What's So Good About It????

Lately I've been thinking about love.  Well, to be honest, I think about it a lot of  the time.



 Love isn't easy to  think about either, because it's so, well, it's so good! There are so many negatives in the world that it's pretty elementary to turn into a negative person with a adversarial,( putting it mildy),



 or cataclysmic (putting it a little more extreme) view of life.







 Each time you turn on the tv, open yahoo, or read a newspaper,  one perceives that the world is a horrible place and  everyone should be suspect. The media, conservative or liberal, also encourages people to desperately engage in a "we vs they" mentality to where it becomes childish and seems like we're fighting on the playground in some school yard. 



As a person who believes she has a distinctive relationship with Jesus, I find it a daily process to ensue what I believe the Christian faith is all about; Love!



"Therefore, my brethren, those things that are true, those that are honorable, those that are righteous, those things that are pure, those things that are precious, those things that are praiseworthy, deeds of glory and of praise, meditate on these things." From the bible, the book of Ephesians 4:8

I look at that and see "true", "honorable", "righteous", "pure", "precious", "praiseworthy", "deeds of glory and of praise", "MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS."


 Hmmmmmmm, meditate!.......That's a job in itself if you're not in the practice of doing.  First, what does the word "meditate" even mean?  I used to visualize some very limber, flexible person; possibly a small, bald man in a white, sort of  toga, wrapped around him, sitting cross-legged, closed eyes, palms up while resting on his lithesome knees, and hearing a low, monotone "ommmmmmmmmmmm" coming from him. Fortunately, because of my perpetual relationship with discipline,  I now know better.  Here are some synonyms for meditate, " ponder, muse; ruminate; cogitate, study, think. 3.  contemplate, plan, devise, contrive. "  And here is the definition, "to engage in thought or contemplation, reflect"



To contemplate that all people are created in the image of God is a powerful, awesome thought.  Muse on that one if you will.  When you think of hardened criminals, or even worse yet, evil humans such as  Hitler, (wow) they were ALL created in the image of God. 




You may not be able to go beyond that thought  because this thought, perhaps, followed, "What the hell went wrong???" 





 At least that's how my mind works.  We all know something did go terribly wrong...we know that!  Most people, the majority of people really, aren't stupid.  Deep down inside "we all were meant for better than this" as C.S Lewis says.  I believe that too.  So, that being said, continue to ponder how wonderful humans really are.  Try it...go on!   Right now!

A lot of theologians would argue using plenty of scriptures about how horrible we are, how bad our hearts are, yada yada yada.....sort of like watching or reading the news.  I can see their point.  Buthose things, at least in the Christian faith, happned after something went horribly wrong.  The fact still remains is that scripture in the bible still says to meditate on the good.  I won't even get into pondering the beauty of animals, our enviornment, and  issues of human desire. 

A challenge for you today:  Do it!  Meditate on ALL that is good... What is in your thoughts will come out in your conversation too.  How fun is that to actually talk about things that are right and believe them.  If people started their days thinking intentially wonderful thoughts, how could that change things in the big picture, or in one individuals life?

Just a challenge....have a great, beautiful, peaceful, but most of all, loving day.  I believe in you!