DIETING IN THE SPIRIT

I am trying to diet.  I have been fairly consistent in my efforts to loses some excess poundage.  It isn't easy and after a few days of staying true to the diet,  the craving set in.  I wish I had some chocolate and a lot of starches.  I am a person who likes good, flavorful food.  Maybe not a lot of it, but enough to satisfy the sweet tooth that I have and some "comfort food."  I am not obese...but I am not thin either.  And my main reason for wishing and working to lose weight is for a healthier me.  I already can detect the difference, but the scales need a new battery.


You might compare dieting with religion or growing in the spirit.  It takes some forethought, planning, discipline and a continuous follow-up.  It is analogous to "feeding the fire" on a cold winter's night.  You must be vigilant and not let the fire go out, but stoke the embers to keep it burning.  There is nothing worse than cold ashes on a winter morning.  It is pretty much the same with religion or a personal spirituality.  Often we let the fire go out.


I know lots of people who claim to be Christians and to be religious...I bet that you do, too.  Yet, they may not practice their religion, have little spirituality within, or even acknowledge that there is a God or a higher power than themselves.  They count on themselves rather than God.  Who do you count on?


I count on God, my Creator, pray daily and pray the Rosary each and every day.  That may sound like I am bragging, but I also wonder as I attend to my spiritual garden...if I am just giving "lip service" and pray that I am not.  I know that I am "nobody," but pray that I am God's somebody.  Like dieting...I will have to wait to see the results and every once in a while I will need to change the battery in the scales of time. 


I make reference to a "spiritual garden" because I...we... need to constantly weed, nurture, and remove the debris' from our daily lives.  A little spiritual "growth hormone" wouldn't hurt either. 


It took about an hour to remove the ice and snow from the van so that I will be able to get to Mass in the morning.  I really am not fond of this long, cold winter, but it is what we have been given so why complain.  At the same time I keep in mind that while Jesus walked on water...I can not walk on ice....and tread very carefully.

END

p.s.

I still want chocolate!

PREDATORS ARE WE

We are predators...like it or not...we are predators.  Think about it for just a minute.  We are not omnivores.  Omnivores  have eyes located to the general side of their heads so that they can see what is coming and what is around them.  Cows and most of the creations of the "The Animal Kingdom" have this trait; their eyes are situated more to the sides of their heads.  We, of the human race, have the eyes of a predator.  Our eyes are forward and straight ahead so that we can see prey  we want to capture, run it down, kill and devour it.  This can be done in so many ways, if not literally.


God did not create us to be general predators, but we are.  He made Adam and Eve and placed them in the Garden where they had all that they needed.  He also gave them free will to make good or bad decisions.  And  they and we did ; did we ever!  Along came the ssssss to encourage and disrupt the plan of God, who created us to love and adore Him.  So, God tossed us out, evicted us from the Garden of Eden, for not paying the rent, thus we became "homeless people" to wander the face of the earth.  To make a bad situation worse...Cain killed his brother Abel.  Brotherly love of a predator with eyes up front and a jealous heart. 


With free will we became the predators that we are.  We have a tendency to prey and dominate the weaker or more docile of God's people.  While this may not apply to all nations and people, even God's "Chosen People" have shown the weakness of being predators.  Life goes on and so do wars.


You don't need a reservation for Hell: Check in anytime.  Your will need to call ahead and reserve your suite in Paradise.  The rooms are of premium value.  Everyone wants one, but not everyone wants to y the price up front.  Do you have a Gold Master Card?  Or do you have a Bank of Purgatory plastic?  Perhaps you carry the Hell card with high interest from the Fallen Angel Bank?


Well, chose to be a predator, if you wish.  The world is full of such, that roam the world causing pain and mayhem.  You will never be lonely when you check out and into your hot accommodations  and don't expect air conditioning.  Joining you is not my plains, but who knows.  The only thing that I can say is that I try not to be part of the herd that is falling over the cliff.  I hope everyone is making an effort to avoid being a predator of the human kind.


Most wars, personal conflicts and dedicated human sufferings are cause by predators that want what someone else has; land, minerals, food or a need to control or dominate.  Think about it.  Where are you eyes located?


Well...so it goes.        END

Dreams

Last night or early morning I had a strange dream.  I won't detail the dream.  I will only say that it was not a bad or immoral dream. I was with people that I have never met or seen before.  All in all...it was a "good" dream.


We all dream even if we can not remember our dreams.  I usually don't.  We must dream; we were made to dream.


For me to define a dream, I see it as our deep aspirations, inspirations, defining moments, when we are in a deep sleep. Sleep Doctors will have all kinds of explanations,  theories  and scientific terms for dreams.  I am sure that for the most part they may be right.  However, I tend to believe that many dreams come from a higher or spiritual level.  We generally think that dreams are just a kind of neural synapse of random firings of past, present or anticipated events.  Maybe so, for the most part.  Maybe not so random.


I also believe that dreams can often be healing and reparational,  can and do take us to a higher elevation of conciseness in our daily lives.  I think day dreams are productive as well, as long as we control and direct them.  After all, we can't day dream all our time away, have our brains on stall or idle.  Might be fun for a bit, but then it is time to get busy and make our mental meanderings fruitful.


I think that our dreams can take us to our creator in a unique way.  I don't understand it, but we have all experienced it in some way, at one time or another, and that we should listen to our dreams to the best of our ability.


Yes, we can control and direct our dreams to a certain degree by what we read, see, hear or think before going to sleep at night.  Hopefully, most of us will want to control our dreams in positive ways.  However, my dream of last night was a dream from "out of the blue" and I can't explain it: I won't try, but just accept it.


I have written this post as simply as I could.  Not everything can be analyzed or explained.  Feel free to comment or offer insights.


Just to add: It is cold and I don't like it.  I am sure there are lots and lots of people that think the same way.  I am ready for some spring-like weather or at least some "normal winter weather."

END

"never go to bed angry"

WORKING THROUGH IT

Last eve. I did not get home until after midnight.  After the Sisters left upon selling the home, things have changed very quickly and the home is  becoming very secular and "non denominational."  The residents of the home didn't have a very Christian oriented Christmas.




A friend and I tried to make up for it by giving them a very big party with lots of presents and pizza.  My friend did a lot of cooking as well, and had baked several pies, and lots of appetizers. I didn't get as much done as I wanted because previously I "slid" on the ice on my front steps.  One step caught me right across the lower lumber area.  So, my transmission was out of commission.  I did more sitting than moving around because when your gears are not "meshing" in the right manner...well, your little engine kind of sputters along.  I was not hitting on all cylinders.


I did manage to get five dozen deviled eggs done and some presents wrapped.  The deviled eggs seem to go over well.  It looked like Christmas in January.  The residents were overfed and happy.


Back to my misadventure on the ice on the front steps; I had taken 1/2 a pain killer before the party, thinking it would it would see me through the eve.  It didn't.  I took a whole tab when I got home and slept through the night.  I still have some low lumbar pain, but I plan on staying off my feet as much as possible.  I do not like ice!  But that is life.  It is full of little ups and downs.  I offer up my achy bottom for all the deep sufferings and pains of all God's people.

END

Rock

Are you a rock?  Do you want to be?  I want to be a rock, solid and unmoving in my faith.  You should desire to be a rock, also.  Not like Peter, whom Jesus said, "Upon this rock I build my church," but as a foundational stone that keeps the Church from sagging, level and true.  I want to be that kind of rock, faithful and filled with the Holy Spirit.


I am not made of granite.  Few of us are, but we are all called to be, through our baptism.  As you know from your Bible, "many are called, but few are chosen."   How we answer the call is though our free will.  How we chose is often of our own interpretation of the "little voice" whispering in our ears. 


When Jesus was walking along the lake shore He called out to Peter and the apostles, "Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men."  He is calling and is asking us-all of us, "to follow Him."  Well, I am not much of a fisher person so I try to be a good rock.  A good, sturdy rock can be a good pier from which a good fisher person can cast a net or line and perhaps reel in a nice catch or two. 


I know lots of people that think and claim to be rocks-AKA-good Christians.  Many lay claim to the ideal of Christianity, but do not really live the life as a follower of Jesus.  You know the term "lip service" or mediocrity at best.  I will not say I don't fall into these categories, because we seldom know our inner selves and don't make very good judges of who and what we are.  Don't worry, someone will come along and judge me...for me.


To be a Christian we should be Christians of good works as well as people of prayer...as well as attending Services weekly or more often.  We don't need to advertise our good works or pat ourselves on the back, seeking to be admired and lauded. The only opinion and judgement that counts is that of Our Lord and Creator. 


So...I would like to be a rock; neither moved by wind or time or the whims of man; a foundational stone that is not set on sand.  I know; you will tell me that even the greatest of rocks will wear and erode through the eons of time.  It doesn't matter.  I want to be a rock in OUR times for I, in the physical sense, will be replaced by another solid stone.

END 

"THE JOY OF THE LORD IS MY STRENGTH

Do you have joy in your Love for the Lord?  Do you show it?


It must have been a joyful time for the child Jesus to be in the presence of the great teachers and Rabies of the temple when He was "about His Father's business.  It must have been equally joyful when His parents, Mary and Joseph found Him, collard Him and took Him home.  Do you think they didn't "collar" Him?  Well, if they did...I'll bet that they did it with joy as most parents might.


Jesus showed His joy when he turned water into wine at the wedding at Cannon.  His mother did not force Him to do so or hit Him over the head with an empty wine flagon.  No, for a wedding is a joyous occasion and Jesus wanted to be there and share the gift of joy with His family and friends.
 
There must have been great joy when Lazarus was raised from the dead.  There must have been joy when Jesus shared the bread and wine with His companions at the last supper.  You would not think so since He had full knowledge of what was to come, but I believe there was joy in the acceptance of His father's will.  As with a mother who is in labor accepts the pain of labor...she also knows the pains that will prevail before the joy of birth.


If you can equate human emotions to the resurrection and the ascension...Jesus must have had the wonderful experience of joy and glorification of the uncorrupted Risen Christ.


We, His people, can and do feel and share a small essence of joy, but we are not yet ready for the full measure of the joy that is to come, not in this life, but in the presence of the Lord.  We also feel to some minute degree, the pain and anguish that Christ felt when nailed and dying on the cross as our earthly lives are not free of sickness, pain or suffering...some more than others. It must have been  a joy that the one of the robber/thieves on another cross, that day, repented his sins, and Jesus assured him that that day he would see his Father in heaven.


There are all kinds of joys, big small, some so apparently insignificant that you or I would hardly notice such a fleeting passing moment.  Everything is not big or super sized.  You have heard the expression, "Little things mean a lot," and that "Good things come in small packages."
So it is.


The point is: Look for things and people to be joyful for.  You will find joy if you seek it out.  Spread the joy that you are given as it is a gift to be shared.  Share the joy and you will be sharing Christ's love as well.


I could go on, but you get the message.  Don't you?

END

I re-opened my blog to comments.  I had kept it closed for a long time due to spam trying to sell drugs through the comment postings.  No more spam, please.  Thank you.