Tag Archives: peace

Watching

Candle_flame[Jesus said,] “What I say to you, I say to all: ‘Watch!'” Mark 13:37

What am I watching for?
For an opportunity to be kind.
For an opportunity to help someone.
For an opportunity to encourage someone.
For an opportunity to feed the hungry.
For an opportunity to choose peace.
For an opportunity to speak out against violence.
For an opportunity to let go of arrogance.
For an opportunity to show respect to others.
For an opportunity to rejoice in another’s success.
For an opportunity to welcome a stranger.
For an opportunity share my gifts and talents.
For an opportunity to love my neighbor as myself.

Growing rich

JESUS MAFA. Parable of the Three Servants, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48297 [retrieved November 16, 2014].

JESUS MAFA. Parable of the Three Servants, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=48297 [retrieved November 16, 2014].

“…out of fear I went off and buried your talent in the ground.” Matthew 25:25

Today I will not bury myself in busy-ness out of fear of loneliness.

I will not surround myself with the noise of the world out of fear of the silence of God.

I will not let fear, indifference, or fatigue prevent me from growing rich in kindness, compassion, and encouragement, peace, and love.

 

 

What belongs to God

Rembrandt (1606-1669)The Good Samaritan, ca.1655-1660 pen and brown ink and white paint on paper Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Rembrandt (1606-1669)
The Good Samaritan, ca.1655-1660
pen and brown ink and white paint on paper
Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
via Wikimedia Commons

[Jesus] said to them, “Then repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar
and to God what belongs to God.”
Matthew 22:21

As I move through today, let me repay to God forgiveness. I will make a conscious effort to let go of resentment and hard feelings, and to accept others as they are without wishing them to be different.

Let me repay to God healing. I will make a conscious effort to speak and act respectfully, to offer encouragement to others, and to admit when I am wrong.

Let me repay to God generosity. I will make a conscious effort to help someone in material, physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual need.

Let me repay to God nonviolence. I will make a conscious effort to choose peace over conflict, deep within my being and in all my interactions with others.

Let me repay to God compassion. I will make a conscious effort to offer my prayers and support to those who are suffering from the effects of war and life-threatening illness.

Let me repay to God love. I will make a conscious effort to live without fear, to refuse to be a victim, to reject self-pity, to welcome all people as my sisters and brothers in God, and to bring the hope of God’s vision of unconditional, all-encompassing love wherever I go.

The Invitation

Parable of the Wedding Feast

JESUS MAFA. The poor invited to the feast,
from Art in the Christian Tradition,
a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library,
Nashville, TN.
[retrieved October 12, 2014].

Jesus again in reply spoke to the chief priests and elders of the people in parables, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son.” Matthew 22:1

Each day God invites me to the marriage of
peace and nonviolence
acceptance and nonjudgment
mercy and forgiveness
love and compassion
joy and gratitude.

Sometimes I think I am too busy to attend. Just for today, however, I will accept God’s invitation with a thankful heart.

Accepting trust

Speculum Humanae Salvationis, Westfalen oder Köln, um 1360

Speculum Humanae Salvationis, Westfalen oder Köln, um 1360 Courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: “Hear another parable…
Finally, [the landowner] sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.'” Matthew 21:37

What kind of God keeps on sending gifts into our lives?

A God who expects us to accept the gift of love and love others. A God who expects us to accept the gift of forgiveness and forgive others. A God who expects us to accept the gift of compassion and give comfort to those who are suffering. A God who expects us to accept the gift of nonviolence and find peaceful solutions to conflict.

A God who trusts us.