March 29th, 2005 by Carol
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cialis indiaI was thinking about people’s interpretation of salvation, or the initial step, at least. I generally hear the phrase ‘accept Jesus into your heart’ and then you will be saved. What does ‘accept Jesus into your heart’ really mean? Is it even biblical?
Think about this in the context of children (let’s say 12 and under). Often when I hear people who ‘accepted Jesus into their heart’ at an early age give their testimony, they’ll say they didn’t really understand what it meant at the time. Some people don’t even remember doing it. Well then, if they didn’t understand and/or they didn’t even remember, what is the point of that?
Here’s a radical thought: my limited interpretation of the Catholic faith is that infant baptism is a parent’s way of ensuring their child’s ’salvation’. Could ‘accepting Jesus into your heart’ be the evangelical’s substitute for infant baptism? It stands as an assurance to the parent of their child’s salvation.
‘Accepting Jesus into your heart’ speaks nothing about being discipled or baptised or being a follower of Christ. Those things I find referred to in the Bible; ‘accepting Jesus into your heart’, I do not.
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March 27th, 2005 by Carol
What do you do with a heavy heart? When you feel burdened down and sad and don’t really know why you’re feeling the way you’re feeling. I’m a very analytical thinker and like to have everything understood and compartmentalized. I don’t understand why I’m feeling the way I’m feeling today. I feel incredibly sad. I don’t know why. This really bugs me. I’m using a large part of my brain energy to try to figure this one out, which has made me distracted and irritable today (not a good thing when you’re towing 2 distracted and energetic children around from church to family gathering and back home again). I think I’m hearing God telling me to stop striving. That’s really hard to do. Leave a mystery unsolved? I don’t think so. But my analyzing and over-analyzing is not getting me anywhere either.
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March 24th, 2005 by Carol
I’ve been thinking about conflict and the church. We’re messed up. People want to avoid conflict, so instead of talking to the person they have an issue with, they complain about it to other people, who take up their cause and spread it to others. They think they have avoided conflict, but in reality, they’ve created a whole lot of it, by getting a bunch of other people riled up. I believe it’s called gossip.
Or, instead of trying to understand someone who is different or who may not be perfect, we often judge them, creating a wall between us and the other person. We’ve made up our mind about that person and won’t let them ‘in’. This too, creates conflict, because it creates division between people.
Yet, if someone were to speak the truth to someone who might not want to hear it, we think that’s creating conflict, because the person might reject what we say or worse still, reject us. We use the passages about ‘taking the plank out of our own eye before trying to remove the speck of dust from our neighbor’s eye’, and ‘as much as it is possible for us, to live in harmony with each other’, to justify our inaction (I’m not speaking about those people who feel the need to speak their mind to anyone and everyone with no regard for people’s feelings; they also create a whole lot of conflict with their malicious talk).
What’s conflict and what’s not? Let me rephrase the question: what is good conflict for the church and what is bad conflict? Jesus sure created a lot of conflict when he was here on earth. How can we tell the difference between the two?
Are we like the Pharisees, who focused on the wrong things and ignored the important ones? Why do we tolerate gossip and judging, but resist speaking the truth in love? Are we more worried about how we will feel than how the other person is affected? For example, when a person gossips, it makes them feel better because they are justified for the way they are thinking and feeling. Do they consider how the other person feels? Probably not. Their focus is on themselves. When a person speaks the truth to another person out of love and concern for that person, their focus is on the other person, not on themselves. They are willing to take the ‘hit’, the possible rejection that may come, because they care about the other person more than how they themselves will feel.
Are we just so self-centered and selfish that we can’t move out of our comfort zones into truly loving one another? Isn’t it our lack of love that keeps us from speaking truth to each other, even though it may hurt? “Wounds from a friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.” (Proverbs 27:6) Isn’t it our lack of love that feeds gossipping and judgement when there should be mercy and grace?
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March 22nd, 2005 by Carol
Feel like writing something, but don’t know what to write. Generally, I’m feeling good. Really busy day at work. We’re down by 3 people in the office for this week. It’s been a little crazy. I’m really really looking forward to when all the snow will melt. It will happen… someday. I’m believing that. I love my car (Toyota Echo), but it sucks to drive in snow. Got stuck for a while in the Midtown parking lot today. What fun! I have no profound thoughts today, so I’ll leave it at that.
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March 19th, 2005 by Carol
A lady in my church passed away yesterday. She had been sick for a long time. Our church had been praying for healing, but it didn’t happen the way we had hoped. I feel sad. There are so many things I wish I understood about how God works. I wish it wasn’t such a struggle to ‘know’ how we are to approach life… and death.
I receive daily meditations from the Henri Nouwen society. This is what I received today. It speaks very deeply to the thoughts in my heart this morning.
“Some people live long lives, some die very young. Is a long life better than a short life? What truly counts is not the length of our lives but their quality. Jesus was in his early thirties when he was killed. Thérése de Lisieux was in her twenties when she died. Anne Frank was a teenager when she lost her life. But their short lives continue to bear fruit long after their deaths. A long life is a blessing when it is well lived and leads to gratitude, wisdom, and sanctity. But some people can live truly full lives even when their years are few. As we see so many young people die of cancer and AIDS let us do everything possible to show our friends that, though their lives may be short, they are of infinite value.” - Henri Nouwen
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March 17th, 2005 by Carol
I was listening to the song “Beautiful” by Ginny Owens and thinking about how so often it is difficult for us to see ourselves as beautiful. We see all the things we don’t like about ourselves and wonder how God could ever see us as beautiful. Perhaps the things we see in ourselves that we don’t like were never meant to be a part of who we are. Maybe that’s why we don’t like those parts. But God sees who we really are, who He created us to be. And His desire is to remove those things which we are not, in order for what He created in us to be revealed. As we allow God to do this work in our lives, like the blossoming of a flower, we begin to see ourselves as God sees us. We begin to see ourselves as beautiful.
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March 16th, 2005 by Carol
Things have been going really well lately. I am totally enjoying 2005! My children are doing well. My oldest has had difficulties, especially at school, at times in the past, but this year he has been doing awesome. I’m so proud of him. My new job is great! I love the atmosphere (each morning I come to work and walk into a garden - not too bad!), and the people in my office are great to work with. I know it’s not going to be perfect, but the change of scenery has been incredibly refreshing and energizing. My relationships with some people in particular are doing really well. And I’ve been able to connect more with some friends that I haven’t spoken to as much in the past. I feel good about myself. I’m enjoying who I am and I’m having a lot of fun.
In the past, my internal reaction to all this ‘good stuff’ would be to brace myself for the next difficulty that would come my way, not expecting anything good to last too long. But God chastised me about this attitude a few weeks ago. It’s a lack of trust in my God that would lead me to try to prepare for the worst. Will my life always be roses? No. But God is the One who is leading me through this life. He knows what’s ahead and He is faithful to prepare me for what’s in store. I miss out on His blessings when I spend my time worrying about what might happen next. I don’t want to do that anymore. God has given me these blessings for right now, so I’m going to enjoy them!
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March 11th, 2005 by Carol
I received a newsletter concerning the same-sex marriage legislation that is being proposed for Canada. The newsletter was comparing Canada to Australia (a country which has legislated against same-sex marriages), and stressing that if same-sex marriage legislation is passed, it will have a profound detrimental impact on our society. While I do not deny this, the impression I received when reading this newsletter was that same-sex marriage legislation is the one key thing that is opposing traditional marriage in our society; almost as if to say that if the legislation were to be struck down, the state of marriage in our society would no longer be at risk. Here’s some excerpts from the newsletter:
“how marriage is defined will profoundly affect our future stability and our success because it will directly affect families. They [the Australian government] understand that the future of Australia is tied to the strength of her families. Throughout history and across cultures, strong families have always been the essential foundation of strong, resilient and successful societies.” But don’t we understand that we no longer have strong families in this society? Divorce runs rampant in Canada.
“Legalizing same-sex marriage would profoundly and negatively affect the future of the family in Canada or any other country that takes such an action. It would inevitably and irreversibly change the way our children and future generations would look at marriage and its relationship to the family. Instead of viewing marriage as we generally do today, as the ideal and desirable relationship within which to form a family and raise children, future generations increasingly would view it as little more than an official recognition of any two people’s professed affection for each other. If government devalues marriage and the family, as our Government proposes to do through this legislation, then the citizens will soon do so as well.” The government already devalues marriage; its citizens already devalue marriage. Divorce is an acceptable way of dealing with less than ideal marriages. The way our children view marriage has already been skewed. Our society has already been affected.
Just what battle do we think we’re fighting here? If we’re fighting to try to save the state/value of marriage in our society, we’re already too late. We’re already drowning in the flood waters. Can’t we see it? Do we honestly think that if same-sex marriages are stopped, our marriages and the stability of our society will be restored? I don’t think there’s anything we can humanly do to stop this tide. The only one who can rescue us is God. And as long as we think that by our own human effort we will be able to make things right, we will continue to drown.
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March 10th, 2005 by Carol
I started a new job last Thursday. It’s going to be good, although it’s been very busy. I’ll post more about it later.
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March 7th, 2005 by Carol
Children are their parents’ guests. They come into the space that has been created for them, stay for a while - fifteen, twenty, or twenty-five years - and leave again to create their own space. Although parents speak about “our son” and “our daughter,” their children are not their property. In many ways children are strangers. Parents have to come to know them, discover their strengths and their weaknesses, and guide them to maturity, allowing them to make their own decisions.
The greatest gift parents can give their children is their love for each other. Through that love they create an anxiety-free place for their children to grow, encouraging them to develop confidence in themselves and find the freedom to choose their own ways in life.
- Henri Nouwen
I read this today and thought it was a great perspective on parenting.
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