Is The Way, The Truth, and The Life a Noun, Verb, or Both? 6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” John 14:6 (CEB). Let me ask whether you consider yourself a Christian, a spiritualist, irreligious, an atheist, or an agnostic, possibly the… Read More »
Preordained Destiny
“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Our decisions define us, not our circumstances. When we face challenges, our choices will determine the degree of our success or failure. Fate chooses our beginning, but our decisions determine our destiny. When we decide to… Read More »
Three Types of Meditation
“Meditation is about cultivating constructive emotions, like altruism, compassion.” ~ Matthieu Ricard Renowned meditation researchers Cortland Dahl, Antoine Lutz, and Richard Davidson of The Center for Healthy Minds put meditation practices into three families: attentional, constructive, and deconstructive.¹ Attentional: Beginning with the attentional family, these are meditation practices that include counting the breath, body scanning,… Read More »
PunkinFutz Love
“Listen to the mustn’ts, child. Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the won’ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me … Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.” ~ Shel Silverstein What is PunkinFutz Love? Well, it’s a company founded by an extraordinary person who gave up her… Read More »
Two Are Better Than One
“Even if we accept, as the basic tenet of true democracy, that one moron is equal to one genius, is it necessary to go a further step and hold that two morons are better than one genius?” ~ Leo Szilard God created humankind for God’s glory and purpose. God created us to be in the… Read More »
Mom, Madre, Mam, Mum, God?
“When Eve was brought unto Adam, he became filled with the Holy Spirit and gave her the most sanctified, the most glorious of appellations. He called her Eve, that is to say, the Mother of All. He did not style her wife, but simply mother, mother of all living creatures. In this consists the glory… Read More »
The Smallwood Miracle
“The POSITIVE THINKER sees the INVISIBLE, feels the INTANGIBLE, and achieves the IMPOSSIBLE.” ~ Winston Churchill The human experience deals with every human being the impossible at different points throughout their life. We are our own worse critics, coupled with society and even the people who love us the most. Our shortcomings, along with our… Read More »
Lose Yourself In Service
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi The gift we have to offer to the world, given to us by the grace of God, is the gift of ourselves. We can love others by learning to be of maximum service to everyone meet and… Read More »
Spiritual Domain
“The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become – the more we realize that everything in life is a gift. The tenor of our lives becomes one of humble and joyful thanksgiving. Awareness of our poverty and ineptitude causes us to rejoice in the gift of being called out… Read More »
Accountability and Support
“Support without accountability promotes moral weakness; accountability without support is a form of cruelty.”~ The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church 2013-2016, Part I, Pages 68-69. What is the responsibility of the church with regards to social reform in the kingdom of God? If the church is truly going to be the church, then… Read More »