Pale pink blossoms on branches reaching up for the sky. White or pink petals on arms gracefully arching right or left. Like ballerinas the flowering trees express a longing for sun and beauty and space. They shine brilliantly for a week or two or three, then the blossoms fall like snow to the ground, becoming […]

What is inviting me now? What am I pushing away? What is God saying to me? What are my priorities?  Sitting with God means not having all the answers; sometimes there are only questions. Other times there are clear priorities, a clear direction. So when it’s clear, go do it. When there are questions only, […]

       I probably missed the lessons on generosity in my family. As a child and a younger adult I was too concerned about my own needs to see those of another, or to give more than the minimum. My father and mother certainly gave a lot to our churches. In my early years I can […]

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog. Here’s an excerpt: A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,600 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 27 trips to carry that many people. Click here to see the […]

Extend your hospitality to all people, all kinds. Welcome them as if they were your best friend, a beloved member of your family. Think of the Parable of the Prodigal Son[1] and the sayings of Jesus about how God sends his sun to shine on the evil and the good and his rain to fall […]

How do you get into the water? Dive in? Wade in until you’re ready to get all wet and then plunge? Stand at the edge and let the water lap up to your ankles? There are many different ways to test the waters. The issue with water is do you actually get in and swim? […]

As we grow into the relationship with Christ, Love’s light shines brightly in the bright and dark corners of our psyche, illuminating both our “good deeds” and our shadowy feelings about and actions towards other people. Our judgment, condemnation and fear of other people have to go, if we are ever to feel Love’s presence […]

       It’s a funny thing about loving ourselves: it sounds like such a simple thing to do–to turn the eyes of love on ourselves. But love is more demanding than that. We cannot love ourselves and continue the behaviors that come between us and God. Shortly after I surrendered my life to Christ, I was […]

“This life therefore, is not righteousness, but growth in righteousness, not health but healing, not being but becoming. We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it;  the process is not finished but is going on; this is not the end but it is the road. All does not gleam […]

       What deadens Christianity today is that we take the short cut to the life Jesus modeled. We try very hard to look like good people: we put on the cloak of humility or forgiveness or love on the outside, but our inner emotional states don’t match. Jesus taught an inner transformation that shone on […]