You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.                                                                                                                               Matthew 7:5

I was recently speaking with a couple in marriage counseling, and I saw that one partner was essentially taking the position, ‘if my wife could get the help she needs for her problems, our marriage would be fine’.

So, do you see the problem here? I explained that each partner needs to take ownership of personal deficits, limitations, harsh words, etc. Only if we look at our own behavior can we get to a solution in relationships. In fact, I posed this question to each – consider this, “what would it be like to be married to me?”

I suppose that a fairly clueless person, or one who was in denial might say, “Boy, being married to me would be a great experience!” A more considered response might be “Well, I suppose that it might be a bit of a challenge at times being married to me”.

So, that’s the word for today. Jesus called it “taking the log out of your own eye”. Jesus had a way with words…

Prayer: Lord, help me see the log in my own eye, Amen

On your feet now—applaud God! Bring a gift of laughter, sing yourselves into his presence.                   Psalm 100:1-2 (The Message)

Some of my readers may recall a comic strip titled Calvin & Hobbes. It was a brilliant comic featuring young Calvin and his stuffed tiger, Hobbes. Calvin is named after the famous theologian, John Calvin, and his tiger, Hobbes, is named after philosopher Thomas Hobbes.

Calvin is a precocious, adventurous, six-year-old boy who often poses difficult questions to his parents. Calvin sees the world from a very egocentric world view, as most six-year-olds might. Hobbes, his stuffed tiger (but only to others, to Calvin, Hobbes is a real friend), is an observer of life who helps Calvin understand a confusing world.

I often think of the truth that we find in humor, such as that of comic strips. I have mentioned in the past the great work I enjoy in The Far Side, B.C., Peanuts, and many other comics. Reading the comic page is a daily routine for me because I need to start the day with the refreshment of humor. Maybe it is to wash down the stuff I read on the front page.

I like Calvin because he reminds us that in all of us there is a bit of that egocentric 6-year-old- who at times thinks that the world did not really start to be modern until he made his appearance. His experience of new things seemed (to him) to be a new revelation for everyone for the first time.  In his little mind, his experience was the one that really counted.

We as adults know that such childish thinking is just that- childish. Yet don’t we at times lapse into the egocentric worldview- that our experience is the one that counts?

Well, think about that one for a while!

Prayer: Lord, you have given us a sense of humor, and we are blessed to have it to get through this world, Amen

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.                                                                  I John 4:7-8

Understanding the love of God is a mystery, I think, no matter your parental state. I have a little better understanding of it because I am a parent. At least for me, the unconditional love that I feel for my kids is somehow my dim understanding of the love God feels for me. I have some inkling of that love, and it took parenthood for me to get even there. I had to have the experience of loving a child in my own arms to get that better understanding.

Many of my readers may not have children, either by choice, or because they were unable to have biological children. Some may have chosen to adopt children. I simply explain my understanding of God’s love in terms of my own parenthood. That does not mean that those without children do not have a good understanding of God’s love – in fact, far from it.

I know childless people who have poured their lives into others in the most beautiful ways. Their time, energy and resources have gone into people not related to them, and they, in turn have shown God’s amazing love to others.

God as a loving parent is demonstrated in his investment in us through his son, Jesus. That too is a mystery. Rather than being caught up in theological explanations, I find it easier to just accept that God is a loving God who created us in his image. He wants us to share that love with others and his creation.

Keep it simple for me. God is love, and he wants us to be loving too.

Prayer: Lord, what an amazing plan you have, Amen

A sound mind makes for a robust body, but runaway emotions corrode the bones.                                   Proverbs 14:30 (The Message)

One of the things which I suggest as homework to my clients is a periodic “check-in” during the day on their emotional state- a self-awareness exercise. What do I mean by this? It is taking a brief pause out of daily routine, and perhaps taking a little breathing exercise -that is inhale 4 seconds in through the nose, hold about 5 seconds, then exhale through the mouth for about 7 seconds.

Doing this a few times gives a little distinct pause to allow one to center briefly on their personal emotional state. In other words, “What am I feeling right now?” This may take some time to really become effective, because people are often not truly aware about their current emotional state. This requires some honest personal searching about current feelings.

“Am I angry right now? Why?” “Am I sad right now? Why?” “Am I scared right now? Why”. Maybe you are feeling just great! Wonderful! You fill in the blank of the feeling. Many people, not being used to asking themselves this question, are used to covering it up with “I’m just tired” or “I don’t know what I feel”, or “How can I tell what I am feeling?”

This check-in is good to keep us calibrated and honest with ourselves. We are very used to denying feelings or covering them up. We find it hard to be honest with ourselves about what we are feeling. Indeed, some might say, “It doesn’t matter how I feel, I just need to press on today!”

The truth is it DOES matter how you feel, and it is important to just recognize it and own it. If you are angry or scared, that is fine- those are honest emotions. We are not looking for blame, just honest evaluation of what is “going on with me right now.”

To the extent that we do regular check-ins on our emotional state, the healthier we are. The truth sets us free in every way to be more honest with ourselves, owning personal feelings, and taking responsibility for how to take care of ones-self in that moment.

So, periodically, do the personal emotional check-in. It is good self-care.

Prayer: Lord, you have given us the remarkable ability to be self-aware. What a gift! Amen

Note To My Readers: This blog posting is #1000! Hard to believe that we began this journey together on April 1, 2020. So, thanks for hanging with me during the journey. Having an inventory of 1000 blogs means that there is a lot in the archives! So, please check out the archives as you wish!

Blessings,

John

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.                                                                                Matthew 5:48

Have you ever read this passage and said, “Yeah right, be perfect. What a joke.” I talked with a client about that recently because this client often feels very, very far from perfect. In fact, he often feels terrible about himself.  The call to be perfect is like a cruel joke to him.

I told the client that every single person who ever lived probably harbors those same doubts, and even resentment that there is such a standard that they are so far from achieving. Then I gave my explanation of this to my client.

It is like we are on a road in life and there comes a fork in that road. Jesus invites us to a road toward fulfillment, but a road that others may not recognize. On that road, we will fail and make mistakes. We will not be perfect as we travel down that road, but that road leads to perfection. We are not perfect, but we are on the right road.

You know, if you take the wrong turn when you are on a trip, you can make good, fast progress, but you might be going in a wrong direction. That road will not take you to where you want to go. If you are on the right road, you might have difficulties, detours, potholes, accidents, you name it -but, you are on the right road! Follow that road and you will get to your destination.

The right road is the road to perfection, it is not perfection itself.  So, take heart. None of us is perfect, but we can take the road that leads there as we follow the lead of Jesus.

Prayer: Lord, thank you for Jesus, the guide on the road, Amen.

I just want to celebrate another day of livin’

I just want to celebrate another day of life

I put my faith in the people

But the people let me down

So I turned the other way

And I carry on, anyhow

That’s why I’m telling you

I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah

I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah

Another day of living,

I just want to celebrate another day of life

Lyrics to the song by Rare Earth, “I Just Want to Celebrate”

This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.                                       Psalm 118:24

Those of us of a certain age remember this 1971 song by the group Rare Earth. Actually, the song is popular enough that many people, regardless of age, know it. I use that title today because people need reminders to celebrate “another day of livin’’. Indeed, every day we draw breath should be a celebration.

Yes, I am painfully aware that many people may find little to celebrate. They may be grieving, in pain, anxious, depressed- the things that life may bring us. Yet, we need to find ways to celebrate the present.

Many of my readers may recall that a few years ago, I announced that March 1 is officially a holiday (in my way of thinking). It is my “first day of Spring”. Again, I know that it technically is not the first day of Spring, but I am claiming it nonetheless. I mean, Spring is actually within sight, literally. The daffodils and crocus are near poking their heads above the ground. Even the day lilies are pushing up from under last year’s dead leaves.

Baseball has started (Spring Training), and NCAA ‘s March Madness will be on us soon. And when somebody asks you what day it is, you can say, “It’s March!”

Yes, I do make “much ado” as Shakespeare might say, but the point is this. Whatever reason you need to celebrate, use it. Celebrate this day and you will find that your outlook is just a wee bit brighter. See, even saying “wee bit” makes me think of St. Patrick’s Day!

So, find your reason (or no reason) to celebrate “Another Day of Livin!”

Prayer: Lord, thank you for another day of livin! Amen

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.                                                                                                       Isaiah 55:8-9

I am not a Bible scholar, nor am I a theologian. I am an observer of people and an admirer of grace. I recognize that there is much that I do not know about theology, but I do have a belief about the nature and character of God. He loves people. He loves his creation. He is not bound by our definitions, nor our understanding. He is sovereign, and he can do as he pleases, and I often do not understand his ways. But I trust them.

I feel comfortable with the answer “I don’t know”. I am OK with that position. In fact, in some cases, I don’t even know what I don’t know. The good news is that I do not need to have an answer for everything. I think too often we believe that there must be an explanation of why things happen, or “why does God do what he does?”

That is where this idea of prevenient grace comes in. My understanding of prevenient grace is that even before I have an inkling of who God is, or his power to redeem his creation, God provides grace for us to even begin the quest of understanding.  His grace is sufficient for my lack of understanding.

 I’m good with that.

Prayer: Thank you for the grace that you give, even before we know what grace really is, Amen

So, in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.                                   Matthew 7:12

“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.                                                              Galatians 2:19

I have always thought that Jesus was a “lightning rod” for public opinion and criticism. What I mean by that is, people are not really neutral about Jesus. One is forced to take a side and have an opinion when it comes to Jesus. You love his message and live it out, or you reject his message and live a self-directed life.

During his ministry, Jesus did not shy away from controversy. He challenged people in the way that they looked at God. That is, you love God by loving other people. He called out the religious leaders of the Jews and explained to them very clearly how they had missed the mark. Specifically, he did not like religious leaders who leaned into the letter of the Law to the exclusion of those for whom the Law was written.

People who rigidly favored strict interpretation of the Law over the needs of people were singled out by Jesus as examples of those who had missed the mark. Many parables of Jesus remarked about the failure of those leaders to love others. Those leaders then justified their behavior by the letter of the Law. They had failed to see why the Law was even written.

When I wrote my novels about Joseph Shepherd, I saw him as a type of Jesus. That is, when he showed up in 17^th and 19^th century history, he was treated by people as shabbily as Jesus was treated in the first century. That happened because people either loved or hated Joseph Shepherd. Eventually, Shepherd was persecuted by his contemporaries, even though he loved people, served them, and always tried to live by a moral code. Because of that, he was reviled and rejected by those who perhaps felt judged by his very presence.

So, let’s think of Jesus as the radical that he was. He challenged mainstream Judaic Law with the true fulfillment of it. Because of that, he was rejected, and ultimately crucified.

Prayer: Lord, help us to see past the barriers that stop us from showing love to others, Amen

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.                     Romans 15:13

I had a dear friend named Denny Mikel who passed away several years ago. Denny was a mentor to me, and I remember one day when he told me a story about what he felt he had heard God clearly say to him. It was nothing earth shattering or strange. No momentous challenge or “special revelation”. It was just this- Trust Me.

That was his guiding light to a simple faith. Trust Me. I often think about that as I wonder about things that I do not understand. Believe me, there are a lot of things I do not understand about how God works, or the faith journey we are called into.

I think maybe that simple phrase, Trust Me, pretty much sums up a faith journey that we are never going to puzzle out on our own. God delights in our trust, not our ability to figure everything out. Yes, God has given us amazing mental capacity, the ability of performing abstract thought, and this amazing thing called sentience which allows us to be truly aware of our own presence and existence. Yet, the thing that pleases God, and gives us rest and peace is just that simple phrase…

Trust Me

Prayer: Lord, I trust you, Amen

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will                                                       Romans 12:1-2

On Ash Wednesday, of course, many Christians will go to a church service where ashes are imposed on their forehead. In Old Testament times, when people mourned or were in a state of repentance and humility, they often wore “sackcloth and ashes”. That appearance was a reflection of an inward condition. Wearing ashes and sackcloth let others know that one was experiencing some inner reflection, even turmoil.

Wearing ashes in public after Ash Wednesday service makes a statement. Others will be able to see this outward sign of personal devotion or submission. They will see that the wearer has decided to make public their inner faith.

In the times of Jesus, the Pharisees (a subset of Jewish adherents) often were very public in making it known that they had been fasting. They would make their faces pale with chalk or other whitening agents to give the impression of suffering. Their need for external approval was the exact opposite of the intent of fasting.

Only we as individuals know our own heart and our intentions in this preparation for Easter. Ash Wednesday is a good start for this preparation. May this Lent be a time of renewal and honest assessment of our own condition.

Prayer: Lord, renew us in this Lenten season, Amen