Thanksgiving Blessing

Even as we express our gratitude for God’s good gifts,
We receive the gift of gratitude itself;
Pressed down and overflowing.

Let us seek the way of pure kindness…
In the name of the Father.

Let us shut the door on anxiety…
In the name of Jesus.

Let us remember beauty…
In the name of the Holy Spirit.

Even as we express our gratitude for God’s good gifts,
We receive the gift of gratitude itself;
Pressed down and overflowing…
Pressed down and overflowing.

Amen

Hope

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance and my God.”
Psalm 42:11 (21st Century King James Version)

Hope is integral to Emotional Endurance [see table]. What feeds my heart’s fire if not hope? And what distinguishes hoping from wishing? For me, hope is the belief that God is planting goodness in the future so that it’s already taking root and blooming as we step into each unfolding day.

Here's an ancient prophetic poem that was composed by a person who understood the valley of deep trouble. His words have the heartbeat of authenticity.

“There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Trouble a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.”
Hosea 2:15 (New International Version)

First, God promises to restore vineyards, which represent abundance and gladness. Then follows an image that I find profoundly moving: God will transform the valley of trouble into a door of hope. The lowest, most disturbing circumstance becomes the threshold to a good future.

The second sentence begins with the response of the people, which is carefree singing: a picture of rejuvenation and festivity. The closing line references release from slavery, and the long-awaited freedom to engage life.

That’s what this Fourfold Fitness thing is about, really [see intro]. I don’t need to be a slave to disconnection and disintegration; by God’s grace, I’m free to cultivate practices that increase my capacity for living.


Copyright Scott Burnett 2006

Havel's Hope

~~
“Hope is a state of mind, not of the world.
Hope, in this deep and powerful sense,
is not the same as joy that things are going well,
or willingness to invest in enterprises
that are obviously heading for success,
but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.”

Vaclav Havel

ebb and flow

"Dear Lord, today I thought of the words of Vincent van Gogh: 'It is true there is an ebb and flow, but the sea remains the sea.' You are the sea. Although I experience many ups and downs in my emotions and often feel great shifts and changes in my inner life, you remain the same. Your sameness is not the sameness of a rock, but the sameness of a faithful lover. Out of your love I came to life; by your love I am sustained; and to your love I am always called back. There are days of sadness and days of joy; there are feelings of guilt and feelings of gratitude; there are moments of failure and moments of success; but all of them are embraced by your unwavering love.

My only real temptation is to doubt in your love, to think of myself as beyond the reach of your love, to remove myself from the healing radiance of your love. To do these things is to move into the darkness of despair.

O Lord, sea of love and goodness, let me not fear too much the storms and winds of my daily life, and let me know that there is ebb and flow but that the sea remains the sea. Amen."

Henri Nouwen
From A Cry for Mercy

Feral

“...no one can tame the human tongue.” James 3:8

I have sometimes thought biting my tongue, so to speak, did no real good because whatever I’d been about to say was already in my mind anyway. But I have come to believe that saying something out loud is like pushing a stone downhill: chances are, it will start rolling once gravity gets a hold of it.

The sense I have is that words spoken create momentum toward another thought, then another remark, which propels toward another thought,etc. Given conducive circumstances and willing conversational partners, the momentum can quickly become strong enough to pull me into attitudes I didn’t mean to visit.

It’s better to train the tongue to set good things in motion: encouragement, affirmation, kindness, provocation toward love and good deeds...

But maybe we need to accept the fact that it is never completely domesticated; it remains at least partly feral.

James [Mr. Buzzkill] part two

“...man’s temper is never the means of achieving God’s true goodness.” James 1:20

As much as I affirm this statement, it also bums me out. My temper has been a potent energy source over the years, so it costs me something to set it aside.

Quick to listen, slow to employ the tongue... This is what James proposes as an alternate source of energy; essentially, it is the power of story.

If I will hold my tongue long enough to hear where you’re coming from, I will begin to perceive your perspective more dimensionally. Once I’ve taken that step inside your story I might still become angry, but I will probably be less likely to lose my temper.

Another facet: Even if I consider my temper-flash to have yielded a desirable effect, it will not have been “God’s true goodness”. My assessment of the outcome is misaligned with God’s.