I see, hear, and accept you

 Not too long ago at a planning session for our booth at a Gay Pride event we were trying to determine how to show our love and concern to those there. All sorts of actions were suggested. Toward the end of the discussion someone suggested "Have people there volunteering to listen to their stories. Without judgment, advice, or feedback. Just listen and acknowledge that they were heard."

On reflection, is this what Jesus wanted. To show them "You are not alone! You are seen, heard, and accepted as you are!"

Heaven and Growth

 I grew up being told that heaven is some otherworldly place that I might achieve after I died.

I have come to realize that "The kingdom of heaven is at hand!" It is right here, right now!

Once I realized that it becomes easier to to recognize it. With practice entering heaven becomes easier.

No tickets or invites required. Entrance is always open to all. Simply enter in your mind and heart.

We are in and of the world, which is in and of the universe, which is in and of God. Heaven is in and around us, always! We don't have to tear a veil to enter. Just accept its presence.

There is peace in heaven along with challenges. Here the lion may lie down with the lamb, and the next day sustain itself with the flesh of the lamb.

Long ago I rejected the concept of heaven as Nirvana/Utopia. That is stagnation unto death!

There are challenges, disappointments, failures, etc. in heaven. They are required for us to grow.

We strengthen our muscles through resistance training.

We advance our minds by taking on more complex learning. What once was hard is now easier.

We advance our emotional capacity by casting ourselves in other's roles. Being pricked, hurt, and loved.

Neil Degrasse Tyson and others have talked about how his and my generation grew up learning resilience, compromise, empathy (growing) via unsupervised play, working through challenges/problems our selves or through cooperation. It is our journey toward completeness. A journey that never ends.

Unexpected lessons

 Unexpected lessons from non-traditional sources during my college days.

During my first stint at college, I took a job answering phones at night for folding money.

This was in the administration offices. Frequently when the janitors came in, we would have conversations.

One night one of them threw out the statement "To move you always push." That started me thinking and to this day, almost 60 years later, I keep finding new implications.

On my return to the same college, I had several conversations with another janitor.

I remember him as one of the most at peace people I have ever met. On snowy, sloppy days he spent most of the day patiently mopping up the slop that we tracked into the building.

In one of our conversations, he talked about why there was so little graffiti in the building he worked in. His approach was to quietly remove the graffiti as soon as it appeared. At one point a repeating graffiti artist wrote, asking him not to remove his work. The work was quietly removed as soon as it was found. The artist gave up.

The funny thing is that my high school girlfriend got on a committee to try to find answers to graffiti in the high school and had asked me if I had any ideas. And here was a quite janitor that had the answer.

I later learned that this was Eisenhower's approach to McCarthy. Never respond to McCarthy's pokes, never invite him to the White House, and letting him self destruct.

Here I was in an institution of higher learning filled with highly educated smart people. And some of the more lessons with the most impact came from the least educated.

Listen to all and you shall learn.

Power?

 "Don't make me shoot you!"

"Kill them!"

Using the legal system to destroy those that differ!

Initiating a war!

All seem to be positions of power. All are admission of giving up; weakness; fear/terror.

Those with true power rarely use it. They listen and adjust to new and different information.

Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu lead South Africa out of Apartheid through reconciliation and forgiveness. A true demonstration of power; here I expected a blood bath.

Jesus did not brandish the sword, but gave acceptance. He listened, letting those questioning Him to finish, and then responded without condemning them, just their actions.

Seeing others as equal, listening to them, enables me with growth and a life with less fear. I am not in control, and no longer wish to be.

Loose

 You wronged me

least perceived so

Get back for me

seeds revenge sow

soul troubled be

we descend low

loose, loose

Do unto self

 Jesus says:

"Whatever your do to the least of us, you do to me!"

The image of Christ resides in each of us.

What you do to an other

You do to yourself

Give kindness is kindness to self

Give insults is insulting self

Give respect is respecting self

Give violence is assaulting self

Each act heals or harms yourself

Healing brings self acceptance

Harming brings self rejection