Friday, August 2, 2013

devotional thoughts Week of Aug.11

Sunday-Ps.107 has some verses listed for today. It starts the last section of the psalter.It repeats calling on the name of god in times of distress and trouble, but it also sees affliction as a sign from God as well as deliverance. If you agree with this view of the divine. How does it square with the reality of Jesus Christ? If you don’t., then how do you view hte power of God in our age?

Monday I was talking to someone making an important choice, and she made a distinction between deciding and discerning. to her deciding has an ultimate, either-or position to it, and it is done with a paucity of time and information.discernment first take time. Second, it tries to include prayer and prayerful reflection to seek the will of God. third, it does not see a decision as irrevocable but capable of being revisited. It is a sophisticated process to seek the guidance of God through our very human capacities.

Tuesday-”To see reality—not as we expect it to be but as it is—is to see that unless we live for each other and in and through each other, we do not really live very satisfactorily; that there can really be life only where there really is, in just this sense, love.”-Frederick Buechner-Where does this quote affirm or challenge your view of spiritual insight, especially in regard to indiviudal angles on the spiritual?

Wednesday is Hiroshima Day.-I continue to struggle with this day, but more so Nagasaki three days later. i do understand the rationale that the first atomic blast would save us from an invasion of Japan, but I am unable to grasp the import of the Nagasaki blast so soon afterward.It strikes me as a powerful evil, and one that highlights our being bound to political sins as citizens. We are entangled, enmeshed in the political history and impact of political decisions.

Thursday-I heard the phrase again,”taking something for granted.” I just heard someone use it for the gift of time and life itself. My thoughts flashed to the cneter of hte book of Lamentations:’Your mercies are new every morning.” Every morning we have is indeed a gift that comes without our determination to wake. Each breath is a connection to God’s spirit of life.

Friday“Love allows understanding to dawn, and understanding is precious. Where you are understood, you are at home. Understanding nourishes belonging. When you really feel understood, you feel free to release yourself into the trust and shelter of the other person's soul.” I’ve been reading a bit of a flowery writer, John O’Donahue. This quote is from Anam Cara (Soul friend).

Saturday-NPR’s Scott simon recently sent out a remarkable set of postings on twitter, where his one million followers witnessed his brief thoughts on keeping vigil at his dying mother’s bedside in the hospital. They spoke and held hands. they sange old songs and watched a ball game together.It seems to me to be a prescription for a good death, but also guidance for those of us keeping prayerful vigil in the holy place of impending death, as we wait for hte holy moment of transition form one plane of existence to the next.

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