Welcome to September 2020. Let’s see what this month has for all of us. Soon the season of Fall in the Northern Hemisphere will be here and I can say I am ready for much cooler and less humid weather.
Have a great first day of the month good people.
It would be safe to say the world is complicated. Much like relationships you see on Facebook or Twitter. We don’t like complicated things much these days. Simplicity is much preferred.
To transition from the complicated to the simplified requires information. I will be the first to say that information can change things. I tend to be more black or white instead of shades of gray. We find new facts in those shades of gray. Life is fluid. We should be too. Our collective table can be expanded when we look at others from a new perspective.
The best people learn new things so that they can do new things and relate to others in a whole new way. The keyword here is new. We have old ways of assuming things but something comes along that makes sense and helps us grow. Being open to new things can make the world a better place for everyone.
Teachable moments are all around us if we are paying attention. Are you always right, I know I am not. Learning and growing means the world can change for the better.
Grace and peace to you all this upcoming week.
Patience is a virtue. When it comes to having relationships with fellow human beings it might as well be divine. Loving ones neighbor can be a significant challenge. To be fair I am not always pleasant to be with and I have my own stuff that makes people crazy. Everyone has something.
Every rose has a thorn (I heard that in a song once) and sometimes we are the rose and sometimes we are the thorn. That is a necessary truth as we don’t become full of ourselves or anything like that.
We are all in need of that thing that means that no matter what we are we are still valued, loved no matter the baggage we carry. No one is perfect. Everyone has a fault but we are also special in that imperfection. So if you are dealing with stuff know that you don’t have to go it alone. In this day we need all the support we can muster.
Friends, I hope you are doing our best. May grace be abundant. Have peace this and in the days ahead.
(This is inspired by my priest, Fr. Quinn Parman)
This old saying about a glass being half full or half empty is completely rethought here. A glass can be refilled. So that is something I am working on for myself. I have a glass that is in need of refreshment. Sometimes the third option is best.
Rest is important to people. I am not talking about sleep here but something that is just as needed. There’s comfort and security to be found in resting.
What do you find rest in though? A cause, politics, religion, relationships, place. All of those things are a part of human existence in how we lean into them as a way to give us identity and purpose.
There are two sides to everything especially politics and we are seeing things get ugly. Relationships are a two way street. Causes are a reflection of our concerns and values. Religion is a definite sacred cow that can bring people together or separate them. Place can give us home where we find our belonging to something greater than ourselves.
Giving things a rest might help us finally have some peace so we can rest for real. Realizing what is important and focusing on that. Yes I need to take my own advice and some of you are the choir I am preaching to but you know we all need reminding of that.
Find something that gives you some rest good people. This world needs us all refreshed and ready for the days ahead.
(My priest Fr. Quinn inspired this post from his sermon on 7/5/2020)
Serious question, do we live in the 21st century? There are lots of things that indicate we don’t. There have been some advances but not as many as one would hope.
People are still holding fast to the ideals of an earlier age. Banners of the losing team still fly as to intimidate people. Is it possible that another war like it would come to pass?
Old men are telling women what to do with their bodies and lives as it was the 19th century. LGBTQ people still struggle with acceptance. Transgender people are getting murdered. Intolerant religions seek to impose their values on those who don’t even believe as they do.
Racism is still the pandemic it always has been. Speaking of the pandemic we are going through a plague of our own now that has killed thousands.
Billy Joel once sang “We didn’t start the fire” that might be true but there comes a time when a generation has to put that fire out. That fire still burns and it’s been too long.
There are other problems, too many to list. When will it be the 21st Century, your guess is as good as mine because I have no idea.
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