Spiritual Toolkit

One day while getting ready to take a shower, my doorbell rang. Not dressed to go to the door, I opened my bathroom window to find out who was there. A man probably in his sixties appeared. He said he was lost and wanted to know how to get to a certain highway which wasn’t in the vicinity. I gave him instructions from my house on how to reach a nearby highway. From there I figured he could use his map or GPS on how to reach the highway he sought. He told me he had neither. So he got into his car and drove away. I doubt he ever reached his destination. Why?

Maybe he really wasn’t lost and wanted to get access into my home. Maybe he had dementia. I can’t imagine a person wanting to reach a certain unfamiliar destination without first checking a road map or using a GPS on how to get there. I wonder how many people live their lives without the wherewithal on how to travel the road of life. Instead they may listen to anyone who will keep them stuck in their comfort zone that encourages a closed mind and lack of purpose in life. Is it laziness and/or lack of initiative that causes people to get lost?

Dear Nathaniel,
Thank you for calling me to tell me about your ninth birthday party.

It seems you and your friends had a good time. When you told me that you placed only fourth out of ten in your contest, you seemed to suggest that you thought of yourself as less than a winner. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. It is how you live life that counts. A winner makes the best of any situation. That means that all winners put forth their best effort regardless of their placement in any competition.

The real test of a person’s greatness is when he loves and cares for the non-winners. You will find in life that sometimes you will place first, fourth, eighth, and even in last place. That is O.K. as long as you put in your best effort and are a good person. Some winners think only of themselves and fail to help the needy. To me, they are selfish losers, not winners. Yet many winners are good people who do not seek self-glory or first place in everything. They are just putting forth their best effort.

Do you remember a few years ago when you were in Boston at Christmas time? You put all the money from your piggy bank into the Salvation Army’s bucket? To my way of thinking you were a winner then. You showed us a better way. You helped the needy out of the goodness of your heart.

God loves those people who do God’s will and who come to the aid of the poor and helpless. That is what Jesus taught us through his self-giving love. Winners have a grateful heart, a clear conscience, and a heart full of love. Their actions speak louder than words.

With my love to my winner,
Grandma

Years ago on a beautiful summer day, we set sail from Rye, NY, for Shelter Island in Long Island Sound. Near journey’s end, the fog rolled in, the wind died, visibility dropped, daylight gave way to darkness. My husband turned on the engine and slowly powered ahead. At that time our boat lacked radar and a GPS. But we did have two compasses and a depth finder which my husband used in conjunction with his charts to track our course. I stood on the bow of the boat away from the noise of the engine to listen and look for the entrance bell buoy to Shelter Island. If we couldn’t find it, we could land on the rocks or be hit by oncoming boats . . . Eventually I heard the bell buoy. We cautiously approached it. My relief and sense of safety made me want to circle this bell buoy until the fog lifted. But my husband, a fearless yet cautious man, refused . . . By carefully plotting our compass course and reading the soundings below, we made our way into the safety of the harbor . . . I view the Bible and its revelations about God as my compass, chart, depth finder, GPS, boat, and habitat for my voyage through life. They are like bell buoys and road signs that point us toward our destination. How we use them is our choice.
From Anita E. Keire’s Walking on Water
Think About It:
• What is your destination in life?
• How do you plan to reach it?
• Who or what will help you navigate the dangerous route ahead to an unknown future?
• Who will be your traveling companion?

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:5)

A lot of people believe God doesn’t exist, that God is only a fanciful projection of our minds.  That is their choice. But their disbelief does not mean that God does not exist. Some Jews in hiding from the Nazis in World War II wrote on a cellar wall in Cologne the following inscription. “I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining. I believe in love, even when not feeling it. I believe in God, even when God is silent.”

When John says Jesus is the Light of the World, he refers to the divine illumination of a person’s mind and conscience. This light dispels human darkness and continues throughout time. The word Life refers to the function of the Holy Spirit that represents the positive aspects of life and existence. Life represents the authentic existence God wants us to have. Life and salvation are associated with light.

Darkness is symbolic of disbelief as well as total evil that cannot overcome the Word. Jesus comes into the world as a human being to have a flesh and blood relationship with us. Jesus partially reveals to us the mind of God. As the Word, Jesus brings light into our midst to dispel the darkness; but many turn their backs on the light.

Walking on Water: Skeptics and Believers Discuss Whether Jesus Matters, pages 148 & 47.

Six months after the angel Gabriel’s visit to Zachariah announcing that his aged wife Elizabeth will conceive a son, Gabriel visits a Jewish peasant maiden named Mary. He tells her that she is favored and blessed among women and has been chosen by God to conceive and bear a son whom she will call Jesus. Gabriel’s visit to Mary is known as the Annunciation.

Of course, Mary wonders how this can occur as she is a virgin. Gabriel tells her “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. (Luke 1:35) Mary then says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

The term overshadow does not refer to divine sexual activity as found in Greek myths of gods impregnating women. By using the Greek term for overshadow, Luke emphasizes the miraculous circumstances of Jesus’ conception and removes any thoughts of sexual intercourse. The emphasis here is that Jesus has human and divine origins.

In other words, the entire birth story is not a matter of biology. It is a matter of religious truths and beliefs. Mary represents the faithful of Israel who respond to God’s call for humble loving service.

Whatever your belief or acceptance or rejection of these birth narratives, all gospels want to make it clear that Jesus is God who comes to us in the flesh. His incarnation is a new creative act and revelation by God.

All my life, God has been with me. Sometimes I did not realize what God was doing; but as I grow older, I know God, God’s people, and our hard work carried us through some pretty tough times.

We left my home country of Latvia in late 1944. The Soviet bombers were dropping their bombs on certain parts of the capital city of Riga. We could see the smoke spiral upwards from the fires the bombs started. We understood the Soviet Army was about ten miles away. Continue reading A Refugee’s Thanksgiving – My Husband’s Story