Lent begins Wednesday, Feb 25th

Hello www, Jesus, Lent will begin in a few weeks, and I need your help, but you know Lord, instead of asking you what I think needs to be changed in me, I am only going to plead, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening." Jesus' answer comes to me swiftly, "You know what you are supposed to do, Debi: LOVE ONE ANOTHER." Yes, Lord, I understand You ask us to do this...it's just that it's easier to love people I like then the people I don't like. "Still, LOVE ONE ANOTHER." But Lord, I am so judgmental! You know my weaknesses, You know my heart. Even when I try to overlook the differences I have with others, my judgements get in the way; it is too difficult for me to love everybody! "Debi, you asked Me to speak and said you are listening, so listen to what I AM saying: LOVE ONE ANOTHER." Yes, Lord, of course you are correct. I need to practice what You preach...I will do my best. Thank you for your constant flow of patience, kindness, blessings, and love for me. In Your Name Lord, Your Will be Done. Amen. Recently I received a ticket for running a red light. As I was paying the charge (with late fee) on-line I caught myself thinking, "You know, I tithed this month God, why didn't you take this ticket away from me? Or at least provide me with the extra money to pay for it?" I know, I know, God doesn't punish people, but I certainly felt punished by God. Then the obvious dawned on me: I was the one who ran the red light (and the police have the video to prove it! Darn technology!) and I was paying (pun intended) the price for it. God-Jesus, had nothing to do with my receiving a ticket. I mean, He is in All things, but it was I, my free will, who ran the red light. There was justice in my getting a ticket, because that was the consequence of my action. Have you ever done that though? Expecting God to get you out of a mess you made, or asking God to take something painful away? When really, whatever is happening to us is precisely what we need. I thought that since I 'did something for God,' (the tithing) He was going to 'do something,' for me. Preferably something I want to happen, or something I am asking for... When in reality God only brings Good, Positive, Light and Love into our lives. I honestly don't believe our Loving and Gracious God has contractions in His vocabulary, OR any negativity whatsoever in Him. It is us humans who create all the Bad, Negative, Dark Apathy (apathy being the opposite of Love) in our lives! One of the exceptions to us bringing negativity into our lives is having a life-threatening illness. Sometimes healthy people get sick with terrible diseases. In those circumstances I take comfort recognizing, as in other situations, God is with me, and I offer up my suffering for the souls in Purgatory, or for those who have no one to pray for them... It is usually when we have bad things happen to us, we seek and ask for God's help. This is nothing new. God is there for us, too. Even if we only seek Him or speak to Him in times of need. This is one of the amazing and wonderful aspects of our God. However, if we just did our best to begin with, and are Truly Christian Citizens, the world would be a much different place. How often have we heard this? It is easy to write about what we Should do; much more difficult to put into practice. And yet practice is exactly what is needed if my/our behavior is to change. I am relentlessly praying for God's grace to help me rise above my flaws and become more Christ-like. Sometimes I get lucky and succeed, and sometimes I don't. But I know this: No human can achieve great things without our Almighty Savior right there with us, whispering what we need to do in our ears. We need only listen. Which is what I intend to 'add' instead of 'giving something up,' for Lent. Jesus, I AM doing my best listen to You, and do what you ask of me, and I AM going to do my best to keep listening long after this Lenten Season is over. Amen. Gahhhhhhd bless us, each and everyone.

Planets

How humbling

Hello www, Thank you Jesus for all the blessings you have bestowed on my life and on the lives of people who read, or don't read, this blog. In Your Name, Amen. I was sent an email recently about the universe that has stayed with me. In this email the sizes of different planets were contrasted. Earth and Venus are comparable in size, but Mercury, Pluto, and Mars are smaller than Earth and Venus. The next photo shows Jupiter and Saturn as the largest planets, then Uranus and Neptune. Earth is the beginning of a smaller line, with Pluto at the end of that line. These planets put side-by-side with the Sun, though, oh my! Jupiter and Saturn look tiny! Then the rest of the chiquitas! The next photo takes us out of our galaxy and demonstrates the size of our Sun to some interesting-looking planets named: Sirius, Pollox, and Arcturus. Judging against these three, our Sun is diminutive! Jupiter is about the size of a pixel! (poor thing, talk about crushing an ego!) Arcturus is beautiful and LARGE. (even the word LARGE isn't large enough to describe it's size!) Not only is our Sun tiny at this stage, Earth is invisible! But wait! There's more to compare! Sirius, Pollox, and Arcturus are shown with two LARGER planets: Betelgeuse and Antares. Antares is mammoth compared to the others! It is by far the most colossal of the planets so far mentioned. At this point our Sun is the size of a pixel. Jupiter is invisible. Antares is the 15th brightest star in the galaxy. It is more than 1000 light years away. The Hubble telescope has shown us entire galaxies billions of light years away. I strive to comprehend what this could mean... How big are we, the email asks. How big are the things that upset you today? AND how big is your God? "Keep life in perspective," it advises. After I pondered this email and sent it on to a few people, the images continued to linger in my mind. I was kind of depressed by the email, actually, and I began to think about all the things I need to do: today, tomorrow...Then I thought, "The things I need to do, they aren't important..." But this is dangerous thinking, and for an optimist, I wondered how I was going to get myself out of thinking of these new images in a negative way. "Well, for starters," I think to myself, "I have an awesome God. He created all of this beauty that surrounds us." I feel a great comfort in knowing God is in control. I was also reassured knowing we are all here, on this infinitesimal, spinning planet, together. When I begin to feel miserable and crappy, and po'ed because I'm teeny and insignificant, the God-feeling/thoughts ignite in my body and mind, flowing gracefully and gently through me, soothing my anxiety and calming me. I'm still going to be the best I can be: the best God would want me to be. No matter how big or small that best is: I matter...to God. Gaaahd bless us!

Reconnecting

Hello www, Lord, help and be with everyone in the world. In your name, Jesus. Amen. I love it when I give an apology and someone accepts my apology. I have such a feeling of gratitude knowing the offense is forgiven. When a buddy apologized to me last night, I readily accepted. In fact, she was forgiven even before she asked; I just wasn't sure she wanted to be comrades again. We may not be the closest of acquaintances, but this is a beginning. Last night was fun. I hung out with a great group of people again. (Is there a tradition forming here for me?) Some of them I met last year at the same function, and some I knew already, just got to know better. It was wonderful. There are photos on FB...(laughing) Nothing too incriminating I don't think. I don't know if you all have felt this from some of my blogs, but I am still searching for a consistent bunch of friends, six at least, three guys, three gals would be fantastic, (yes, like the sitcom, 'Friends,') to have as partners in life. Why am I still looking for these six amazing people?I mean, really, why am I pushing, seeking, forcing even, this alliance of six people? Okay, I have a secret desire (not such a secret anymore!) to assemble Super Heroes. Seriously - Super Heroes of Friendships - SHoF (pron 'shove'). SHoF would stop bad friendships from forming, help friendships in distress, bring groups of like-minded friends together, maybe even some not like-minded friendships, just for friendly debate...the friendship possibilities are endless! However, I've decided that in '09, as much as I'd like to create SHoF, I accept that Jesus will give me the companions I need at the times I need them. (chuckle)Thankfully, that's what He's been doing anyway! I read a great quote on a co-workers wall:

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change the way you think about it." -Mary Engelbreit

Because, as everyone knows, "when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." -Wayne Dyer.

'09 is young and changing. I'm along for the ride.

Song for this blog: Stereo MC's, "Connected."

Gahhhhhd bless us.