Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Love for God
Common men talk bagfuls of religion but act not a grain of it, while the wise man speaks little, but his whole life is a religion acted out.
If I hold up this cloth before me, you will not see me any more, though I shall be as near you. So also God is nearer to you than anything else, yet because of the screen of egoism you cannot see him.
If you fill an earthen vessel with water and set it apart upon a shelf, the water in it will dry up in a few days; but if you place the same vessel immersed in water, it will remain filled as long as it is kept there. Even so is the case of your love for the Lord God. Fill and enrich your bosom with the love of God for a time and then enjoy yourself in other affairs, forgetting him all the while, and then you are sure to find within a short time what your heart has become poor and vacant and devoid of that precious love. But if you keep your heart immersed always in the ocean of divine love, your heart is sure to remain ever full to overflowing with the water of divine love.
From the woks of Sri Ramakrishna, "Many Paths to the One God" Hindu Scriptures
If I hold up this cloth before me, you will not see me any more, though I shall be as near you. So also God is nearer to you than anything else, yet because of the screen of egoism you cannot see him.
If you fill an earthen vessel with water and set it apart upon a shelf, the water in it will dry up in a few days; but if you place the same vessel immersed in water, it will remain filled as long as it is kept there. Even so is the case of your love for the Lord God. Fill and enrich your bosom with the love of God for a time and then enjoy yourself in other affairs, forgetting him all the while, and then you are sure to find within a short time what your heart has become poor and vacant and devoid of that precious love. But if you keep your heart immersed always in the ocean of divine love, your heart is sure to remain ever full to overflowing with the water of divine love.
From the woks of Sri Ramakrishna, "Many Paths to the One God" Hindu Scriptures
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Growing Old
As I grow old, I ponder life. I now have wrinkles, and I can feel, when the weather is cold enough, that I will one day inherit my mom's arthritis. These signs are not the sad oncoming of ending life that I once thought they would be. All the world screams that to be old is not a life at all, but as I get older, get married, and look to life in the next stage, I realize that the joys are as sweet as childhood. The experiences are different. I no longer can stand on my roller skates and wonder how I will look when I am an adult, but I get to look into the face of a person that loves me like I never thought anyone could. The challenges are different, but just as hard. God is just as near. Growing old is a great time be alive; just as good as growing up. The romantification of youth is overrated, and, I am finding, one of the most wonderfully surprising false messages that we receive.
One of the new challenges that I must face is the tendency of people my age to lock into a set of beliefs. We grow up and as a part of that process experience things and draw conclusions from those experiences. Some of those experiences are good and so we may start to believe good and right things; such as the existence of a good God. However, these believes as locked beliefs are just as dangerous as the opposite beliefs if they are also locked. I had a moment this morning, sitting in my kitchen, where I realized that I could decide to believe something that was not true and live a fine life always believing this. At that moment God came to me and reminded me that he is my Lord. God is Lord of someone when they realize that who they are is not defined by a set of believes that tells something about their experiences, but rather when they recognize that they are someone only in relation to a surprising, dynamic God that we just can't seem to pin down. The comfort of understanding yourself with a set of locked beliefs is great. God, however, calls us to truth. I want to be who I am to God. Since God is not a relation that you can nail down, I am excited about the next phase of our relationship, where I will get to experience him in time and space, and grow to know and love him more as he continues to show me who I am. Thank God for life, and for the gift of growing old.
One of the new challenges that I must face is the tendency of people my age to lock into a set of beliefs. We grow up and as a part of that process experience things and draw conclusions from those experiences. Some of those experiences are good and so we may start to believe good and right things; such as the existence of a good God. However, these believes as locked beliefs are just as dangerous as the opposite beliefs if they are also locked. I had a moment this morning, sitting in my kitchen, where I realized that I could decide to believe something that was not true and live a fine life always believing this. At that moment God came to me and reminded me that he is my Lord. God is Lord of someone when they realize that who they are is not defined by a set of believes that tells something about their experiences, but rather when they recognize that they are someone only in relation to a surprising, dynamic God that we just can't seem to pin down. The comfort of understanding yourself with a set of locked beliefs is great. God, however, calls us to truth. I want to be who I am to God. Since God is not a relation that you can nail down, I am excited about the next phase of our relationship, where I will get to experience him in time and space, and grow to know and love him more as he continues to show me who I am. Thank God for life, and for the gift of growing old.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Admittation
I don't always see who you are becoming
I often interrupt you with who I have composed you to be
I don't see your softness
When you see mine
I miss opportunities to do right; be right; speak right
But you love me
And you help me heal
And you are a gift
God said he is extravagant
I'm pretty sure
God went to all of this so I can really start to know how he loves me
How redonculous he is
He is so extreme
He comes to us in our most intimate needs and desires
And lives here with us
By this we know who he is
And it turn who we are
By his stripes we are healed
I want to see who you are becoming
I don't want to interrupt you anymore
I want to see every contour of your softness
And how you see me
So that I will come to you
Like he came to me through you
I often interrupt you with who I have composed you to be
I don't see your softness
When you see mine
I miss opportunities to do right; be right; speak right
But you love me
And you help me heal
And you are a gift
God said he is extravagant
I'm pretty sure
God went to all of this so I can really start to know how he loves me
How redonculous he is
He is so extreme
He comes to us in our most intimate needs and desires
And lives here with us
By this we know who he is
And it turn who we are
By his stripes we are healed
I want to see who you are becoming
I don't want to interrupt you anymore
I want to see every contour of your softness
And how you see me
So that I will come to you
Like he came to me through you
