Lord, teach me. . . .

  Can the Creator of all lure poetry out of a stone? Or cause a stirring of Divine Love in a human heart? All is possible for the Creator of all, Who loves to manifest the impossible In endless configurations. —Thomas Keating   Anyone else getting tired of the election rhetoric? All the name-calling and lying, insults and character attacks? Some days, coupled with the pandemic and all the anxiety accompanying that, it just gets to be too much. It’s one thing to disagree. It’s one thing to hold different opinions about policy. It’s another thing altogether to turn every conversation into an ad hominem attack that helps no one. John Wesley offered three guidelines to help keep the Main Thing the Main Thing when it to voting: ©        Vote, without fee or reward, for the person judged most worthy; ©       Speak no evil of the person voted against; ©       Take care one’s spirit wasn’t sharpened against those who voted differently. In other words . . . vote the is

  Listen to the mustn’ts, child.  Listen to the don’ts. Listen to the shouldn’ts, the impossibles, the wont’s. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me: Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.             –Shel Silverstein From the time we enter the world, we receive messages telling us how to behave, what to do to be accepted. Parents, teachers, friends—virtually everyone we encounter, in one way or another, offers input into how to get along in the world. And much of the time, we accept these words and actions without question, without really stopping to think if it’s best for us . In fact, many times, we may begin to question and find we haven’t the courage, strength or knowledge to change our beliefs. Or we may be awash in guilt for considering discarding a cherished belief. But if we are to grow, as people and as Christians, change is oh, so necessary. There is a house I pass by regularly. I know the family: devout, very conservative, with many children. Four

  Love, Love is a verb. Love is a doing word. –Massive Attack We are all tired, aren’t we? The season of pandemic goes on and on. The silly games with BINGO cards offering so many options of things this year has already offered are becoming more and more commonplace, and seeming less and less outrageous. (Did you have murder hornets on your list?) As we continue into yet another month of frustration and isolation, one thing is clear: We still desperately need one another. And—we still need to respect the virus. Even people who didn’t believe the virus was real are now testing positive. Love is a verb. A very active verb that takes many forms. Languages other than English have multiple ways of expressing the nature of love—puppy love, brotherly love, passionate love, agape love. All these forms are merely different ways of showing others they are cared for. And the best way to show you care is to do something . Write a note. Call. Order coffee for a stranger. Smile. Laugh.