paravanes:meditations

"If anyone wishes to be a follower of mine, he must leave self behind."--Matthew 16:24 From A Lamp For My Feet , by Elisabeth Elliott: "What does this mean? Are these mere words? How can one leave self behind, make himself nothing? The answer will not come in a vacuum. If a man or woman honestly wishes to be a follower, the opportunity will present itself. Christ will say, 'Here is your chance. Now, in this s ituation, you must make your choice. Will it be self? Or will you choose Me?' "

Atheism is like looking for a black c a t in a room that is dark because you refuse to turn on the light---while yelling "There is no such thing as light!"

Am I a giver, or an exchanger? Reciprocity is important, but there are times of sheer giving. I give without focus on what I will obtain from the receiver. When I share with thoughts of reciprocity, I am exchanging. How much giving do I practice? How much exchanging do I practice? Have I found the balance that makes life sweet?

Here is wisdom from Joan Chittister's book Scarred by Struggle : Transformed by Hope. "Struggle is always an invitation to a new life that, the longer it is resisted, the longer we fail to become who we are really meant to be. The stories of people trapped in the past--the ones for whom the story of their past struggles has become the story of their present grief, their living anger, their unfinished definitions of themselves--are the stories of people who were never able to complete the cycle of liberation, the odyssey of hope." Let God lead you through to the other side. Dare to complete the cycle. You will not walk alone. Why the struggle? So that you may live as a free person, unbound by the injuries and failures of the past.

Give the greatest value to the time of preparation and training. Give it your all. Do not rush. This is the time that makes all other things possible.