“Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven Matthew 5:3-4

I love how Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, shocked people with his opening statement. He hit them with the paradoxical statement that the poor will inherit the kingdom of heaven. He knew how to get the crowd’s attention, I think.

Depending on which translation you use, you will find something over 200 times that the Bible mentions the word “poor”. Clearly, dealing properly with poor people is a major theme and concern of the writers. People can argue, who are “the poor”, and it would be a good discussion.

There are many types of poverty. There is financial poverty, with which we are most acquainted. It is somewhat easy to quantify. Indeed, governments have poverty indices which measure degrees of wealth or lack of it.

There is also spiritual poverty, which is much more difficult to define. This is a highly subjective measure. It is also hard to measure because some people are not even aware that they are spiritually poor. Those are the folks with a real problem. If we think we have things figured out, and that we do not need God in our life, such ones are the poorest of people.

Jesus said “Blessed are the poor in spirit,  for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”. He meant that people who recognize their spiritual poverty recognize their need for a savior- that know they cannot save themselves. They are in a position to access the riches of God through their search for God’s grace.

In the next few blogs, I am going to discuss what “poor” is and what I think proper responses are. Clearly, in the case of spiritual poverty, acceptance of one’s state is critical. What about physical/financial poverty?

I’ll talk about that tomorrow…

Prayer: Lord, give us wisdom as to how to look at poverty, Amen

 Not only this, but we also rejoice in sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance, character, and character, hope.                                                                                                                  Romans 5:3-4 (NEV)

Some people feel guilty about their anxieties and regard them as a defect of faith. I don’t agree at all. They are afflictions, not sins. Like all afflictions, they are, if we can so take them, our share in the Passion of Christ

C.S. Lewis

I like this quote from C.S. Lewis. Lewis was a deep thinker, and a theology writer of renown. He was also a man who suffered, and he wrote about his struggles in order to help others who also were suffering at various times. Yes, suffering is universal, a great equalizer if you will.

In this quote, Lewis is speaking to people who have anxiety. As I tell my clients, everybody has some level of anxiety. On the “continuum of anxiety” some score much higher than others, but all of us have our struggles with it. However, people who have a higher-level anxiety, more than your usual situational worries, have a very difficult “battle of the mind” every day.

Anxiety is like that self-destructive little voice that always reminds us what can go wrong, why we are especially unworthy, and why destruction is just around the corner. People with anxiety disorder live deep in the weeds of self agony about what can, and likely will, go wrong. It can be crippling unless help is sought.

C.S. Lewis in this quote tries to give some comfort. He says that people with high anxiety do not have a defect of lack of faith, they have an affliction. That affliction, he says, can be reframed into a shared suffering of a glimpse of what Jesus suffered- the Jesus who understands suffering and understands us. He is on our side.

Thank you, C.S. Lewis for that deep and comforting thought.  

Prayer: Help us Lord to see you in the midst of anxiety and suffering, knowing that your grace abounds, Amen

Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.                                                                                      Ephesians 3:8

This verse has always struck me. Paul a giant of the faith, one who had a deeply moving experience with God on the road to Damascus, calls himself “the least deserving” of all God’s people. Was this false humility? I don’t think so. Paul, who had also said that he had a “thorn in the flesh” from which he had not been delivered, was a man, I believe, deeply beset by a sense of shame.  

I am not a Bible scholar, and this is strictly an amateur opinion of mine. Paul was a man who lived a life deeply committed to Jesus, and was also deeply flawed. Sounds like a guy I would really like and could relate to.

Paul had persecuted Christians, and he had been present at the stoning of Stephen, an early martyr. Stephen’s last words were: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.

If you are present, indeed complicit, in the murder of a person who is praying for your soul while you stand by assenting to that death, I have to believe that it leaves a deep impression. Was this really the moment that prepared Saul (before he became Paul) to see that those Christians were a different kind of people?

Maybe Paul, remembering those haunting words, saw himself, even after his redemption, as a man with scars. Maybe those scars were remnants of incomplete self-forgiveness. Who could blame him? Yes, he was forgiven by an amazing grace. Yet, he knew what he did. He knew that old Saul was still part of his story. 

I don’t know. This is complete speculation on my part. But I think there is something to it. We all know what we have done, better than anyone else ever can. Yes, we are forgiven, but maybe there is a part of us that always reminds ourselves of that past, however forgiven it might be.

My point? Don’t be too hard on yourself if you still harbor some lingering elements of self-unforgiveness. You are in good company. But remember also, that God is not the one remembering those faults. His plan is for us to have complete forgiveness, including forgiving ourselves.

 In the words of the old comic strip character Pogo- “we have met the enemy, and the enemy is us”

Prayer: Thank you for the truth that you have forgiven our sins “as far as the east is from the west”, Amen.

We are already deep into the Christmas season now, and what a wonderful time of year it is! I want to make sure that you are enjoying this season, no matter what is happening in your life. You may be experiencing relational pain, loss of a loved one, physical problems, financial setbacks- there can be so many afflictions. Yet at this time of year, try to experience the glory and joy of the celebrative spirit that the culture offers up. Some may celebrate this season not knowing the real reason for celebration- don’t judge them. Show them the love of the Christ Child, and give them the gift of sharing the season.

On a personal note, my first novel, Joseph Shepherd, is now published by Westbow Press, and it is available through Westbow Press, at www.reflectionsofshepherd.com or Amazon at http://www.amazon.com

Some of you followed the serialized version last year. Here you can get the book, and maybe use it as a present for those who have not yet read it. At any rate, thank you for your support and encouragement,

Blessings!

I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.                                                                                                                                          Jeremiah 29:11 (The Message)

I have been a counselor for over 40 years, and over the years I have seen thousands of clients. I am in the profession because it is a calling for me, and I am fortunate to be able to practice what I love to do. As in many careers, I believe, the direction of my career has not always been a simple, straight path.

I began my career as a social worker in Montgomery County, leaving my home in Cincinnati to take the job. It was not too long before I took a position at the Dayton Mental Health Center (now long since closed), and I began a journey of learning about mental health. After a few years there, I took a position at a community mental health center, at the time a new service delivery model for mental health in the 1970’s.

I did not have a clear-cut plan in mind regarding this career path. In looking back, it has become crystal clear to me that the hand of God was doing things for me that I could not do for myself. I had not carefully planned this path. Rather, opportunities showed up for me and I simply made a choice for the next job that seemed to be the right fit.

I had no idea when I started that I would be following a path that allowed me to use the gifts God had given me in the particular way that they unfolded. The way that some of these opportunities came about were clearly not coincidence.

I tell my clients that there does not need to be just one path to take that is God’s plan for us. As long as we set about to serve him and honor him in it, he can bless any path we choose. I have been completely blessed in my career, and yet, I did not set forth with a particular “plan” for that career.

The point is, if we honor God in whatever we do, he can bless it and give us joy in it, whatever that job or career is.

I trust that you are in that place of peace in your working life.  

Prayer: Thank you Father for giving us direction, even when we are not sure of the next step, Amen

…yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior                                                         Habakkuk 3:18

Yesterday, our pastor, Rev. Dennis Miller, gave a sermon about joy. In explaining the familiar Christmas Carol, Joy to the World, he said that the writer, Isaac Watts, broke from the worship song norms of the time when he wrote about expressing pure joy. He used natural concepts around him rather than just relying on the Psalms as the sole source of lyrics.  

The pastor’s best point however was stating that “Joy is waiting just outside the door for us to let it in”. I really like that idea. What a great behavioral counseling technique! We have the decision to allow joy to be part of our life. We are not just passive recipients of attitudes and moods. We can decide to let joy reign in our lives.

Yes, I know, people face many devastating setbacks and pain in life. Some of those are our making, and some are not. However, we do have a choice about how we receive the things we face in life. We can adopt an attitude of joy in all things. We can decide that joy is possible, and then allow for ways to see it.

We often set ourselves up for certain moods. We have an internal narrative that disposes us to sift information in a certain way. For example, confirmation bias is well known in scientific circles whereby we end up validating long-held beliefs when interpreting data with a sometimes-unknown bias. We get the results that we expect.

So, this beautiful Christmas season, learn to be accepting of joy!

Prayer: Lord, help us to see the joy around us, and to then freely let it in, Amen

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42

I am not a neurobiologist, but I do understand that serotonin is a “feel good chemical” produced by our brain. There are several things that help us to produce serotonin, including diet, exercise, sunlight, food, and medications. The typical prescription antidepressant medications do not necessarily produce serotonin as much as they just help keep it around in our brain.

Carbohydrates, for example, are precursors for serotonin. In the Fall and Winter, we tend to eat more carbohydrates to replace the amount of serotonin that is being lost with the decreasing amount of sunlight available in the northern hemisphere. Hence the emphasis at Thanksgiving and Christmas on the heavy load of carbs, and tryptophan-producing turkey- another serotonin precursor. Those foods help us to replenish decreasing serotonin levels lost during our journey away from longer periods of sunlight during those months.

In the northern hemisphere, we are now in the month of December, where sunlight hours are continuing to decrease. What a mental health challenge that is! So, for the next several months, we are being deprived of our free serotonin stimulants!

Exercising in the sunlight is absolutely the best serotonin therapy you can find, and you don’t even need to eat a bunch of carbohydrates to achieve it. But this time of year, we tend to make up for that decreased serotonin by eating more carbs.

So, for my fellow northern hemisphere friends, be careful about the serotonin boost you can get by eating those carbohydrates. Yes, enjoy the seasonal goodies, the fellowship and the joy of the season, but balance it with attention to exercise. The social connection with others is also a source of serotonin. So…

Enjoy!

Prayer: Lord, you have given us all the means to have a full and joyous life, just in the nature of your creation. Thank you for that plan, Amen

Judah had Perez, the mother was Tamar Salmon had Boaz, his mother was Rahab Boaz had Obed, his mother was Ruth David had Solomon, Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba) was his mother

                                                                                                                                                               From Matthew 1 (The Message) and the genealogy of Jesus

Tamar came from Hebrew origins

Rahab came from Jericho (Palestine)

Uriah’s wife, was a Hittite, from (Phoenicia) Lebanon

Ruth came from Moab (Jordan)

I like to share this genealogy around Christmas, because it shows the true ethnic and geographic diversity of the lineage of Jesus. The women noted in this lineage of Jesus provided in Matthew’s genealogy were included for a reason. Matthew’s gospel explains the lineage to the nascent Hebrew Christian group who were looking for the royal line of Jesus and the connection with the kingly presence Jesus would represent.

The irony is that in that “royal bloodline” we see a diverse group of women from other cultures and religions. I am convinced that God loves the diversity he created, and he wants us to see that the savior he sent, his son Jesus, was indeed of royal lineage, but not from the kind that people had come to expect.

Throughout history, many countries relied upon “royal bloodlines” for their king’s (or perhaps the queen’s) succession. If one did not have such pure royal blood, they could not ascend to the throne. Now we are aware, of course, of the genetic in-breeding this caused, making those royal lines often somewhat less healthy than lines of people from more diverse stock.

Once again, an example of the paradox of human planning going against what is actually most helpful for us- a more diverse gene pool.

Jesus came from a line of women whose backgrounds were, to be kind, at least questionable. Their tribal origins were not pure Hebrew religion and culture. These women represented diverse world origins, as well as religious and cultural differences that were significant.

So, in this season of celebrating the birth of Jesus, let us also celebrate that he is the savior for the whole world- Jew, Gentile, heathen, believer, non-believer.

 He came to save us all.

Prayer: Your plans are higher than our plans, and you delight in the diversity of your creation. Help us to do that better as well, Amen

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!                                                                                                             Philippians 2:5-8

Incarnation. That is what Christmas is about. The word is from the Latin word carne, meaning flesh. Literally, it means “in the flesh”. Christmas, of course, is the celebration of when Jesus came in the flesh. He became an “in flesh” visitor to the earth.

He came to earth in order to save humankind from sin, and he did that by his own sacrifice. He also came in order to show humans how to live a life pleasing to God. His example was his mission. He visited earth to show how we can make the earth a better place too.

He was intentional in his visit. It was well planned over many centuries of human existence. So too we should plan our visits with other people. Our visits with others should be with the intention of kindness and an uplift of the human spirit.

Yet, we fail at that with some regularity.

However, you notice that even in the most mundane, trivial, and casual occurrences of kindness to others, the spirit of the other person is lifted for just a little while. I noted that today when at a local store I held the door for a delivery man who was pushing a dolly loaded with products. He was very thankful for just a little gesture of kindness and thought. That gesture cost me nothing, yet it made his work today just a little easier. He had been acknowledged and cared for in the smallest way, but it lifted him up.

So, we can be the incarnation of the virtue of kindness to others. Kindness is an abstract value, but it comes to life when we exercise it. We can become the incarnation of it.   

Prayer: Lord, remind us of the power of little gestures that can have large impact, Amen.

“Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.” Maya Angelou

Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, here’s what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you’re worth. God looks on all this with approval, listening and responding well to what he’s asked…                                                                                              I Peter 3:9-10 (The Message)

So today, let’s just have fun! I’m thinking about going back to favorite things that soothed us when we were kids. It is essential that we find ways to soothe ourselves when we experience stress. We learn this very early in life, and it is important that we learn to “self-soothe” as opposed to relying upon others give us that sense of peace and stress relief. Stress is ubiquitous, so it is important to learn the skill of finding a place, or an action, which gives us a sense of calm and security.

I was the youngest of four children, and I was the youngest by six years. Yes, I was the surprise at the end of the train for my parents- my dad was over forty, and my mom thirty-nine years old when I was born. So, I had a lot of time alone as my older siblings had friends, and school and other activities to occupy them while I was very young.  

I found that TV became a place of entertainment and companionship. Shows like “Uncle Al”, and cartoon shows like The Bugs Bunny Hour, The Flintstones, and family shows like Andy Griffith and the Beverly Hillbillies became sources of soothing for me. Later, thankfully, I found reading to be a great friend to me, and it still sustains me as a warm, soothing companion.

I find it interesting that some of the shows I loved as a kid have found an enduring place in the culture. Shows like Andy Griffith, Gilligan’s Island, The Flintstones, The Twilight Zone (and I could go on forever) are cultural icons which even young members of today’s society typically recognize readily.

My question to you is, what is it from the past that gives you that familiar soothing feeling? Think about that, and maybe share it with your kids (or grandkids). Maybe they will have a great laugh at your expense!

Prayer: Father, thank you for those little things that give us respite from stress, Amen.