December 12, 2015

What Does Love Look Like?

Photo by: Stuart Miles at DigitalPhotos.net     
According to society, love is flowers, candy, kisses, rings, tulle, and the words, “I do.” That is one kind of love. However, there are many others: the love of parents, the love of children, the love of siblings, the love of friends, and the love of things.

In Luke 21:34 Jesus warns us not to become too engrossed in the things of this world as to become complacent to the things of God.

Yet, it is so easy to get caught up in the here and now. It screams at us for attention through social pressures, media, and even friends and family.  With all of this activity, the here and now can still feel empty, devoid of meaning and we ask the age-old questions: “Why am I here?” “What is my purpose in this life?” “Is what I am doing important?”

December 05, 2015

Posadas

Photo: OZphotography@FreeDitgitalPhotos.net                    
During this season of Advent there are many scriptural references to the blind seeing, the lame walking, and the poor feasting. It’s a beautiful, comforting image, for who among us has not suffered? Even those born of privilege suffer. They may not worry about food, clothing, and shelter as do the very poor, but they suffer in other ways.

When we lived in a wealthier area, people were polite, civil, but mostly cold. They didn’t go out of their way to say, hello, or even acknowledge my existence. I think they knew instinctively by my dress, my mannerism, or by some other secret code, that I wasn’t one of them.

Tending toward being an introvert, I didn’t much care. However, when we moved out further into an area with a bigger mix of economic strata, I experienced a radical change in the people around me. There were more smiles, hellos, and Good Afternoons. People I didn’t know chatted in the aisles, and helped load large items into my car.

One man actually chased my husband and me down in the parking lot of one of the garden centers.