paravanes:meditations

  (c) Deborah Evans Sometimes, the past must be put aside before you can look upward and look forward. The past cannot be erased. The past is part of your history and your identity. Just as the histories of nations and organizations cannot be erased, your personal history cannot be erased. Our histories and past decisions have created our current life experiences. If we don't like where we are, we can choose regret or repentance. That decision is yours to make. That decision determines if your past becomes a curse or a blessed lesson. Regret is a useless pursuit, one that blocks you from seeing present or future options and opportunities. Regret is a backward looking action, one that doesn't give you room to learn from mistakes or help and guide others on a forward path. Repentance, on the other hand, allows you to see what is true, what actually happened, find or give or accept forgiveness, and examine why things are the way they are. Repentance is the acceptance of mistakes m...

Me: "Why did I"? "I wish I had not..." "What was I thinking?" "I was such a fool to have..." Jesus: "Regretful  and repentant? Let's begin again today,  here,  and now." "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life," -- Jesus Christ, in the Gospel of John, 8:12.

Do I want the deepest corners of my mind and of my imagination opened to God's holy light?

"Do you think that I like to see wicked people die? says the Sovereign LORD. Of course not! I want them to turn from their wicked ways and live." --Ezekiel 18:38 (New Living Translation) There is an element in the Christian community that seems to enjoy the idea of the "wicked" suffering, dying, and receiving divine judgment and retribution. You may have seen or heard the broadcasts featuring preachers gleefully threatening lost souls with fire, brimstone, and dancing devils. Their theme seems to be "I'm so glad I'm not you! You've got it coming!!" That thinking is not aligned with God's thinking. There is a part of us that always wants goodness to prevail and carry the day. We want "badness" (however we define it) to fail. That makes sense.  We must, however, separate that wish from the desire to see people fail, experience doom and divine judgment, and remain forever separated from God. As we become more matu...

There is so much pain in the world. For those of us who enjoy relative peace, safety, and security, it may be easy to ignore or forget how many of Earth’s inhabitants are constantly hungry, constantly seeking clean water, constantly escaping wars and armed conflicts, or enduring extreme poverty. On a daily basis, we may not think of those without access to the written word, health care, or a safe place to sleep. The Christian tradition teaches humanity’s ills are a result of humanity’s “fall” from innocence. Innocence was the lack of knowledge of evil. This is not the same as knowing about evil. “Knowing” evil is experiencing it as a part of the self. In an undated, ancient time in the beginning of human history, a decision was made by those first inhabitants of Earth. They decided to live apart from the protection of God’s guidelines. We, their descendants, inherited that tendency, just as we inherited our other characteristics. Despite the best efforts of those who ...

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new Earth, for the first heaven and the first Earth had passed away..." Revelation 21:2 Throughout the gospels, Jesus tells his listeners and followers the Kingdom of Heaven is within them; He tells them how worthy they are of God's love---describing it in this way: 4] "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? [5] And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders [6] and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' [7] I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. [8] "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she fi...