God said to Moses, “I’m going to rain bread down from the skies for you. The people will go out and gather each day’s ration.                                                                                                                                                    Exodus 16:4-5 (The Message)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For 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 (KJV)

Yesterday I talked about bread as a basic sustainer of life. Today, I look at manna. You may remember that in the book of Exodus, there is a story about how God provided for his people with manna in the desert.

Manna. Yes, it’s a thing. Most of us are familiar with the stories in the Bible that God miraculously provided food for the wandering Israelites as they trekked through the desert on the way to the “Promised Land”. Many people are understandably skeptical of this amazing provision, but it turns out that scientists have actually identified what they believe is the food that nourished the Israelites. They call it Manna.

Actually called mann-Rimth, the Rimth shrub is the Bedouin name for the Haloxylon salicornicum. The secretions we call “manna” are also called “honeydew”, which is the product of the digestion of insects as they munch on these plants which are found all over the Middle east.

I found it quite interesting that there is, potentially, a very logical explanation of a miracle. Can God provide things for people in ways that we cannot explain? Uh, yes. It happens all the time. I do not know the particulars of how this all happened, but the general point of what the Bible tries to say is that God is able to do things which are inexplicable to us. People actually eat manna today, and it does provide nourishment with a sweet taste like coriander seed- so the consumers say.

So, I don’t get particularly hung up on the details of how God provides. I just know that he does, and we don’t always understand it.

Prayer: Lord, you work in ways that are higher than ours, we just accept that your plans are for our good, Amen

Then Jesus declared, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty                                                                                            John 6:35

Our pastor is doing a series on the Lord’s Prayer. Today, he discussed the passage, “Give us this day our daily bread…” It was a good reminder that we are dependent daily for spiritual food. His listeners in that day were keenly aware that their physical food was day to day. Food had to be procured daily, and people were aware of the need for their “daily bread”.

Jesus is called “the bread of life”, that is, the real meaning of living is found in him and in his teaching, the way of life he calls us to. He invited his disciples at the Last Supper to eat his body (the bread) “broken for you”. He meant that we need to fully incorporate him into us so that we can have life also.

We can understand that “we are what we eat” to quote a famous line. If we fully consume the message that Jesus gave to us, we will become what we eat- we will be more like Jesus.

Prayer: Lord, help us to understand the full meaning of Jesus as the bread of life, Amen  

Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.                                                                                                                                                            Joel 2:23

As we prepare to enter another season (in the northern hemisphere), Autumn, I read this passage about Autumn rains and Spring rains. When these passages were written, they were written to an agricultural and herding people. They completely depended on the seasonal weather patterns that would make or break their crops.

Today, we feel that we are somewhat insulated from such dependence because we have a global economy, and we can import grains and fruit from around the world. Of course, we are still dependent upon the weather! Droughts and floods and natural disasters can devastate parts of the world with famine and starvation. We are dependent upon the weather systems that the Creator put into place at the beginning of the universe.

Yes, those patterns have changed, and they will continue to change as part of a dynamic planet. While we have found ways to accommodate, and have even invented ingenious ways to get more food production from an aging planet, we are still quite dependent upon those rains that were discussed in the ancient book of Joel.

So, we rejoice when it rains, reminded that we are still dependent on God’s providential plans.

Prayer: We look to the heavens, and rejoice in your creation, Amen.     

Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”

Mark 9:35

On December 4^th, 1783, General George Washington bid farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern. This bears remembrance because it signifies Washington’s desire to leave the military and not take over a young country that was his for the taking. Other world leaders marveled that Washington would willingly give up power that he had so painstakingly gained over years of suffering with the ill-equipped soldiers he led.

I have always been amazed at the humility of leadership of Washington, who truly was a servant-leader model. He chose to empower the young country he had helped to found by ensuring that civilian, not military powers would govern the fledgling country.

It reminds me of the leadership Jesus endorsed. That we would use whatever power we have for the benefit of those whom we serve.

Prayer: Lord, give us the strength to use our power with humility, and for the benefit of others, Amen

After this a lot of his disciples left. They no longer wanted to be associated with him. Then Jesus gave the Twelve their chance: “Do you also want to leave?”

 Peter replied, “Master, to whom would we go? You have the words of real life, eternal life. We’ve already committed ourselves, confident that you are the Holy One of God.”

There is a now famous saying that President Harry S. Truman had on a little plaque on his desk- “The Buck Stops Here”. The saying is perhaps a bit trite nowadays, but the principle is still relevant. Back in those days, the early 1950’s, the idea resonated bit more than it does today. We had just come through the great conflict of World War II, and military type thinking was still much more accepted. Radical responsibility said that the leader took full ownership of anything that happened under his/her watch. If there was a mishap, a failure, a problem, the leader took responsibility for it, even if the specifics of the problem were not directly attributable to the leader.

President Truman had to make some very difficult decisions. He had to decide upon dropping the atomic bomb on Japan. He had to decide proper actions on a national steel strike. He had to decide on firing General Douglas MacArthur when MacArthur defied orders. Truman made some important, and often unpopular decisions, but he owned them and accepted the consequences. 

Perhaps this is harsh, but it points out the ultimate nature of responsibility. The leader does not get to blame underlings or others for failures that happen on his/her watch. Blame is not projected onto others, and the leader cannot act like a victim. Real leaders accept that they are ultimately responsible for the organization they lead and, by extension, the lives of those people in that organization.

People can follow a leader whom they trust. People can trust leaders who accept responsibility, and those who own the consequences of their decisions. Casting blame onto others for failures is not an option. Yes, leadership is hard, and often unfair. But that is the cost of leadership.

Prayer: As Peter replied to Jesus, you are the only leader who has the words of life. Help us follow, Amen.

…casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ                      II Corinthians 10:5 (NKJV)

One of the things that I sometimes discuss with my clients is the idea of a “grievance narrative”. I borrow this term from Dr. Fred Luskin who wrote the book Forgive for Good. I think we all fall into this kind of narrative to some extent, but chronically doing this leads to a victim mentality. A quick little example-

You wake up and you stumble into the bathroom half awake; then you bump your toe against the tub. A few minutes later, you drop the soap in the shower, and then upon getting out of the shower, you find that there is no towel handy. You say to yourself, “Wow, this is going to be one of those days!”

Pretty simple and innocuous stuff, but you have given yourself permission to say that this is going to be a bad day. You start to look for things that might go wrong, or that you perceive to go wrong, and you begin to build a little grievance narrative. That is thinking like, “this is just another example of how bad my day is”, or “I have been wronged by the universe”.  

On a more serious scale, some people fall into this thinking on larger issues, and begin to build a case for entitlement to a bad mood or negative outlook. If this thinking is not internally challenged, we can go down the slippery slide of victimhood, anger, and entitlement to lash out at others (or sometimes ourselves). We need to pause, take our thoughts captive and ask, “Is this just my negative thinking at work here? “Are things really as bad as I am telling myself?

Indeed, there are many ways that we can pause and challenge our thinking process. Usually, we can break that negative slide and bring more rational thinking into play. At the very least, we have put a stop to the beginnings of a victim mindset.

This process of “stacking” bad news can happen very subtly, but it can cause problems. We need to learn to take each event that happens on its own, and not build it into a grievance narrative of bad prospects.  

It also helps to look at ourselves with a sense of humor. Nothing like laughing at ourself to bring us back to reality!

Prayer: Lord, give us the nudges to examine our attitudes, Amen

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.                                                                               James 3:13

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts”   

John Wooden – coach and philosopher                                                                                                       

As I was reading this passage from James, I was struck by the timeliness of this ancient wisdom. In a time such as we have in the United States today, there is a need for “humility that comes from wisdom”.

I heard a podcast interview with a scholar today who is noted as a bit of an expert on the causes of the Holocaust. He has done a lot of research, and after much reading, and even insightful exposition of the causes of that horrific exercise of violence and racism, he notes that he still cannot understand all of the immense historical and cultural factors that led up to it.

The interviewer also noted that often, people who have the least information on a subject often portray great confidence and certainty of their own conclusions. That circled me back to the passage for today. James mentioned that only the truly wise person has the humility to know that they don’t know it all.

Albert Einstein, that great, brilliant physicist, admitted that he could not come to terms with some of the ideas of quantum physics, even though he could be considered the “grandfather” of quantum physics. Einstein looked for explanations of the causality of the universe, and he believed that there had to be better explanations than the “uncertainties” that quantum physics requires. He had a quote that he used often- “God did not roll the dice” when he created the universe.

Even Einstein had the humility to know that he did not possess the answers that only God knows. It feels like there is a good lesson there…

Prayer: Lord, gives us wisdom, but first give us humility to use it well, Amen

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.                                                                               James 3:13

“It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts”   

John Wooden – coach and philosopher                                                                                                       

As I was reading this passage from James, I was struck by the timeliness of this ancient wisdom. In a time such as we have in the United States today, there is a need for “humility that comes from wisdom”.

I heard a podcast interview with a scholar today who is noted as a bit of an expert on the causes of the Holocaust. He has done a lot of research, and after much reading, and even insightful exposition of the causes of that horrific exercise of violence and racism, he notes that he still cannot understand all of the immense historical and cultural factors that led up to it.

The interviewer also noted that often, people who have the least information on a subject often portray great confidence and certainty of their own conclusions. That circled me back to the passage for today. James mentioned that only the truly wise person has the humility to know that they don’t know it all.

Albert Einstein, that great, brilliant physicist, admitted that he could not come to terms with some of the ideas of quantum physics, even though he could be considered the “grandfather” of quantum physics. Einstein looked for explanations of the causality of the universe, and he believed that there had to be better explanations than the “uncertainties” that quantum physics requires. He had a quote that he used often- “God did not roll the dice” when he created the universe.

Even Einstein had the humility to know that he did not possess the answers that only God knows. It feels like there is a good lesson there…

Prayer: Lord, gives us wisdom, but first give us humility to use it well, Amen

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.                                                                                                     Philippians 4:8-9 (The Message)

Think back to a time in the summer when you were young and carefree. You had no particular responsibilities, and you were free to do pretty much what you wanted to do- within parental limits of course. Okay, we won’t tell about some of those other times…

My point here is that our memory bank can be just that- a bank to store refreshing memories to be drawn out when needed. We have within us the tools and resources to restore our soul when things get difficult in life. Those memories can serve as little oases to refresh a weary mind. We cannot go back and actually relive those times, but they can remain with us as precious parts of our life.  Those memories can actually change our brain chemistry and improve mood, lower blood pressure, and give us a more positive outlook, even if the respite is only a temporary one.

I am aware that for some people, their childhood may not have contained a lot of those great memories of carefree times. They may have lived in an abusive environment, or perhaps had illnesses that limited those carefree times. But we all can look back to some times in our life that literally can bring a smile to our face as we think of them.  We can use that tool to bring some light into a day that may feel heavy.

I hope your memories can bring that smile…

Prayer: Lord, help us to remember those times in life that restore our soul, Amen.

The second law (of thermodynamics) states that physical systems tend to slide spontaneously and irreversibly toward a state of disorder (a process driven by an increase in entropy)…

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.                                                                                                                                                        I Peter 4:10

It is interesting to me that the laws of physics govern not only the state of matter, but our human condition. Essentially, the Second Law of Thermodynamics states that all things in the universe tend to go to a higher state of entropy (disorder) if left to themselves. If you ever owned a car, or a refrigerator, or a washer- or anything- you know that it will eventually wear out or breakdown. It is a law of the universe. Stuff, like people, eventually wears out and breaks down.

Some people like to quote Murphy’s Law also, which states that “anything that can go wrong will go wrong”. While Murphy’s Law is not a real thing (yes, some would argue that it IS a thing), the Second Law of Thermodynamics is real, and we are governed by it.

I was thinking about this the other day in talking to some clients about their marriage relationship. Unless you do regular maintenance on the relationship, it will start to break down. Relationships are like anything else. One needs to pay attention to them, work on them, nurture them, repair them when they start to fray. If we don’t, they can wear down and eventually fall apart.

Our job is to maintain what we have been given to the best of our ability. Our bodies, our relationships, our possessions- we need to pay attention to them and maintain them as best we can. That is our job as stewards, not owners of all those things.

So, when thinking of important relationships in your life, what kind of maintenance are you needing to do?

Prayer: Lord, you have made us stewards of your creation, help us to maintain those gifts well, Amen.