust he felt for Bathsheba in her beauty. It was his mind set of I can have anything I want including orchestrating the death of Uriah.

We can find hope in this story because if someone like David can fall to such depths and still be loved by God then we can turn to God too. We have a merciful and all powerful God.

Psalm 51:3

"Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;

in your abundant compassion blot out my offense."

This is the beginning of David's repentance. His Miserere. With help David is led to understand how serious his actions were. He could not hide behind the mask of his human power when faced with the boundless power of a merciful and forgiving God.

In the gospel excerpt from Matthew today we can also see an example of power...in this case the magnificent power of God. God uses his power to make evident his kingdom to us even through something as tiny as the mustard seed.

All too often we fool ourselves into thinking that power makes us more important than God. We pretend that we are invincible that nothing can touch us or that we have all of the answers. We assume that power gives us the 'right' to act in ways that are not at all of God.

Perhaps this is why we have the scripture from Isaiah 55: 8    

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the LORD. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine." New Living Translation

Truly God's ways are far beyond anything we could imagine, but we can aspire to be a better person. Remembering when we are in a position of power we can act with God's ways in mind.

Power positions do not give us 'carte blanche' over others...

it is not 'anything goes' as long as it is my way.

David was intoxicated with his position of power...drunk on himself...his own desires.

What would Jesus do? is not such a corny phrase after all.

Original picture is of a wooden figure of a person slumped next to an hourglass. I chose this picture because power can take the natural life out of a person.

This kaleidoscope image if you look closely appears that the image is reflecting itself. When corrupted by power you see only the image of yourself..no one else matters...

it is all about the I.