A Letter To My Friends

To my Dear Friends,

Whoever you are, I have asked that the friends of my children and the friends of their friends from Facebook take the time to read this short letter, but if you are reading this for any reason, thank you for stopping by for a few minutes.

I joined Facebook several years ago when, because of my work, I couldn’t be around family and the friends that have touched my life. I wanted to keep in touch. I wanted to see where life took you. I have seen some wonderful developments and some developments that have not been so wonderful. Many things have given me reason to be very happy. Other things have caused me tremendous sorrow. Sometimes I have been tempted to unfriend you because of the directions you have chosen, but I have been stopped.

Over many years my life has taken several turns, some pretty good and others, well, not so good. I have made good choices, some really terrible choices and lots somewhere in between. For most of my life I have been what many would call religious, although much of the time I have hated that term. I hope you will keep reading anyway.

In the center of our body, each of us has a heart. When that thing works properly things are at least pretty good (some of us have other parts that are causing trouble). In the center of our being, each of us has a kind of a spiritual heart. Just as our physical heart is designed to provide nourishment to our whole body, that spiritual heart nourishes and affects our entire life and then the lives that we touch.

When I allow anger, hatred and disrespect to be the thing that my spiritual heart is pumping, even for the best of reasons, that anger, hatred and disrespect will spoil the good that I desire to do. I desperately need to examine what motivates my words and actions in order to accomplish the good effect that I desire. Anger, hatred and disrespect have always motivated people to action but the results of those actions have never been good.

Love, respect and dignity work much more slowly but the result is much better.

Please, allow me to suggest that you consider the man Jesus. I am not suggesting or attempting to get you to join any religion. There have been many negative results of the “Christian religion”. So, I simply ask that you look at the life and words of the man, Jesus.

Jesus came because of love, he gave respect to everyone and treated each one with dignity, because he only wanted to help each one find a better life. See his heart in his life and his words. I certainly see where I can improve.

Please… think about these things.

Oil and light

Jesus told a story about 10 virgins waiting for the bridegroom. (Matthew 25:1-13) He said 5 were wise and 5 were foolish. The wise brought oil in their vessels.

I think I may have found a little more understanding about how this works in practical living. This morning I was reading in the Gospel of Matthew, endeavoring to listen for the Spirit of God to speak to my heart. Lately the analogy of salt and light has been coming to mind frequently (really for some time). I was thinking about things like 1 Peter 3:15. “…ready always to give an answer to all who ask you for a reason for the hope that is in you”. Suddenly I realized, no one has asked me for a reason for the hope that is within me.

The realization is clear and painful. My light is not shining so that those around me are amazed and interested.

The 5 wise virgins did 2 things. They brought oil in their vessels and they trimmed their lamps so they would burn clear and bright.

I think the oil in my vessel is the Word of God, the Scriptures, hidden in my heart (psalms 119:11). These are Scriptures memorized and meditated upon until they find a home in my heart. “In my heart”, that is the place where I embrace things and hold them dear, in reality, not just in a catchy tune.

They also all trimmed their lamps. This refers to the part of the wick that is burnt and will not allow the lamp to burn brightly. I am sure there is much to apply to my life here as well but the pain of seeing clearly my need is enough to think about for the time being. And I must take action to correct the problem.

It’s something to think about