There is perhaps no greater force drawing us away from God’s love than our fear. Our regrets over the past are fears of inadequacy, and for our place in this world. Our longing for the past is based in the fear that our best is behind us. Our anxieties over the future represent innumerable fears … Continue reading Surrender to trust
Month: February 2018
Fasting: our Lenten call to action
Most of us start Lent asking ourselves, or being asked, what we will give up. This act of giving something up – a favorite food, a frivolous pastime or common distraction – is all many people know of Lent, and can broadly be categorized as fasting. The practice of fasting is an ancient and important … Continue reading Fasting: our Lenten call to action
Searching our hearts for Jonah
Wednesday in the First Week of Lent "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" Jonah’s warning to the Ninevites – after his unsuccessful attempt to run from God, and his three-day encounter with a rather large fish – rings as true to us today as it did some 2,800 years ago. There’s some obvious … Continue reading Searching our hearts for Jonah
Choosing our paths
“We have freedom to do good or evil; yet to make choice of evil, is not to use, but to abuse our freedom.” This brief quote from Saint Francis de Sales underscores an important aspect of our Lenten journey: the examination of the paths we have taken, the choices we have made, and how that … Continue reading Choosing our paths
Stardust, ashes and surrendering all for everything
An Ash Wednesday reflection ... a few days late. Our entry into this period of self-examination and penitence traditionally begins with the visible mark of ashes on our forehead. If you’re lucky, the mark resembles a cross – the sign of our faith. But, whether you receive the perfect ashen Roman cross or something resembling … Continue reading Stardust, ashes and surrendering all for everything
The path to transformation
This post originally was begun on Shrove Tuesday, as part of an intended series of reflections on Lent. In keeping with the writer's sins of procrastination and poor time management it is offered here, on the first Friday in Lent. If you ever want to see one of the miracles of our everyday life, you … Continue reading The path to transformation
Sacrificing our children on the altar of greed and guns
This originally was published as an opinion column in the Feb. 16, 2018 Enid News & Eagle. By the time this prints, the fervor of media coverage surrounding the latest mass killing will have subsided. Funerals will be planned. Families will grieve. Survivors will suffer. A nation will shake its head in a collective “So … Continue reading Sacrificing our children on the altar of greed and guns
Being the salt of the earth
“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.” Matthew 5:13 In ancient times salt was a highly prized commodity as a preservative for food, particularly meat. With no … Continue reading Being the salt of the earth
The Promised Land within
“Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:15 God gives this promise to Jacob: that he will inherit the land on which he’s standing, and … Continue reading The Promised Land within