tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-199858922024-03-09T21:46:06.917-05:00REFLECTIONS by Margaret MarySimple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.comBlogger739125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-87502993114831406992024-03-09T10:34:00.006-05:002024-03-09T10:44:04.769-05:00It's a Gray Day but Spring Will Come Again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVoPnbe7TlQOD2Dua9gofp_MNuxhYewV61fbRRFbJjeO-xah-KOXvEuYhUHcaHeGcyof7rBW2jwa1Kb2dwLJJ7Z4ZRSv0a9I8wL1geIrUuj-hSL0l4aNw2XlHA3rO3aMxMcAwkUIffzXyJd6YCaOt6mfL3mFXr0614DV-UIzpwju9tZFVamjOIRg/s4080/IMG_20240309_100946585_HDR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3072" data-original-width="4080" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVoPnbe7TlQOD2Dua9gofp_MNuxhYewV61fbRRFbJjeO-xah-KOXvEuYhUHcaHeGcyof7rBW2jwa1Kb2dwLJJ7Z4ZRSv0a9I8wL1geIrUuj-hSL0l4aNw2XlHA3rO3aMxMcAwkUIffzXyJd6YCaOt6mfL3mFXr0614DV-UIzpwju9tZFVamjOIRg/s320/IMG_20240309_100946585_HDR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Picture: A patio with large trees behind it and gray sky </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;">The sky is overcast and gray here in my neck of the woods. It's lightly raining. The forecast predicts more rain and possible coastal flooding. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;">The "news and views" we hear in the world sometimes cause us to feel like a gray day inside too and - like the concerns of possible flooding for those on the coast - we sometimes fear many things. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;">But all we can do is do our part, pray, and trust that spring will come again. While it's fine to plan (and I'm a big planner), we can still live each day as it comes. Maybe that's why Jesus said to pray: "Give us this day our daily bread." Maybe it was not only a way to pray but maybe also a way to live. <br /><br />And here are some bright yellow flowers to signal the coming of spring. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKE5kGGdlXDDQS_WZ_643jEo_jwpTRiC4bbKw0HUTy8zwiB0dRToPVjxuuDHuJD22LU6o0Pl994-r5Wi73gRpCnl2gtyXofXPMj8R3JvBTNEalc1XC1WEMb6U6r1U7oTTowNPKq15rSIPPnL4ox3aslgIG5JCxWPyJwxSqa-Ydf2J8sUk0JIs2w/s4080/IMG_20240309_102824632.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4080" data-original-width="3072" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBKE5kGGdlXDDQS_WZ_643jEo_jwpTRiC4bbKw0HUTy8zwiB0dRToPVjxuuDHuJD22LU6o0Pl994-r5Wi73gRpCnl2gtyXofXPMj8R3JvBTNEalc1XC1WEMb6U6r1U7oTTowNPKq15rSIPPnL4ox3aslgIG5JCxWPyJwxSqa-Ydf2J8sUk0JIs2w/s320/IMG_20240309_102824632.jpg" width="241" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Picture: Daffodils beginning to bloom in the yard...a sign that spring is coming </span></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><br /><br /></span></div>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-56646351583313737492022-04-28T20:08:00.004-05:002024-03-08T23:15:27.815-05:00Beware the Errors of the Prosperity Gospel<div style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc dati1w0a e5nlhep0" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_fq" style="animation-name: none; padding: 4px 16px; transition-property: none;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="animation-name: none; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql lr9zc1uh a8c37x1j fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v b1v8xokw oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Just some early morning musings. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Please beware of the errors of the prosperity gospel. These errors, in various forms, have seeped into our society (and in many cases flowed into our society) for nearly a hundred years. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Actually, these or similar errors go back longer than a century, into antiquity, as people watched Job suffer monetary and health losses and they said he must not be right with God. A whole book of the Bible is devoted to refuting this way of thinking. God said that Job was a righteous man. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">God is not a puppet master or a marionette master, pulling the strings of our lives and of those around us. He gave us free will...all of us. And each of us can be affected by the sins and even by the very human mistakes of any. Whoa, that's a heavy thought. But let's think about the ripple effect. If someone makes an unjust law that stays on the books for centuries, it reaches across time. If someone ruins the supply of a life-giving commodity, the effects can reach across a country and perhaps even the globe. </span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">We don't know all the reasons bad things happen, but we need only look at Job - and Jesus - to know that sufferings of this life cannot be assumed to be punishments or a lack of blessing. As I heard one good priest say emphatically, "All *good things* come from God!"</span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">So, what are some of the dangers of prosperity gospel thinking? Perhaps a kind of despair (thinking we are not good enough.). Perhaps a lack of compassion (how many times have we seen "the poor" </span></span><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">criticized</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">, as if it is all their fault?). Perhaps a lack of charity to those who are not deemed worthy (paying for the drink of the next person waiting in the drive-through line in their SUV, but always avoiding the homeless with averted eye). </span></span></span></div></div><div class="cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql o9v6fnle ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; color: var(--primary-text); font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let's remember in all adversity that we can always turn to God. In some cases, he might fix the problem through a miracle or through science or through inspiring us what we can do next. But other times, he might give us comfort, or patience, or joy in the midst of sorrows. Sometimes he might send someone to encourage or comfort us or to help us with our needs. We don't have to be "worthy" to receive God's blessings. He is always with us, always loving us, all of us, rich and poor, healthy and sick, loving us as a good Father.</span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4 l82x9zwi uo3d90p7 h905i5nu monazrh9" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="tvfksri0 ozuftl9m jmbispl3 olo4ujb6" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-left: 12px; margin-right: 12px; transition-property: none;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 pfnyh3mw i1fnvgqd gs1a9yip owycx6da btwxx1t3 ph5uu5jm b3onmgus e5nlhep0 ecm0bbzt nkwizq5d roh60bw9 mysgfdmx hddg9phg" style="align-items: stretch; 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align-items: stretch; animation-name: none; background-color: transparent; border-bottom-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-left-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-radius: inherit; border-right-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-style: solid; border-top-color: var(--always-dark-overlay); border-width: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: none; transition-property: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 rj1gh0hx buofh1pr g5gj957u hpfvmrgz taijpn5t bp9cbjyn owycx6da btwxx1t3 d1544ag0 tw6a2znq jb3vyjys dlv3wnog rl04r1d5 mysgfdmx hddg9phg qu8okrzs g0qnabr5" style="align-items: center; animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row; 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box-sizing: border-box; cursor: pointer; display: inline-flex; flex-basis: auto; flex-direction: row; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 0px; min-width: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; position: relative; text-align: inherit; touch-action: manipulation; transition-property: none; user-select: none; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 rj1gh0hx buofh1pr g5gj957u hpfvmrgz taijpn5t bp9cbjyn owycx6da btwxx1t3 d1544ag0 tw6a2znq jb3vyjys dlv3wnog rl04r1d5 mysgfdmx hddg9phg qu8okrzs g0qnabr5" style="align-items: center; animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-flow: row; flex: 1 1 0px; font-family: inherit; height: 44px; justify-content: center; margin: -6px -4px; min-width: 0px; padding-left: 12px; padding-right: 12px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; transition-property: none; white-space: nowrap; z-index: 0;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz ph5uu5jm b3onmgus iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"><i class="hu5pjgll m6k467ps" data-visualcompletion="css-img" style="animation-name: none; background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yj/r/aAATiVI0I1t.png"); background-position: 0px -209px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 18px; transition-property: none; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 18px;"><br /></i></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="cwj9ozl2 tvmbv18p" style="animation-name: none; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; margin-bottom: 4px; transition-property: none;"></div></div></div></div>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-3619045016050353262022-01-02T11:05:00.007-05:002022-01-02T11:52:22.652-05:00Little Saint Therese Grows Up - Free on Kindle - Limited Time<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09DRVCQV6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i2" target="_blank">Little Saint Therese Grows Up</a> is currently free on Kindle through Wednesday, January 5, 2022, 11:59 p.m. PST. The book is available in both as a Kindle book and as a paperback book. This free Kindle offer gives you a chance to find out if you might like to buy the paperback edition. Or, you could just use the Kindle book, if you'd like. </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif;">Little Saint Therese Grows Up</i><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;"> shares little true stories about St. Therese, her love of God, and her trust in his love. Hopefully, children of all ages will enjoy the book, but the reading level was specifically designed for children of a second or third grade reading level to read to or with a parent, grandparent, or another loving person in his or her life.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">You may click on this link to learn more or to obtain your free Kindle copy:<br /><a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09DRVCQV6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_tkin_p1_i2" target="_blank">Little Saint Therese Grows Up</a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">Thank you and God bless you in the new year! </span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #0f1111;">Margaret Mary</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><div><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div><div><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div></div>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-43107061732318574882021-10-16T19:21:00.001-05:002024-03-08T15:12:17.058-05:00Very Young Children, Child Development, and the Pandemic<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;">For
some families with very young children, the pandemic has been difficult. If you
are staying mostly at home or going out less than you would have if there were
no pandemic, here are some ideas.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;">If
you can, please get the children out of the house, safely, of course, whatever
that feels like for you and your family. Maybe take a walk in the neighborhood.
Possibly taking a drive to a farm or a duck pond would be nice or whatever is
easy to access in your area but not crowded, if you're concerned about crowds.
Get them outside of the house or apartment, and point out an airplane going by,
or the garbage truck, and how those who collect the garbage are some of our
community helpers.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;">Also,
there are things you can do at home to give young children enrichment and
social skills. Books open whole new worlds to them.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;">Games,
whether card games or board games - geared to their age - help them learn to
take turns and give them the fun experience of doing something together with
others. There are games made especially for younger children, although some may
be more geared to children 5 and up, and may need some little modifications for
3's and 4's.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;">Sing
songs. Playing songs on TV or the web is good, but it's also fun and bonding to
sing songs with them (or to them, until they pick it up). Also, if they don't
get out as much, they can dance, jump, spin, even at home. You can find
preschool songs online which feature movement.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Build
structure into their lives. Have a place to eat meals. Maybe sit down together
at the table most evenings to eat dinner. Of course, now and then a picnic
outside might be fun, too. And I'm not saying anyone should have a strict
schedule, just that some routine is helpful for their wellbeing.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;">Establish
some boundaries in their lives. You probably wouldn't let your child of 3 or 4
run inside of a church or at the library. But if you're not going out much, it
might be harder to teach those kinds of boundaries. Is there an area of your
home which would be safer for them if they don't run? That would be a good
place for teaching the skill of respecting boundaries, such as "walking
only" in this area.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;">And
one more thing I would suggest is teaching them to come when you call them.
Maybe they want to keep playing, but it might be helpful at some time - maybe
even vital for their safety - if they learn to come when you call them to find
out what it is you want. And then, at least some of the time, they can go back
to their play.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #050505; font-family: "inherit",serif; font-size: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI Historic"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="color: #050505; font-size: 11.5pt;">Just
some thoughts I have had, while thinking about the young children in today's
world, some of whom have been in their own homes a lot more in the past year
and a half than is usually the case, some of them for half or more of their
lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-9023554858701925862021-08-26T20:34:00.009-05:002021-08-28T20:51:13.114-05:00Little Saint Therese Grows Up - A Revision of My Previous Little Saint Therese <div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The <i>Little Saint Therese Grows Up</i> book (a revision of my previous <i>Little Saint Therese</i>) is now live. I am running a promotion on the Kindle version of the book, from midnight tonight, Thursday, August 26th (Pacific time) to midnight Saturday night, August 28th (Pacific Time), so, for two days.</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span>Feel free to get the Kindle book and not buy the paperback. Free is free. No strings. But, of course I do hope that if enough people take the free Kindle book, that some of them - some of you - might buy the paperback to share with a child in their life. I feel like the paperback will provide a better reading experience for the child, with little pictures, however simple as they are stock pictures, but just to have a visual and hold the book in their hands. The Kindle has the same pictures but not on the same page as the text as they are in the print book.</span></b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>But with the Kindle book, you can see what you think of the book...or read it with your child if you don't feel you have the money to spend on the paperback. Whatever you like. I just wanted to have both formats available to you all. </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #050505; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Incidentally - fun fact - I first offered my original Little Saint Therese as a free e-book, back in about 2003, when my son Paul put it online for me, on my then-website, so that I could do that. Children who had read it then are adults now! Wow, how time passes!</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Anyway, I hope you will enjoy my revision. I enjoyed writing it. </b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Blessings. MM</b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Little-Saint-Therese-Grows-Up-ebook/dp/B09DRVCQV6/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=%22little+saint+therese+grows+up&qid=1630113902&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Little Saint Therese Grows Up</a><br /></b></span></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; color: #050505; font-family: inherit; font-size: 15px; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></div><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; transition-property: none;"><br /></div></div></div></div>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-66572567016026198532021-02-06T08:01:00.007-05:002021-02-06T08:23:15.222-05:00Our Son Paul's Last Speech<span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Today is the birthday of our Paul who passed away in his sleep 9 years ago. It's hard to believe it's been nine years since we have heard his laughter, his jokes and puns, his counsel, and just him, being Paul. </b></span></span><div><span face=""Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #050505; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span face="Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>When we drove out to where he had lived in Northern Kentucky, that icy January, to arrange for his funeral, someone gave us a CD with a talk he had given just a month or two before. After losing his sight at the age of 22, completing college, and not finding a job, Paul began giving talks on living our Catholic faith, our faith in the good God. He used to tell me, "God is love." </b></span></span></div><div><span face="Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span face="Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">One of the things Paul talks about in this speech is having no fear anymore. I believe he meant it. I believe he was ready for whatever happened to call him home to God. But I also think God gave us fear for a reason, and that it's not to be dismissed completely; but then, I never had the strength of faith which Paul had at the end, so that's just me and my disclaimer.
Here's a link to the talk if you're interested in hearing it. It's 37:54 minutes, so grab a drink or plan to fit it into a free slot in your day or evening. God bless!
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jXqQhm7fmg&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">Paul Myers' Speech 12/15/11</a></span><span style="font-size: 15px;">
</span></b></span></span></div><div><span face="Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div><div><span face="Segoe UI Historic, Segoe UI, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #050505;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></div>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-76929944128742887792021-02-04T14:23:00.003-05:002021-02-04T14:31:30.563-05:00Three Books for Black History Month<div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc e5nlhep0 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_1pl" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px; transition-property: none;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Here are three books I would like to share for Black History Month. These three books go back to the early and mid-1900's. History helps us to know how we got where we are and also to see patterns. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>The Warmth of Other Suns, The Epic Story of America's Great Migration</b></i>, by Isabel Wilkerson</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Family Properties, Race, Real Estate, and the Exploitation of Black Urban America</b></i>, by Beryl Satter</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill, The Untold Story of Arthur Shores and His Family's Fight for Civil Rights</b></i>, by Helen Shores Lee and Barbara S Shores, with Denis George</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">The first book, <i><b>The Warmth of Other Suns</b></i>, follows three different families who migrated from the Jim Crow South, with its segregation and lynchings, to the North and to the West, where they thought they would be safer. And it shows us what they encountered there, and how it would affect their lives and the lives of all who had done the same: only allowed to live in certain blocks of the city, and the crowded conditions that caused, and if someone dared to move one house over from the invisible lines, they would be subject to the violence of mobs of white people coming to destroy their property and chase them out of where they "didn't belong". Even though it's tough emotionally, and a long book, it's an easy read, in that, it's such a strong human interest story of real people by a masterful writer. I first read it on Kindle, and I remember where I was when I read some of the different parts of it. I more recently bought the print book so I can read parts of it again at leisure in my living room.</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><b>Family Properties</b></i> is by a woman whose Jewish attorney father fought for the rights of black people in Chicago to own land, and to be able to improve their crowded conditions and about the legal but unethical theft of their properties, and the awful struggles he faced, which of course, is even more about the awful struggles of the people who were forced to live in such conditions. I read a third of the book and it became more technical about real estate, and I let it slide, but I'm glad I read some of it. I feel like, even in high school and college, students are sometimes assigned an article or part of a book; and I learned a lot. I originally read it on Kindle, but then bought the book, and I hope to read more of it. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I am currently 8 chapters into the book,<b> <i>The Gentle Giant of Dynamite Hill, The Untold Story of Arthur Shores and His Family's Fight for Civil Rights</i></b>. The book was written by the two daughters of Attorney Arthur Shores, the first black man in Alabama to fight civil cases in an otherwise white court of law. The body of the book begins with Helen Shores' recollection, "I can still recall the pinging sound bullets made when someone in a passing car shot the window in our recreation room. The thick glass would usually prevent the window from shattering, but the bullets would pierce through and lodge in our interior walls..." </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I know some people say, why? "Why do we have to go over all that? Things are different today." But we need to know what is possible...both in man's selfish and greedy nature and in man's courageous nature. We need to know why...why and how did the poverty of some parts of our urban centers develop? And we need to be ready to recognize those aspects of systems which still need change.</span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4 l82x9zwi uo3d90p7 h905i5nu monazrh9" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="ozuftl9m tvfksri0 olo4ujb6 jmbispl3" style="animation-name: none; border-top: 1px solid var(--divider); font-family: inherit; margin-left: 12px; margin-right: 12px; margin-top: 12px; 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inset: 0px; opacity: 0; pointer-events: none; position: absolute; transition-duration: var(--fds-duration-extra-extra-short-out); transition-property: none; transition-timing-function: var(--fds-animation-fade-out);"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="cwj9ozl2 tvmbv18p" style="animation-name: none; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 4px; transition-property: none;"><span class="rfua0xdk pmk7jnqg pfx3uekm ay7djpcl ema1e40h q45zohi1" data-html2canvas-ignore="true" style="animation-name: none; clip-path: inset(50%); clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); font-family: inherit; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; transition-property: none; width: 1px;"></span></div></div></div></div>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-45702844140632592302021-01-23T22:59:00.009-05:002021-05-01T14:26:52.275-05:00Loving people in spite of seeing the world through different lenses<span style="font-size: large;"><span>Jesus told us to love our neighbor but how do we do that? We know about feeding the poor and so on, but what about in our everyday relationships with people we don't agree with?</span><span> </span></span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">"Love means look for good," I heard writer and speaker Denis Waitley say, many years ago in a seminar. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">There are a myriad of ways we can answer the question of how to love. A book I once read spoke of three A's. I only remember two of the A's for sure right now, acceptance and approval. I think the third was probably appreciation. (I wish I could remember the title or author of the book, but I cannot.) </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">As I first read that book, long ago, I remember feeling that yes, I could accept people as having been created by a loving God and that he ultimately wants each and every one of us to go to heaven; but what about approval? What if I think the way someone thinks or the things this person does are wrong? Well, we don't have to approve of everything; we can look for things we do approve. We can, as Denis Waitley said, "look for good". </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Most people we meet or interact with – for example, relatives, neighbors, co-workers – have some virtues or customs we can approve of. In addition, even if we don't approve of someone's views or some of their actions, there's another thing to consider also, and it's very important: We don't know anyone's intentions. Only God knows what is in anyone's heart. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">So, we can accept people as God's most beautiful creation. We can approve of their good qualities, while not judging their intention regarding values we don't share in common. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">And how do we appreciate them? </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We can appreciate people by showing them gratitude for their service and their gifts. By gifts, I don't mean presents, so much as their talents and contributions, be it big or small, be it some great work or a smile. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We can also appreciate their humanness. If they are suffering, we can empathize with them. We can let them know that we hear them or see them, that they are of value to us. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> All of these things can be done whether we are avoiding our differences (as we often do in the workplace, and as we must do on various Facebook groups I'm on) or whether we discuss our differences. My neighbor and I can discuss gardening and our yards, and bring each other mail that was mis-delivered; disagree about some of our opinions; and rejoice over one another's new car, job, or job promotion. Those things are not mutually exclusive. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">We can disagree with people, even strongly, and at the same time, practice acceptance, approval, and appreciation. </span></div>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-24301055106085118872020-12-19T08:18:00.002-05:002020-12-19T09:26:24.594-05:00Our Hard-working Postal Workers<div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="ecm0bbzt hv4rvrfc e5nlhep0 dati1w0a" data-ad-comet-preview="message" data-ad-preview="message" id="jsc_c_5c" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; padding: 4px 16px; transition-property: none;"><div class="j83agx80 cbu4d94t ew0dbk1b irj2b8pg" style="animation-name: none; display: flex; flex-direction: column; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: -5px; margin-top: -5px; transition-property: none;"><div class="qzhwtbm6 knvmm38d" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-top: 5px; transition-property: none;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v knj5qynh oo9gr5id hzawbc8m" color="var(--primary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; display: block; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.3333; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; word-break: break-word;"><div class="kvgmc6g5 cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Have you sent something in the mail, wondering where it even is now? I know I'm not the only one whose tracking updates are sketchy or non-existent. I've seen it both from friends on Facebook and from small business groups. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">It's hard. It's a hard time. We are entering Christmas, and we like to give and receive gifts, and it's a way to feel connected to people who are geographically distant. And even more people are geographically distant this year. I sympathize and empathize, and I wish everyone could get a good hug, or take a walk, or whatever helps with that loss and frustration....every day. I have compassion for your frustration. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">At the same time, I would hope that we have compassion for our hard-working mail carriers. If they are not getting our packages sorted or scanned or delivered on time, let's have compassion on them, too. They are risking themselves to Covid and back injuries and sore muscles, working longer and harder and wearing themselves down, to sort and deliver the mail, with an unprecedented volume of mail and with unprecedented shortages of employees. Can you imagine being short-handed and then trying to pick up the slack whenever someone goes out sick?...when you're already working longer and carrying heavy packages? And how demoralizing it must be when you know that no matter how hard you work, you're probably not going to get some of this delivered on time?</span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">I'm sure the deliveries of the holidays can be overwhelming in the best of years. But this is definitely not the best of years. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Let's be there for our postal workers if we can. Let's thank them if we have a chance. Smile if we have the opportunity. We are even allowed to gift our mail carrier (up to $20 worth, not to exceed $50 in a year is what I have read on the internet). I'm not suggesting that, just sharing it for those who would like to know. Let's realize, too, that in the wee hours or whenever they get off work for the day or on their day off, they might get on Facebook or some other social media, too. And so, when we complain, let's complain because it's hard but not complain about the people who are out there trying so hard. Let's express our appreciation for their Herculean efforts. </span></div></div><div class="o9v6fnle cxmmr5t8 oygrvhab hcukyx3x c1et5uql ii04i59q" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin: 0.5em 0px 0px; overflow-wrap: break-word; transition-property: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><span style="font-size: large;">Thank you to all our postal workers, and may you stay well through this very difficult time. God bless everyone who is working so hard in this season of our lives, health care workers, grocery store workers, delivery people, retail workers, hotel employees, day care workers, and so many more. Thank you!</span></div></div></span></div></div></div></div></div><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="stjgntxs ni8dbmo4 l82x9zwi uo3d90p7 h905i5nu monazrh9" data-visualcompletion="ignore-dynamic" style="animation-name: none; border-radius: 0px 0px 8px 8px; font-family: inherit; overflow: hidden; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: "Segoe UI Historic", "Segoe UI", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; transition-property: none;"><div style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; transition-property: none;"><div class="ozuftl9m tvfksri0 olo4ujb6 jmbispl3" style="animation-name: none; font-family: inherit; margin-left: 12px; margin-right: 12px; transition-property: none;"><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 pfnyh3mw i1fnvgqd gs1a9yip owycx6da btwxx1t3 ph5uu5jm b3onmgus e5nlhep0 ecm0bbzt nkwizq5d roh60bw9 mysgfdmx hddg9phg" style="align-items: stretch; 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box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"><i class="hu5pjgll m6k467ps sp_Arq0BRt3OSq sx_4ab5d6" style="animation-name: none; background-image: url("https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/rsrc.php/v3/yW/r/G8-n6-5DUE8.png"); background-position: 0px -349px; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: auto; display: inline-block; filter: var(--filter-secondary-icon); height: 18px; transition-property: none; vertical-align: -0.25em; width: 18px;"></i></div><div class="rq0escxv l9j0dhe7 du4w35lb j83agx80 cbu4d94t pfnyh3mw d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz ph5uu5jm b3onmgus iuny7tx3 ipjc6fyt" style="animation-name: none; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-shrink: 0; font-family: inherit; max-width: 100%; min-width: 0px; padding: 6px 4px; position: relative; transition-property: none; z-index: 0;"><span class="d2edcug0 hpfvmrgz qv66sw1b c1et5uql rrkovp55 a8c37x1j keod5gw0 nxhoafnm aigsh9s9 d3f4x2em fe6kdd0r mau55g9w c8b282yb iv3no6db jq4qci2q a3bd9o3v lrazzd5p m9osqain" color="var(--secondary-text)" dir="auto" style="animation-name: none; 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clip-path: inset(50%); clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); font-family: inherit; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; transition-property: none; width: 1px;"></span></div></div></div></div>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-15087476910361040532020-11-18T21:45:00.009-05:002021-05-01T13:50:13.015-05:00How I Got into the Business of Making Cloth Masks<div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYIJxeVuyel4cqh-V5_ap-0DheVw9gR3BOsJXH-W9nWLfv5AO91Qc73pOhE5mH5gnwGi7Gb5ZBqxD9nJTVy_KTN1xU849iQPCd5-NQ-lLHEx6_HE5XGSkRsX9zfz2a0cl3vYXkRA/s2048/20200729_080116.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYIJxeVuyel4cqh-V5_ap-0DheVw9gR3BOsJXH-W9nWLfv5AO91Qc73pOhE5mH5gnwGi7Gb5ZBqxD9nJTVy_KTN1xU849iQPCd5-NQ-lLHEx6_HE5XGSkRsX9zfz2a0cl3vYXkRA/s320/20200729_080116.jpg" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>We had a partial box of paper "surgical" masks in the house when the pandemic hit. I thought that would be all we would need. After all, we were just trying to "flatten the curve", right? </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Soon I realized I might want to make cloth masks for my family. Well, I had a bit of fabric left from previous sewing projects; and I had a bit of 1/4" elastic, probably from my grandmother's stash; and I had pipe cleaners from some crafts with the kids. So, having found instructions I liked, I began making masks for my family. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Then I ordered supplies through eBay, and I made masks for my adult kids' roommates and co-workers, and then for a friend's wedding. Pretty soon, I had made and given away 100 masks. In the meantime, one of my sons kept suggesting I make masks to sell. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">So I ordered more supplies and opened an account on Etsy. About that time a friend suggested metal nose strips to replace the pipe cleaners. That made a huge difference in efficiency and durability, and I was happy to begin my selling on Etsy with this improvement to the masks. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Update: I have since closed my Etsy shop and am no longer selling masks, because they became readily available at reasonable prices. </span></div>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-75344845715143428852020-11-07T11:29:00.010-05:002020-11-07T11:39:58.791-05:00The Poor You Will Always Have with You<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">"The poor you will always have with you." How often have we heard these words? So many times that you might
think you know what I'm going to say. But maybe you don't. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I have heard and read these words in Scripture since
childhood. As an adult, I have often heard and read them used as an excuse to neglect
people who do not have enough. (You knew I was going to say that part, didn't
you?). However, they were originally said in a specific context. But is there yet
another take-away for us? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Jesus said this in defense of the woman who had anointed his
head and who had been hypocritically accused of waste. He pointed out that he would
only be with us on earth for a little while. She had shown him this sign of
great respect. She had acknowledged the honor that was due to him. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">We know that Jesus cared about the poor. He stated that our
very salvation depends on our care of others. He said: "…For I was hungry
and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and
you welcomed me…"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Matthew 26:35). And,
following a list of people we could help, he said that he will tell us to enter
the kingdom of heaven. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, is there anything we can learn, millennia later, from
Jesus saying, "For you always have the poor with you, but you will not
always have me." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Matthew 26:11). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Is there anything we can learn if we look at this sentence -
as many people seem to do - without the context of the woman; but if we include the second part of the sentence? What if we keep at least the context of a complete
sentence? We would not always have him with us in the same way that they did in
those times. But we do have him with us in our churches, in our hearts, and
wherever we are. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">If we want to look at the lesson as universal, for all time, maybe what he meant for us - who live outside of the time when he walked on earth as a man - is not all that different. Maybe he meant for us to honor his place in our lives and refresh
our souls by communing with him...in our churches, in our hearts, in the beauty of his world. After all, the two great commandments are to
Love God and to Love our neighbor. He tells us to honor and help our neighbor,
but he also gives us the strength and guidance we need to do so. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He said, "Come to me, all who labor and
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Matthew 11:28). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">(Scriptures taken from: Revised Standard Version, Second
Catholic Edition).</span><o:p></o:p></p>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-43570409201891651102020-10-07T10:34:00.012-05:002020-10-07T11:32:39.604-05:00America was Already Great<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #050505; mso-bidi-font-family: "Segoe UI"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">America was
already great. We didn't need to be made great again. We are great in our
people who contribute to food banks or help the people in their neighborhoods
or on the street corner; in our people who work each day to keep society
running well; and in our people who are not able to work (whether through
disability or not finding employment they were educated or trained for), but
who contribute at home through their love, and who sometimes bring a smile to
others or lift a heart, all of whom are of great worth; and in our people who
come from other countries and offer the work of their hands or minds to enrich
us. We were already great. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #050505; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> America
was never perfect. In our past, we have devastated the Japanese by dropping
bombs on their cities; we have abused the Chinese by rioting against them for
being here, after they worked hard and risked their lives to build our
railroads for us; we took the land from the people who lived here when we first
came and have treated them unfairly ever since; we have brought slaves and,
once we freed them, never, as a nation as a whole, quite treated them with
equal respect. We have always had plenty of room to grow and become
"greater".</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #050505; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> But
in the past four years, we have - it might seem - become less great in some ways.
We seem to have become less great as we separated children from their parents
with no way to keep track of them and reunite them; as we sent troops to clear
a peaceful protest for a presidential photo op; as we have sent federal troops
in unidentified uniforms to quell protests by picking up people walking down
the street, with no charges, and putting them into unmarked vans; and as we
have reinstated the death penalty at the federal level after 17 years and even
while we learn of all the people who have been falsely incarcerated for crimes
they did not commit. I'm puzzled at the idea that America is any greater. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in; mso-margin-top-alt: auto;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: #050505; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> But
we are still great as a people. We still, individually and in many groups, help
others. We still do our work every day, whatever it may be, or if we are not
able to work, we still love and are loved by our families. There will always be
sin and there will always be sorrow. We can fight some - not all of that, but
certainly some - and mostly we can fight it by our personal good works and by
striving to be a nation that is greater in its care for all...from helping and
protecting the mother who is expecting a precious child to helping and
protecting, as much as is in our power, the elderly, the sick, and the dying.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;">
</p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></o:p></p>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-32376876672645608142020-09-22T17:12:00.001-05:002020-09-22T17:47:46.053-05:00My Masks for You<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETEz-YMFPIbRYgiUyGB4-vx8QIvL-9AobPqmO32xzaaGSZzRaoL4omeLEkS-h9ScapilaolQiuQqSxeNAPh5lLdftvhuA7NggVQpIR3V4Xxf4tYGi-wYRGmSEDkRPnc6wZtLOiQ/s4032/20200919_104324.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhETEz-YMFPIbRYgiUyGB4-vx8QIvL-9AobPqmO32xzaaGSZzRaoL4omeLEkS-h9ScapilaolQiuQqSxeNAPh5lLdftvhuA7NggVQpIR3V4Xxf4tYGi-wYRGmSEDkRPnc6wZtLOiQ/s320/20200919_104324.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">While writing has always been my passion, sewing has always been my hobby. Both began when I was as young as 10 or 11 years old. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Shortly after I lost my job to the pandemic, I started sewing masks for my family and those closest to them. <br /><br />After giving away many masks, I decided to start selling masks on Etsy. <br /><br />I would love it if you would like to come check them out. If you are in the market, the price includes shipping by priority mail. Even if you are not in the market, I'd love to have you just come by and take a look. </span><a href="https://www.etsy.com/shop/Sewn4UByMMM?ref=seller-platform-mcnav" style="font-size: large;" target="_blank">Sewn4UByMMM</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Feel free to share the link with your friends and family if you'd like. </span></div><br />Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-39169605541588169842020-08-18T11:13:00.011-05:002023-11-13T08:23:59.037-05:00Why Three Cookbooks and What are the Differences Between Them? <p><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">At last, I have all three of my little cookbooks available for you in both Kindle and paperback formats. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">You might wonder: Why three and what are the differences between them? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Vintage-Pantry-Cookbook-Margaret-Myers/dp/B08DSS7Y1C/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=a+vintage+pantry+cookbook&qid=1597763843&s=books&sr=1-1" target="_blank">A Vintage Pantry Cookbook</a> was born of my finding a little book of recipes my mom had given us one Christmas, and wanting to preserve them. Although my mom could cook just about anything well, these recipes of hers were primarily geared for cooking with inexpensive ingredients you can keep on hand. To further that concept, I decided to add simple quick breads which can be made without fresh milk and eggs. Later, I decided to create and add some simple crock pot soups, again, ones which could be made primarily from the pantry. When I lost my job to the 2020 pandemic - and some foods became harder to get - I finished the book and put it on Kindle in the hopes it might help people. And now I have finally put it in paperback also. I hope you might find it helpful. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/1-Button-Rice-Cooker-Cookbook-Recipes/dp/B08DSYPD86/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=1-button+rice+cooker+cookbook&qid=1597767086&s=books&sr=1-2" target="_blank">The 1-Button Rice Cooker Cookbook</a><span> saved my budget and my sanity at a time when I was tired of cooking (and I wasn't comfortable in the little kitchen I had at the time either). We had only three of us at home to cook for, as most of our children had grown and moved on. I told my husband, "If we had lots of money, I would eat out every night." But I'm the frugal one, and I didn't really mean it (and we didn't have lots of money). So I started buying more convenience foods, and then I bought a rice cooker so I could add flavorings without buying those rice packets. That's when the idea of rice cooker meals caught my attention on the internet. I got a Kindle book by Neal Bertrand, called </span><i>Rice Cooker Meals, Fast Home Cooking for Busy People</i><span>. I loved what he did with it, but it was Cajun cooking, and I'm a Westerner who grew up with a Midwestern mother. So, I started adapting recipes we knew to the rice cooker, and my son Robert and I began creating more recipes, as well, mostly with rice or pasta, but a few others too. During this time, two new cookers came out, the instant pot and the fuzzy logic rice cooker (I still haven't wrapped my head around that second one.). But people talked about the learning curve, and I still wanted something where I - and those friends who had asked me about easy cooking - could just pop the foods in and walk away, and come back to a meal a half hour or an hour later. We still use the meals in this book several times a week. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Myers-Family-Cookbook-Frugal-Foods/dp/1492265713/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1597767127&sr=1-2" target="_blank">The Myers Family Cookbook</a><span> was the first cookbook I wrote, and is somewhat of a basic teaching cookbook. It's not as comprehensive as Betty Crocker or Mark Bittman, but it takes the reader through steps for making a number of different dishes.You see, when I got married, I knew how to cook eggs and quesadillas, and make a salad, and not much else. When my mom got married, she didn't know how to cook very much, either. I decided I would break that chain, so I had my six children cook with me, as soon as they could safely stand on a chair. They have become better cooks than I am. This cookbook includes some family memories and a few of their creative recipes (although I think most of them, now, often cook without recipes, though they look on the internet for ideas).</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span>I hope you might enjoy one or more of these books. All of them are available on Amazon. </span><span>You can click the above book links or visit </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Margaret-Mary-Myers/e/B00EOZ9QNO?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1597769290&sr=8-2" target="_blank">my Amazon Author Page</a><span>. </span></span></p>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-849268115213562702020-07-19T08:49:00.000-05:002020-09-22T17:53:13.820-05:00The Pursuit of Life and Health Isn't Always about Fear<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">When I first studied the Catholic Faith, I learned that the
Ten Commandments were not just for Old Testament times, that they applied to
our lives today, and not just in the most obvious ways. For example, the
commandment, Thou Shalt Not Kill, didn't just refer to murder. We don't get off
that easy. It also included anything which intentionally or knowingly could lead to
a death or to injury of the health of others or ourselves. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I read an article this morning where a woman said she has
dealt with chronic illness, and this has prepared her to deal with the panic
around Covid-19. Without quoting,
because my purpose isn't to get into an article battle, the impression I got
from the article was that she felt we are destroying our health and the health
of those around us by living in fear of the virus, and more specifically in
fear of dying.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Let me say this. As someone with a strong faith in God and a
strong trust in his mercy I am not afraid of death. Now, that is not to say
that I have no fear about what manner of death I might face. Another thing I
learned, a little later in my studies of the Catholic Faith, is that if God
allows hard things to come to us, he will give us the graces when we need them,
not necessarily before we need them. In other words, if we fear a certain type
of death (I never could get on board with being eaten by lions), that doesn't
mean we won't be able to deal with whatever actually does happen to us. I've
learned not to dwell on the various ways I could die. But as someone whose son
died, and I experienced how hard that was on all of us, I want to do all that I
can to live, especially for the sake of my family and other loved ones. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But being cautious in a time of a highly contagious virus is
not only about my own life and health, but also all those I come into contact
with, as well. Although there are some people - on both sides of the thinking
about this situation - who turn it into fear and anger, it isn't fear that
drives me to be careful; it is love. When I decide to stay home, it is out of
love for myself, yes, but also out of love for my family who wants me
around. When I decided to wear a mask
wherever I go (unless it's outdoors in a wide open area), I made that decision
out of love for myself, my family, and everyone I come in contact with. Not out
of fear. Certainly not out of fear of death. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Yes, we do need to be careful that we don't let fear and
anger destroy our health, as the author of the article pointed out. But that
same caution – to not let fear and anger destroy our health - is needed on all
sides of the issue. She pointed out stories of people who have gotten angry at
people in the store for accidentally or minimally invading their boundaries.
No, that is not healthy or charitable. Nor is it healthy or charitable when
people get angry with a store employee because the store or the state requires
a mask. Some people on all sides need to lay down their anger or at least ratchet it down a notch
or two. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">So, yes, we do need to protect our mental health and that of
those around us. We don't do that by panicking about an illness; but neither do
we do that by panicking that the government might take away our rights by
asking us to wear a mask until we get better control of an illness which has
been highly contagious so far. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-45102717191624916932020-06-05T11:18:00.000-05:002020-09-22T17:52:57.226-05:00Don't Miss the Protests for the Riots<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">No, I'm not telling you to get out there regardless of any
danger you might perceive. Public protests are not for everyone. But please
don't miss what's happening. Please don't misinterpret what's happening. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Black lives have been in danger, and black people have been disproportionately
targeted and abused, for years. If some of us have not been aware, it's time we
become aware. And some have been doing just that in the aftermath of the murder
of George Floyd, which was videotaped and shared to the world. We've seen it in
that video. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">We've even seen it in the crushing responses to some of the
protests. Peaceful protests in the daytime, and then, sometimes, as curfew nears, tear
gas is used before the protesters can even get out of an area, and sometimes
people are trapped on a street or a bridge, or attacked with dangerous rubber
bullets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Some people see it now. But some others have questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">Some people say: But there's police overreach against white
people too. Yep, that's true; but in infinitesimally smaller numbers and degree per the size of the
white population. But, also, if we work toward better training and more accountability for our police forces, wouldn't it help people of all races? And wouldn't it also help those many officers who want
to do the right thing and are trapped in systems that are not always honest or
fair? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">"But it's not okay to loot and destroy," some
people say. Is it okay to kill people? Honestly, is it? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">While it's true that two wrongs don't make a right, let's
get our priorities straight. Life is more important than property. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">But who is looting and destroying? Very few compared to the
huge numbers protesting. And in the videos I've been seeing, I've been seeing
white people vandalizing and destroying property. I've heard that some are anarchists and others
white supremacists (think klan or neo-nazi types). Opportunists find a way to further their
malignant goals, and will unfortunately take advantage of such a crisis.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">If any of the looting
does comes from black people (and like I said, I haven't seen it), that TV you
see going out a door might be exchanged for rent, or for food for the kiddos, to
keep them alive, or it might come from angry hopelessness, or an effort to get
people to pay attention. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">I've heard that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, "A
riot is the language of the unheard." He was explaining where it comes from, not
participating. And he was referring to the rioting against police overreach and
brutality of the 60's, not to the riots which were done by white people against
minorities in the 1800's and the first half of the 1900's, where white people
took the lives of many black people and some other minorities. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">In some ways, we have come a long way since those white riots
against people of other races. Yet, black lives are still being taken,
just differently. We need so much more growth, because for too long, we have turned
our heads away in denial. We need to grow and make serious changes in our
systems, wherever those systems oppress people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's time we listen. It's time we learn. It's time we grow. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-14566727761864326122020-03-31T19:07:00.006-05:002020-09-22T17:52:32.495-05:00A Vintage Pantry Cookbook<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">
Okay, I have just set my newest little cookbook, A Vintage Pantry Cookbook, to be free, as of tomorrow morning, for five days. I thought it might be useful at this time. (Five days is the maximum free period which Amazon allows in a 90 day period.)</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;">
"Two dozen recipes you can make with foods you can keep in your pantry, refrigerator, or freezer. Or you can just take a jou<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">rney back through other times. You will find simple quick breads made without milk or eggs. You will find Spanish rice and crock pot soups and chili. You will also find some original recipes for meals you have probably never heard of before now. Whether you add the recipes to your collection or simply enjoy the trip into 20th Century America, enjoy."</span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><div class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; display: inline; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px;">
If anyone noticed that I was looking for crock pot soup recipes recently, you see, the soups in this book are made from canned goods. Also, they are made in small batches (4 or 5 cups of soup). However, some of the other dishes in the book are able to serve more people or can be doubled.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
Free from Wednesday, April 1, 2020, 12:00 AM PDT through Sunday, April 5, 2020, 11:59 PM PDT.</div>
<div style="font-family: inherit; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
I have set this to public in case anyone would like to share.</div>
</div>
</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086L1MPSV?fbclid=IwAR3pMUKwTkg_vI1FUWGSnMdVpqwnsZ_ooaNSJl2RlWA3RdFwySlAjRhOYaA"><span style="font-size: x-large;">https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086L1MPSV?fbclid=IwAR3pMUKwTkg_vI1FUWGSnMdVpqwnsZ_ooaNSJl2RlWA3RdFwySlAjRhOYaA</span></a>Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-29515397495891203762020-03-31T07:07:00.002-05:002020-09-22T17:52:45.984-05:001-Button Rice Cooker Cookbook<span style="font-size: x-large;">I'm not recommending anyone run out and buy something right now. But do you happen to have a simple rice cooker where you just push down the switch for on, and it pops up when it's done?<br />
</span><div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-large;">
If so, did you know you can make whole meals with it? Yes, with rice, but alternatively, with pasta. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-large;">
That's what my 1-Button Rice Cooker Cookbook is about, using the 1-button rice cooker to make one-pot meals with ease and with what you might have on hand. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-large;">
Having trouble finding ground beef but you can find hot dogs? (Or even Vienna sausages?). And do you have spaghetti sauce? And penne? You could make Frankly Pasta in the 1-Button Rice Cooker. Honestly, if you don't have penne but you have elbow macaroni, that would probably work too. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-large;">
Do you have rice and barbecue sauce and some chopped chicken or frozen chopped chicken (or even canned chicken in a pinch)? You could make Barbecue Rice and Chicken in the 1-Button Rice Cooker. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-large;">
How about Chicken and Rice with Veggies? Macaroni and Cheese? Or even Tuna, Rice, and Tomatoes? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-large;">
You can get this as a Kindle book by clicking on the link at the right. It's 99 cents on Kindle. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div>
<div><span style="font-size: x-large;">
It will be free from <span face="" style="background-color: #edf5ff; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember", arial, sans-serif;">Tuesday, March 31, 2020, 12:00 AM PDT through </span><span face="" style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-family: "amazon ember", arial, sans-serif;">Saturday, April 4, 2020, 11:59 PM PDT. </span></span></div>
Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-59116366236158559202019-07-14T21:35:00.001-05:002020-09-22T17:53:26.082-05:00A Few Important Immigration Facts<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Although I'm not an immigration expert, there are a few things I know. There are lots of other things that I have learned more recently, but can't explain as well as some other people can; and there are also lots of things that I do not know. But here are just a few important, easy facts that I've seen some people forget or not know.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">It's okay if you didn't know (unless you are in government or saying bad things about whole groups of people, then, well, at the least, it's important to learn).</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">1) Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory and its people are citizens of the United States. They don't have to do anything. They just are.</span></div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />2) If someone was born in this country, that person is a citizen. They don't have to do anything. They just are.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />3) If someone came into this country as a child and went through naturalization later, no one can intelligently tell them to "go back to your country", because this *is* their country. Period.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />4) If someone has a "green card", that means they can live here and continue to be a part of this country legally, legitimately, for life! A "green card" (permanent residency) is permanent.They don't have to do anything. They belong here. It is their country.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />5) If someone is an immigrant whose papers are not in order, it doesn't mean they started out that way, or intended it that way, or even that they know that something went amiss. They have families and they contribute to their communities.</span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />6) Immigrants who are not citizens or permanent residents ("green card"), do not have access to welfare or food stamps, as some people think. They just don't. </span></div>
</div>
<div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; display: inline; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-top: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />7) Every single human being, without exception, is a human being and has certain rights as a human being. Full stop.</span></div>
</div>
Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-22450938096867706522019-02-20T10:37:00.001-05:002020-09-22T17:53:41.340-05:00The Animals Know<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTFjjZC-ee6MPU8IbtwWIEoQguLy_ALl5HnwzOHmNHmb60ixNmuim9MS7vPuZBTLucSzWWE2V-y1pZmDP9f3S63wX3F8juAZHBy8Ry1C0412aITTyCHv0CRoyloCEF-9cBv3iEw/s1600/20190220_084854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTFjjZC-ee6MPU8IbtwWIEoQguLy_ALl5HnwzOHmNHmb60ixNmuim9MS7vPuZBTLucSzWWE2V-y1pZmDP9f3S63wX3F8juAZHBy8Ry1C0412aITTyCHv0CRoyloCEF-9cBv3iEw/s320/20190220_084854.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">Maybe it was my dad telling me when I was a child that the first thing he did every morning was look out the window. Maybe it was spending so much time outdoors as a child, and camping a lot as an adult. Maybe it was reading <i>The Long Winter</i> by Laura Ingalls Wilder, reading about how a Native American man clued Pa in to the coming severe winter, based on signs he could see from the animals. Maybe it was all of that, but I've learned both to love nature and also to realize that animals often know when a storm is coming. We may know, with all our science, but so do they, it seems.</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">I remember some years ago, a couple days before a hurricane was predicted to hit the East Coast, we happened to take a short walk in a state park Something seemed "off", but I couldn't figure out what it was. That night, at the hotel, it dawned on me what it was. We had seen no small animals in the woods, no salamanders, no rabbits. We had heard no unseen woodland creatures rustling the leaves, no birds tweeting or calling. When we arrived home, there were no squirrels in sight, as there usually were. It seems they had all taken shelter ahead of the hurricane. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">This morning, with a snowstorm predicted, and schools and government offices closed, I got up to nothing happening. I wondered if the weather forecasters had gotten it wrong. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">I looked out the window to see a lone large animal in a neighbor's yard. I think it was a buck. Since moving here, I have often seen a deer family, doe and fawns, acting at home, nibbling, and then gracefully running off. But, this morning, it was a lone buck, walking, perhaps cautiously. It seemed almost as if he was taking something in or figuring something out. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">A little later, I stepped outside to take a look around and heard a cacophony of birds. A whole flock was up in a tree, some joining them, some taking off, and soon they all took off in the same direction. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;">And then the snow began in earnest. I don't know where the birds were going, but I think they knew what was coming. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVKOY6h4r3w6CaBxU2yOtX1nOvwYo2PjrS5F6Xa2eHrw4znaPS-5DH1RYKdj_dv-smJM68OayJ5HViEDY_h7HI0X35JFw4zW0lmQaUAS6dq04Mxry4sHeoIR3Gh3OhD-yESULXw/s1600/20190220_103301.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPVKOY6h4r3w6CaBxU2yOtX1nOvwYo2PjrS5F6Xa2eHrw4znaPS-5DH1RYKdj_dv-smJM68OayJ5HViEDY_h7HI0X35JFw4zW0lmQaUAS6dq04Mxry4sHeoIR3Gh3OhD-yESULXw/s320/20190220_103301.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-3583901370514967132019-01-26T07:30:00.000-05:002020-09-22T17:53:52.609-05:00Love is the Only Answer<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #1c1e21; font-size: large;">I
woke this morning with a thought, and this was the thought, "Love is the
only answer." It just popped into my head. </span></div>
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<br />
Now, what I think of when I think of "love" is respect, caring,
compassion, appreciation, and understanding. I might be able to think of other
words, but that's a start.<br />
<br />
Love - for those who are Christians – says: these people were redeemed by the
same Jesus who died to redeem me. Love - for those who believe in God –
says: these people, whoever they are, wherever they are, were created by the
very same loving God who created me. Love - for those who don't believe in God –
says: I will do to others what I would want them to do to me, and not do to
others what I would not want them to do to me.<br />
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Love does not look at race, nationality, religion, or other beliefs or
conditions, before being respectful of any one of the very greatest creation of
all, the human being. Love seeks for all to be treated with the same respect.<br />
<br />
Love does not look at whether someone has committed a crime to decide if they
will respect that person as God's creation.<br />
<br />
Love does not look at what they believe to be sin, and judge what is in someone
else's heart. But love does call out injustice in order to right wrongs, out of
compassion and respect for those being wronged. Love does not mean we will like
everyone or that we won't get angry when someone commits an injustice, but love
wishes change, not harm.<br />
<br />
Love will be glad that someone feeds the hungry; and that someone visits the
imprisoned; and that someone helps the homeless; and that someone visits those
who are sick. Love helps whenever the opportunity and the means present, but
without the opportunity or means, it still seeks to do no harm and to speak or
hope no harm.<br />
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Love requires courage and strength. Love requires effort and practice. We all
fall short at times.<br />
<br />
But I believe, when all else is said and done, that love is the only answer.</span><span style="font-size: 10.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-23383587109485553732019-01-10T10:30:00.000-05:002019-01-10T10:30:01.457-05:00People <div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Please don't anyone tell me how bad people are, the people in our country or in the rest of our world. Right now, as we speak, many people in this country are working without pay to serve you and me and our loved ones. It just struck me how heroic that is. People in airline security and air traffic control are making sure people who fly are as safe as possible. People in the Coast Guard are doing water rescues. All while getting no pay and wondering when they will. All while <span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;">trying to keep themselves and their own families afloat.</span></span></div>
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Don't anyone tell me how bad or evil our people are, either the people in our country or other people in our world. Sure there's sin. There has always been sin. There will always be sin. If there had not been sin, Jesus would not have come to this world. Jesus spent time with sinners, as the Pharisees pointed out disparagingly; but Jesus pointed out to them that they were sinners too. We all are. It's not people "out there" in "society", or "in other countries", that sin! It's every one of us, in some way or another. But that's not reason for despair, either for our nation, our world, or ourselves; because God is merciful.</div>
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But we do have some very real fears at times. Fears of people going homeless or hungry. Fears of sick people not getting the help they need. This is why we need compassion, compassion to look at people with eyes of faith and hope and especially love. Compassion to help them when we can and at least do them no harm. Compassion to have attitudes of love toward them.</div>
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"So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." I Corinthians 13:13.</div>
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Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-81133498532405422632019-01-08T11:00:00.001-05:002019-01-08T11:00:29.292-05:00On These Two Commandments<div style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 6px;">
<span style="font-size: large;">I've been reading tidbits, just a few sentences a day, of the New Testament, sequentially, at home in quiet, to just ponder. Even though I know these texts, sometimes I'm just in awe...or something jumps out of at me differently than it previously had.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Here's an example. Yes, I'm very aware of - and sometimes refer to - the two Great Commandments; but the sentence following them really struck me this morning.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">" 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment?' And he said to them, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.' "<br />Matthew 22:36-40.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets." I've read and heard that many times, but how much have I really thought about it? To love God and to love our neighbor....and, that nothing else supersedes that....nothing in law, nothing in prophecies. That's it, right there.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">To love God and to love our neighbor. And in another place, someone asks Jesus who is our neighbor. And he told him, in the story of the Good Samaritan, who our neighbor is. That person doesn't have to think as we do. He can be different from us in some way. And yet he is our neighbor. We care for him.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">No law or prophet is more important than to love God and our neighbor. No prophet, ordained by God or perceived by man, is more important than love for God and compassion for our neighbor.</span></div>
Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-39135486645592199772018-12-24T19:13:00.000-05:002018-12-24T19:15:01.715-05:00Wishing You Peace for Christmas <div class="_5pbx userContent _3576" data-ad-preview="message" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="js_8l2" style="background-color: white; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-top: 6px;">
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<span style="font-size: large;">I want to take a few moments to pause to acknowledge, in compassion, the sufferings that many carry, especially at this time.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Allegorically, some people are dealing tonight with the prickliness of the straw in the manger, the poverty and loneliness and the bitter cold of that night. Mary had - a few months previously - gone to help her cousin St. Elizabeth with her birth. But there was no one to return that favor. Mary herself gave birth with no woman at hand, in a stable,<span class="text_exposed_show" style="display: inline; font-family: inherit;"> with the smell and sound of animals around. How hard it must have been for St. Joseph, too, not to be able to offer a comfortable bed, a pillow, a little fire for warmth, for Mary and Baby Jesus.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For many people, celebrating Christmas is not what I think of when I think of the word "merry". For many, it's not the idyllic Norman Rockwell picture. There are those who are alone or who are sick, or who are both alone and sick. There are those who are lonely in the midst of many people and those who are overwhelmed. There are those of us who are missing loved ones who have passed on. As we get older, we might be missing a whole parade of loved ones, remembering those holidays of old, which we may have idealized over the years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">We heap expectations on the holiday and on ourselves. Homes sparkling, food abundant, decorations perfect. Everyone together and getting along. But often it falls short of the expectations. We don't have to make it perfect. It wasn't perfect at Bethlehem. The most perfect people did not have the most perfect Christmas, in the sense that we often set ourselves up for.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Let's stop to breathe, stop to say a momentary prayer for the stranger we run into who seems harried; for our neighbor or friend; and for our family member who is far from us (either in heart and mind or geographically)....even just a very quick thought sent heavenward in the midst of a very busy day. And let's remember to breathe.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">May we all have peace and hope in our hearts at Christmas. May the Christ Child console us in our concerns, in our memories, in our sorrows for loved ones.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">May we have a Christmas that brings to us, even in the midst of whatever sufferings we may have, the abiding, deep joy of the birth of Jesus, the peace that passes understanding.</span></div>
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Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19985892.post-47720322225614079622018-10-21T15:59:00.003-05:002018-10-21T17:08:36.199-05:00Father, Forgive Them<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;">"Father, forgive them for they know not what they
do," Jesus said, after being crowned with thorns and spat upon, scourged
and made to carry his own cross, stripped of his garments and crucified. What
an example of forgiveness that is! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I'm not a theologian but I think there is more to learn from
these words, too, beyond the lesson of forgiveness. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"They know not what they do," and yet, surely the
soldiers knew, in some place in their being, that they were going even beyond
their job of crucifixion – unspeakable as it is – going beyond it, by humiliating
and torturing someone beforehand. And surely,
those who called for the death of Jesus had followed the news of the day and knew
at some level that this Man had done good to so many people. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">In some ways, I would think, they knew some of what they
were doing. But perhaps they didn't know the full gravity of it. Most
importantly, they didn't know Who this was!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today, too, I'm guessing that people who persecute, humiliate or injure others probably know, in some place in their heart, that what they are doing is wrong or unkind;
but I'm guessing that often, they don't know who this is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For one thing, we don't always know what someone has been through. That cashier
who wasn't friendly could have lost a child last week. Or, she could have come
to work in spite of being in some kind of physical pain, because if she doesn't
come in, she will lose her job. What if we treat her with patience and welcome friendliness wherever we find it without requiring it as part of our service?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">That mother in the store, who is yelling at her two little
children, may struggle each and every day to overcome the abuse she received as
a child. She may be a kind, warm parent who studies child development in her
quiet moments, and treats her children with firmness but respect. But this day,
when she goes out to the store and her children misbehave, she hears the inner
voice she grew up with and succumbs to the scrutiny of those around her. In
frustration at her children's misbehavior and her own shame, she lashes out.
It's only a blip on the radar; it's not who she is. As another customer, observing
a few moments in her life, we don't really know who she is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">For those who think the mother in the store should be more
in control of her children, we can look at a similar story. That woman whose
children are running around may struggle each day to overcome the abuse she
received from her parents and the abuse she received in foster homes. When
she's in the store, she worries that she will strike out, even though she has
never done it; she worries that someone will report her and take her children
away, even though she has done nothing to warrant it. At home, she may set limits,
but she doesn't usually take the children with her to the store. Today, she did. And we see her. But we don't really see her for who she is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Outside the store, a homeless woman asks for money or food, and someone calls her a panhandler and tells you that the woman should get a
job. We might not know that she actually has a job, but she hasn't been able to find a full time job recently and her part time job doesn't pay enough. We might not know that she did have a place to live, but it got flooded out. Just walking by, we don't
know that she has a college degree, or that she used to be every bit as
prosperous as the people walking into the store, but for lay-offs that left her
without a decent income; a divorce that she didn't ask for; and medical bills that she could not pay. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These people I've been sharing are fictional (except for
Jesus, of course!), or they are composites of several different people. But
they all resemble, in some way, real people whom I've known, or known about,
people who have been shamed or shunned, neglected or wounded. There are so
many more, so many worse stories which I know personally, but they are not my stories to tell. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But still, I see someone, often even someone online, and still I occasionally make an instant judgement. We see one aspect of someone, and we often think we know
them, but we really don't know who they are. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, as you did it to
one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me." <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And he gives us examples of who are his brethren…not those who
some of his listeners would have expected. He gives us the examples of the woman at the well; and of
the Good Samaritan, the foreignor who helped the man by the side of the road; and of Zaccheus,
despised as a tax collector; and of the woman caught in adultery. His followers
didn't know who those people really were. They only knew who they thought they
were. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">But Jesus knew who they were. He always knows. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">***</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Scripture references: <br />
Father forgive them – Luke 23:34<br />
The least of these – Matthew 25:40<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Simple Faith and Lifehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09963791921016417189noreply@blogger.com0