Just a few hours ago, Thanksgiving 2009 ended on the East Coast of the United States. I cooked a turkey breast and made dinner and was thankful I was able to facilitate my wife resting today.
I received and sent text messages to friends and I was thankful that I have friends that I am willing to text. This sounds simple but the idea that I would be bothering them and they would not want to hear from me has a strong hold with me.
I am thankful for blogging. For some reason, despite my desire to guard myself, writing my innermost feelings and putting them on the web makes me feel good. Go figure. I call it the boiling over effect. When you try to contain yourself all the time, at some point one of the walls will break.
I am thankful for the people with whom I work. I work with some talented and caring people who want to do a good job and want to find a balance in their lives.
I have been blessed to befriend some people that I truly love over the years. I do not give hugs very often but if looks could hug then I would forever be in someone's embrace.
I am thankful for family that take my call even when I have not called in a while.
I am thankful for the Sandra's of the world.
There are people who 'get' or 'got' me; there are people who did not 'get me' but accept me; and there are people who just love me. The saying goes "It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all". I agree with that. My question to neighbor Jesus is why is it so hard to tell someone you love them? Why is it so confusing to love someone? Why is it that when we talk about love many times we are only talking about romantic love? Romantic love is not even singular love but a faceted love yet we talk about it like we all experience it the same way. We talk about falling out of and in love but I do not think I have ever really fallen out of love. My love changes but at a core level I still love all the people I have loved.
I am thankful for hard times and good times because hard times and remembering them make the good times something to cherish all the more.
I am thankful for introspection and inquisitiveness. I am both introspective and inquisitive why not be happy about it.
I am thankful for laughter. I love laughter and I love watching people laugh.
I am thankful for everything I forgot to be thankful for in this post.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Motivated by thoughts of sitting next to Jesus
This is an odd direction to go with this but one of the reasons I do not believe in the death penalty is redemption and another reason is two wrongs do not make a right. I believe that there are those criminals who really should be permanently removed from society via incarceration but not from the planet at least by the hand of justice. One of the arguments I have heard is "...how would you feel if someone killed or brutalized a loved one?". Well, if that happened I would want retribution but that is precisely why I as the aggrieved should not decide the punishment. Pain will cause the best of us to do things far beyond what we ever could imagine. In some cases, going beyond results in saving a life, our own or someone else's. In other cases, we may exact a suitable revenge.
In some ways, I pretend to follow moral relativity but in reality most issues of morality are clear cut. Lying even to spare someone's feelings feels wrong but so does hurting someone's feelings. I believe that infidelity is wrong even in a "loveless" or probably more appropriate broken beyond repair marriage or relationship. I think killing is wrong. I think as humans our core knows it is wrong even when "justified". I cannot imagine taking the life of another however, I do fear being angry enough to do so. I feel that if my family were threatened I might be possible of such things and just that thought alone scares me. I admire strength in all its forms will, body, mind, etc. I love displays of strength. I like to watch strongest man competitions on ESPN or bodybuilding or weight lifting. I rarely satisfied with my own physical strength I like to push myself. I do not admire the strength or will to kill. I think for average humans it takes a lot to kill but I think it can take even more to spare or save someone. I am drawn to superheroes more because they have the will to act and put themselves in harm's way for the sake others far more than their superhuman abilities.
In some ways, I pretend to follow moral relativity but in reality most issues of morality are clear cut. Lying even to spare someone's feelings feels wrong but so does hurting someone's feelings. I believe that infidelity is wrong even in a "loveless" or probably more appropriate broken beyond repair marriage or relationship. I think killing is wrong. I think as humans our core knows it is wrong even when "justified". I cannot imagine taking the life of another however, I do fear being angry enough to do so. I feel that if my family were threatened I might be possible of such things and just that thought alone scares me. I admire strength in all its forms will, body, mind, etc. I love displays of strength. I like to watch strongest man competitions on ESPN or bodybuilding or weight lifting. I rarely satisfied with my own physical strength I like to push myself. I do not admire the strength or will to kill. I think for average humans it takes a lot to kill but I think it can take even more to spare or save someone. I am drawn to superheroes more because they have the will to act and put themselves in harm's way for the sake others far more than their superhuman abilities.
What if Jesus were next to me
In a wonderful blog post by a blogger I admire, a sermon that put forth the idea of how would we behave if Jesus were sitting next to us was brought up. The author brought many good points which were particularly relevant given that it was Thanksgiving and thus signified the start of cut throat Christmas shopping. When I first thought about Jesus sitting next to me, I cringed. I realized I would curse far less, hopefully help my fellow human more, tell those I love that I loved them no matter how I loved them, and generally, really try to live up to loving my neighbor as I loved myself.
After further thought, I hoped to love my neighbor better than I love myself. I want my neighbor to never know a day of sadness or doubt. I want my neighbor to have strength of conviction and I would hope to encourage my neighbor everyday to make the most of gifts bestowed upon her or him. My love for myself is conditional I hope my love for my neighbor to be less so. People will anger us or hurt us but we really should never stop loving anyone at least on general human level.
I thought about it some more and then I became excited. Think about it Jesus is next to you. You could ask Jesus, so "How is your father doing? Does he need anything?... No, not Joseph the other one but since you bring it up how is Joseph?" I wonder if I would hug more people if Jesus were next to me. I wonder if I would tell Jesus I was scared or worried or whatever. I wonder if Jesus would confide in me. I think Jesus would be laid back and unassuming yet resolute in action and belief. Like the author of the blog, I come from a tradition of a benevolent, teaching God who like a loving parent felt sorrow when or if punitive measures had to be taken. Maybe I would not hug others more but hopefully I would hug Jesus. I think Jesus might be hopeful but at times sad at what we have become. I would hope I could be a friend to Jesus, help him move, invite him over for dinner, help him paint, etc. To paraphrase Prince, not because he needed it but because those are things that being a friend are about. I would hope that if Jesus were next to me, I would make the main thing in my life love and to quote another friend "...keep the main thing the main thing".
Funny thing is that Jesus, given all that he is and can do, might be next to me now. Funny thing is that most of the time I think about love but unfortunately, I also think about sorrow and loss of love. I wonder how much I would really change if Jesus were next to me even if I knew it. The doubt that I would change makes me sad and brings home the idea that I really should love me and my neighbor just a little bit more.
After further thought, I hoped to love my neighbor better than I love myself. I want my neighbor to never know a day of sadness or doubt. I want my neighbor to have strength of conviction and I would hope to encourage my neighbor everyday to make the most of gifts bestowed upon her or him. My love for myself is conditional I hope my love for my neighbor to be less so. People will anger us or hurt us but we really should never stop loving anyone at least on general human level.
I thought about it some more and then I became excited. Think about it Jesus is next to you. You could ask Jesus, so "How is your father doing? Does he need anything?... No, not Joseph the other one but since you bring it up how is Joseph?" I wonder if I would hug more people if Jesus were next to me. I wonder if I would tell Jesus I was scared or worried or whatever. I wonder if Jesus would confide in me. I think Jesus would be laid back and unassuming yet resolute in action and belief. Like the author of the blog, I come from a tradition of a benevolent, teaching God who like a loving parent felt sorrow when or if punitive measures had to be taken. Maybe I would not hug others more but hopefully I would hug Jesus. I think Jesus might be hopeful but at times sad at what we have become. I would hope I could be a friend to Jesus, help him move, invite him over for dinner, help him paint, etc. To paraphrase Prince, not because he needed it but because those are things that being a friend are about. I would hope that if Jesus were next to me, I would make the main thing in my life love and to quote another friend "...keep the main thing the main thing".
Funny thing is that Jesus, given all that he is and can do, might be next to me now. Funny thing is that most of the time I think about love but unfortunately, I also think about sorrow and loss of love. I wonder how much I would really change if Jesus were next to me even if I knew it. The doubt that I would change makes me sad and brings home the idea that I really should love me and my neighbor just a little bit more.
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