Where To

We must know where to doubt, where to feel certain, where to submit.

-- Blaise Pascal

Treat people...

Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and help them become what they're capable of being.

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

More or less, Less is More

It seems to me that less is more; the less we have the more we are able to understand.  The more we have, the less we are able to understand.

I've noticed the pattern of this in my own life over the years.  I may think I know more, but I seem to understand less.  I suspect it is partly due to the direction of effort.  When I have more, there is more to take care of...and less time.  Time seems to allow more opportunity to be in touch with something I need for life.  The more effort I put into maintaining things, the more my sense of dependence decreases.

In other words, less means more dependence for me and more means less dependence (or, a sense of it).

What does the LORD give?

The LORD gives strength to his people;
     the LORD blesses his people with peace.

-- Psalm 29:11

Humanity

There is always more misery among the lower classes than there is humanity in the higher.

-- Victor Hugo

Climbing...for truth, for freedom

I was recently discussing with a friend some areas of life that have changed for me over the years and the discovery that has ensued as I have allowed myself more freedom to pursue things that appeared, on the front side, to be ‘out of my reach’. Several years ago now, I and my son had the opportunity to climb Pike’s Peak. It was a chore and very uncomfortable for me physically; I felt sick most of the way. I wanted to enjoy the event and everything around me, but just couldn’t because of my physical condition. At that point I determined two things: one, that I did not want to be that uncomfortable again, and two, that I wanted to be able to truly enjoy such things, such challenges and such beauty going forward. I decided to get in shape and climb it again. The result was a much more enjoyable experience for me 2 years later after picking up a regimen of daily running and exercise. Today I can say that I continue to see many benefits from the discipline I determined to achieve back then and there are many things I can now enjoy that I simply could not before.

I often reflect on the significance of this story on other areas of my life, seeing even that the benefits in one area actually spill over into benefits in many other areas as well. All of this would have continued to go undetected, had my experience not forced me into new considerations of the way I was living my life. I can experience more because of something I wanted to avoid and because of something I wanted to enjoy. I think this applies to other areas of life, beyond physical conditioning, as well. I can experience more relationally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, etc. by imagining (now from understanding) that there is much more yet to experience – things to avoid, things to pursue.

The point is not that there are lies surrounding truth (in fact, that is always a given), the point is that there is truth to be discovered and that, in so doing, we embark on new legs of the journey that we have not yet experienced…in part, by the sheer discipline of doing it. I do not believe that I can be or do anything I want…but I do believe that I can be and do a lot more than I know at any given point. Here again, lies and truth are side-by-side. Understanding the difference is helpful (after all, we simply must be honest…), but pursuing the latter is transforming. “The more I know, the less I understand”…is not a defeating thing, it is a liberating thing.

Let’s climb…for more. After all, it’s the truth that will set you free.

Find him there...

He departed from our sight, so that we should turn to our hearts and find him there.

-- St. Augustine

Same People

The Bible tells us to love our neighbors, and also to love our enemies; probably because they are generally the same people.

-- G.K. Chesterton

Everyman, the standard?

Compared to Everyman, I really don't have much to complain about....

It is interesting how comparing numbs us to something, isn't it? What about what we really want? Do we even know, when most of the time we don't even know what all we are made for? I wonder if such a way of knowing ourselves (comparing) isn't more like a disease, that more sickens us, than anything else. If I am only relative to what the other guy has or looks like, then can I end up anywhere but disappointed?

What is the standard then?

I think it is something inside of us, rather than something outside of us. And, to go one step further, I think it is someone who is inside of us...whose spirit resides within us. So how do we learn...to take our cues from what is inside, rather than what is outside of us? And, what distracts us from this kind of learning?

Living

We live with a humility born out of personal brokeness, moving towards each other with a deep patience, anticipating the surprising and mysterious work of the Spirit of God in all of us, individually and together.

Forgiveness...then Repentance

The saved sinner is prostrate in adoration, lost in wonder and praise. He knows repentance is not what we do in order to earn forgiveness; it is what we do because we have been forgiven. It serves as an expression of gratitude rather than an effort to earn forgiveness. Thus the sequence of forgiveness and then repentance, rather than repentance and then forgiveness, is crucial for understanding the gospel of grace.

-- Brennan Manning

Community

Why?

In heaven, God will not ask us why we sinned; He will ask us why we didn't repent.

-- Pope Shenouda III

...worth pondering.