As we begin Lent this Ash Wednesday, I’m reminded what a contrast this waiting period makes against Advent with all its festivities and merriment. Many traditions recommend giving up something during this period – a kind of antidote to the indulgences of the run-up to Christmas.
Since it’s never been part of…..
While looking for inspiration this week I decided to open the Bible randomly and see what turned up. I came to Psalm 77:11-12 (The Message):
Once again I’ll go over what God has done,
Lay out on the table the ancient wonders;
I’ll ponder all the things you’ve accomplished,
And give…..
In honor of Valentine’s Day, a love poem
If I had known before,
What I know now,
Could I have saved myself
From loving you?
For loving you has cost me much;
More than I thought I had to spend.
I was so young and starry-eyed
When first we…..
We know that God listens but we also know that we can’t make the Lord do something for us. Often when a prayer we say isn’t granted we discover that God helps us nonetheless, in a way we hadn’t expected. But we can’t help wondering …
Do we ever change God’s…..
Does it matter what we pray for?
Do I have a right to ask something of God when I already enjoy so many blessings? Am I somehow becoming greedy when I pray for something for myself? Isn’t it silly to request small favors from God when so many big problems loom over our world?
Pious…..
When Harry Potter studies spell making at Hogwarts, he has to get the words right. Incantations don’t work unless pronounced precisely. Yet, for all the effort of perfecting this art, the young wizard or witch harnesses real power. No wonder “magic” has seduced human imagination from ancient folklore to modern day…..
Once we’ve committed to pursuing the “musts” in our life and acknowledged that we can’t do them without God’s input, our next step involves figuring our how to ask for that help. In other words, we can’t go forward without engaging in prayer. But, it turns out that most of us feel at a loss…..
Last week I talked about choosing the internal “musts” over the external “shoulds” that vie for our time and treasure, but is that always a viable choice?
Philosopher Immanuel Kant’s asserted: “ought implies can,” meaning that if someone – God, society, etc. – places a moral imperative on us,…..
At a critical juncture in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, the title character has to decide once and for all whether to do the socially correct thing and turn in Jim, his traveling companion, or to, in his own words, “go to Hell” for the crime of assisting a runaway…..
I’m tired after Christmas. For those of us who take a primary role in orchestrating the holiday festivities, the Christmas aftermath arrives with a backorder of fatigue.
When I was younger, I often got sick by January – a clear sign that I wasn’t managing the workload as well…..