Tomorrow everything is different

When Jesus came to prepare the hearts of men he was patient and kind.  He was completing a Herculean task, a Savior's task.

Can you imagine Him sitting next to you and saying to you, "What if tomorrow, everything is different?"

What 'different' are you talking about?  Think about the thing you most desire.  The the thing you have desired for as long as you could remember.  Think about what that thing means to you.  What does it mean for the people around you?

What does your heart say it is?

And now, ask the question in a whisper that speaks volumes so loud it can crush mountains.  What if tomorrow, everything is different?

That is what Christ does.  He makes it different.  That desire for the something more is always laced with the truth of love that He has brought into reality on this Earth.  Within our lifetimes, the Christ has made whole what was lost in denial.  Whoever denies love cannot experience the truth.  Our being here, existing within the creation that is ongoing in the hand of the Father, is part of the different.

Because behind every good desire is the will of God the Father.

What does your heart say?

What if tomorrow everything is different?

Annihilation Method for Beginners

This semester I am taking differential equations.  While failing miserably, (there is a slight chance I may pass) I am always seeing the Glory of God in the little things.

The idea of 'zero' has been swirling around in my head for weeks.  There are zeros, and then there are things that equate to zero.  My thoughts on the subject continuously bring me to the fact that if there is zero, then there is also a value yet to be found.

When I align myself with the nothing that we think of as zero compared to our neighbor that we live along side of, or work under the same roof with, then some saints say that is the path to holiness.

In application, rather than a formulation, I am met with both the good and the bad within the human heart.  For example,  a coworker who is generally rude to me on a regular basis, has no reason other than I suspect insecurity.

I have met other people like this before and I tend to ignore them.  Yesterday, she was overtly rude to me after having asked for something that I didn't have.  Like I said, she is always like this toward me and I have mentioned it, but people at work tend to chalk it up to 'that's how she is.'

Here's the cool connection though, if I were to equate myself as zero before her, wouldn't that be a step toward holiness?  The Litany of Humility has that one line that always gets me: 'From the fear of being calumniated, Deliver me Jesus."

This is what I mean.  First, Jesus Christ came to save, but to do that He had to change perception of what it was to be just and what it was to truly love thy neighbor.  How must I approach someone who holds on to anger?

Well first I will look to the saints such as Saint Theresa of Calcutta, Saint Lazarus, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.  Forgive and love.

There lies the value found within the expression of man equaling zero before others.  In solving math, we must first find the zero sum before we can find the particular value.  How amusing is it that in mathematics, the Glory of God can be found in something that is nothing first?  To me, it's wonderfully delightful.  Ad Glorium Dei

Magnitude of Faith

What is the magnitude of faith?

Is magnitude a capacity of reach or an extent of which it reaches?  How many factors are included? Can be included?  If magnitude was measure of faith, which factors and cofactors might we include?

http://bit.ly/2et6lmP

Magnitude is as the racing of a child's mind desiring to know. Magnitude could be the subjective worth of a dollar bill not to the poor in America, but to the poor in Bangladesh. Or think of magnitude as the molecular benefit of water to both living and nonliving things on Earth.

Their are so many components to understand what this adjective may be in regards to faith.  I was only just thinking of it while doing math homework. A.G.D.

St Therese

Thank you St Therese for your sanctity.  https://youtu.be/4CNGTddq9pY

Blueberry Pancakes on a Stick

To God be all glory.

I found myself completing a crossword puzzle yesterday. It was something new to me because I've never had the patience to sit and think about the clues. But I have found myself  changing into what I need to be at this time. God is calling me to be a puzzle solver.

I am moving at a snails pace toward an engineering degree. All the science is really cool. But I find myself still, totally enamored of God's love.  Jesus doesn't just call good people. He calls everybody.  All the time He is calling.

He is calling hearts. He is calling minds. He is calling for self control and physical sacrifice as well.  What a great and Gloriuos God who created mitochondria to calculus.  He is the greater, higher thinker.

At some point, a person was inspired to make a sausage stick covered in blueberry pancake batter. How awesome is that??!

It seems trivial, but Jesus calls the hearts and minds of all types to be great.

Poem for a Louisiana flood

Cast away my fear, cast away my doubt.
Draw me to your shores of everlasting love.
Water rises at my foundation even as I think it's strong.
Carry me through the waters.
Hold me high above the flood.
Though my actions bring me below,
let faith lift me even though.
You are the first and the last
The hope and the rainbow of the world.
Father your promise gives me courage.
Jesus, your love keeps me whole.
Raise me from my worry and sin,
Spirit cover me as morning dew,
A bud yearning to soar.
Cast away my fear, cast away my doubt.
And when the new day dawns,
Find me here below, coming toward you evermore
As though I'd never been without.

The Great Small Step

What a busy summer it has been.  I am now making last ditch efforts to complete projects and prep for the new school year. How does one determine what is important and will make the most difference?
One thing I have been working on this summer is to leave each encounter with some love both from me in actions and in mind. It's hard when human emotion is such a temperamental beast.  One encounter upset me because the person was in a state of anger from the offset and wanted to take it out on me.  But after giving it some thought I realized again that our reactions often occur as an act of 'expected' treatment from others.
The small thing, of loving other people even if you don't like them very much, sets your own heart free.
Life is all about people anyway.  If you try enough times to act with love in your heart then you eventually figure it out.

Love never fails

Ephesians 4: 1-6

1	I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called,
2	with all lowliness and meekness, with patience, forbearing one another in love,
3	eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4	There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call,
5	one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
6	one God and Father of us all, who is above all and through all and in all.

One failure in life that must be overcome on a daily basis, is the fleeting thought to not care.  Of course we have met and know people who practice the opposite. It falls on those that do, to shine a bright light of love.  Love is a super power.  

Not only is it protective armor on the outside, it is also an inner beakon calling all different types to you.  This is one of the reasons it is so important to do the daily little things to know Jesus.  People want Jesus in their life because He calls to their soul as part of the salvation of the world. Good and bad he calls. The effort to form ourselves as Christlike as we are limited, draws people to us.

It takes practice, as most things do,  to encounter individuals with love.  The problem of self, human error and emotion are a drawback.  But God exudes love in the Holy Spirit who allows all the grace we need for every situation.

You have this super power. Pray, pray,pray for more ability to love and forgive. Love never fails when you truly seek to love.

Few and far between

Every now and then I get a 'friendly' reminder that I am not like other people. It comes in the form of "I should do this" or "I'm too that".
Most recently, someone made a comment that I should socialize more at work. As a practicing Christian, I am very selective of who I spend my extra time with. I think this is a super good thing.  There is a spiritual battle going on 24/7 and any little bit I can do to fight it, I will.  Besides the fact, I like to work at work.
While we are also called as Christians to love thy neighbor,  you can usually tell if your neighbor wants to be friends pretty quickly. I can't say I haven't tried at least!!

Prayers for Atheists and Fly-Fishermen

As I have already mentioned, I have begun the journey of 'fishing'.  Not, sport of fishing, past time of fishing, or hobby of fishing. Journey.

There is so much Joy!! in it.  I caught three different trees today and my line at least 5 times.  My casting improved and my mindset changed to one of determination, until it became past lunch time...

I realized there are so many mistakes you can make in fishing as you go and it doesn't hurt you or anyone else.  The mistakes are not something looming ahead like a shadow.  They just happen.  This may sound crazy to some of you, but I guess I have come to know a certain amount of failure.  Most of the time my failure has to do with personal interactions and the expectations others hold about me.
Though I worry about it to some degree, I have never been one to want to meet other people's expectations.  Also I hold others to a high expectation, so it's a catch-22.  In fishing, there is no one to please but yourself and no expectations of what may come.  It's all a surprise.

In the scripture, the disciples go back to what they know after Christ has been crucified.  They are fishing when He calls to them on shore as they were when he called them to be disciples.  The truth that he brings though is that He is the peace that they seek.  But their willingness to search is part of the movement that is required of us to not be mediocre.  Learning and practicing a new 'talent' is one way to actively engage in the beauty that God has created for us.

I have been so grateful for my health.  It is such a gift, therefore I want to use that gift in a way that I can glorify God.  My arms work and I love being outside, so I will fish as long as I am able.  I am still learning to walk so to speak, so my journey with this talent is brand new.   It is exciting nonetheless and a newly discovered life's treasure.

Prayer for an Atheist and a Fly-Fishermen

Lord, if you want me to see
Let me find you in the shadows.
Let me recognize the ripple on the surface.
Let me try again and again to seek what is unknown.
Do not forsake a fool who hopes in the smallest fly.
For you are the great Creator.
You have cast your hand in all of these
Lakes, rivers and oceans.
Rise up like the morning sun and show me
Where to find you past the dawn and dusk.
Amen.

What the day brings

    You never know what the day will bring. Especially a Monday. It is certain that you can never assume what you do not, can not know.
    Interaction example one: Offering help to a deaf person's back does not allow you to think their rude for not listening. Interaction number two: listening to complaints with a smile is an interesting part of the job. But I have learned over the years that a smile diffuses most things politely if not succinctly. That person doesn't know the inner working of hearts they feel they have been offended by. And that is okay too. We all have those days.
   Lesson learned or remembered: pridefulness is a barrier to happiness. Imagine loving a stranger enough to forgo pride. Quite grand and hard to do. It's all in the little things we are able to let go of.
   Most importantly, finding random jelly beans is always delightful! It was sunshine yellow after all!

Doctor Who and Clara Holy Thursday Reflection

"Four and half billion years, why would you even do that?" Clara's Doctor Who is a literary figure of proportions so far greater than what humanity is capable of.

Somehow, Clara's Doctor Who gives me hope.  Both Clara and number 12/13 embody selflessness at points in their timeline.  The act of giving up one's freedom for a known or unknown death is a storyline created by Christ himself.

Whether these or previous writers knew it, the desire of the intellect to explain such a selfless act is always intuitive.  There is more that we cannot see with our limited intellect.

Maybe that is why people cannot wrap their minds around the selfless act of the Son of God who died to save our immortal souls.  Our intuition, if fostered, can see beyond the tracing that is left of the vision of the Cross.  Intuition is more than made up nonsense because it is the longing of the soul to be whole again.

In the tv shows, we eventually see the end of the story or the end of the season and sometimes it goes the full circle giving explanation where needed.  So you can see how an act of self sacrifice is in fact an act of freedom and love.

Christ is Himself, freedom and love.  He is the full circle.  Therefore the intuition, the intellect, the story of salvation are all founded in the selfless act of a God made man.  Man hasn't even existed for four and a half billion years.  Can you imagine if it would?  Jesus Christ's sacrifice would still extend beyond that time as both the beginning and the end of freedom and love.  You are free when you give up you.

Hope and Constancy

"Constancy in effort consists in struggling and suffering to the end, without yielding to weariness, discouragement, or indolence." 1093 The Spiritual Life

Tanquerey paints a vivid ideal for moral virtue. Climbing a trenchant divide is what we actually live.  On the one hand, we are encouraged by the good fight.  On the other is the promise of great grace waiting to be poured upon those who wait in the stillness.

I would say, out of constancy, only to pray. Pray to be still. Pray to act. Pray to hope.

A white martyrdom helps no one if it is done with anger. Therefore, pray and hope.

Questions

There is a science and an art to the stroke of the fly fisherman's cast.  The goal is to imitate both the randomness and consistency of the prey.  As humans, our clumsy cast can fly far astray or be so meager that it will net very little.  There in lies the struggle we set for ourselves to find the inbetween to imitate the art of nature, the art of God.

As we move along this journey, some things do come easier.  But maybe they don't. Maybe we just learn to let the line ride the wind or be weighted by the current. There is always the unexpected in the fervor and concentration of doing it right.  Preparation and asking questions leads to further wisdom. You just have to keep asking.