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Category Archives: God

Who Does God Love More?

06 Dec

I could have titled this post “Why Humans Keep on Destroying the Earth,” or “How to Dangerously Inflate a Child’s Ego.” My first grade daughter came home from catechism class a few weeks ago with a freshly done quiz. We always sit down and go through the girls’ worksheets and other hand outs and talk a bit about them–so I know what they’re being taught, and can understand what they are understanding. I often let them know there is more than one way to look at most teachings in the church, and offer more perspective. This time, I cried inside.

If you take a look at Quiz 3 , you’ll see that the lesson must have been all about how much God loves us. This is cool. But when we try to illustrate that point by comparing God’s love between people and the rest of nature, we reinforce a false sense of superiority and separateness. If we are a beautiful part of a whole creation, how can we be sure God loves us more than the flowers or birds or monkeys? After all, we’re the only species needing a savior, right?

What if we weren’t taught from such a young age that we are better, more loved, and more like God, than the rest of creation? How might our view, and our stewardship, of the rest of this Earth be different then? The constant, and I think unfortunate, reminders that we are superior to the rest of it all is a big reason it’s so hard for us to take things like climate change, pollution and destruction of ecosystems seriously. If  we are more important, more worthy of God, then why does the rest really matter? If we are here only temporarily, in a wasteland of sin, just preparing to go to some other place when we die, then who cares about this planet?

And so the story goes…

I wonder if this “place” we call heaven isn’t a place at all. Not some location, somewhere else. I wonder if it is a state of being, a paradise of peace and no more wanting, here in this life, and after. And I wonder how differently we might view and understand our interconnectedness with the rest of creation. What if we aren’t more important? What if we can’t love and praise God more than a flower?

 
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Posted by on December 6, 2009 in God, nature, universe

 

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Birthday Breakup: Bye Bye Ice Shelf (plus a dare for you)

29 Apr

Wilkins Ice Shelf Breaks up on Antractica

Antarctica is breaking up. We’ve all heard about the polar bears near the North Pole losing the ice they hunt on. God knows what’s going on at Santa’s workshop.  Now, on my birthday April 5, a huge piece of the ice shelf on Antarctica shattered into thousands of pieces and began floating, and melting, away.It was called the Wilkins Ice Shelf, and now it’s mostly gone. Forever.

The European Space Agency reports, and shows in pictures, how the over 200-square-mile chunk of ice shattered. Scientists say there is no doubt the break up was caused by climate change (global warming), not the paparazzi photos taken of the Wilkins Ice Shelf on a romantic beach with a stunning young Emporer Penguin just last fall.

Seriously: this is one of eight major ice shelves that are giving way right now near the South Pole. All are being blamed on a steadily warming atmosphere. The weather is changing. Which changes everything. Even if you think humans’ role in creating global warming is hype (yes, all two of you), isn’t it maybe worth it to give some of these things a look? Like most rational people, I believe we’re heating this place with our cars and power plants and ravenous hunger for more and bigger stuff. My fingerprints are all over it too–I’m part of the problem (I drove 30 miles to work today, for example). That’s the thing, no matter how hard environmental groups–and even the President–try, changing the rules will only move the needle a little bit. We have to all get to a point where we recognize our own handprints on all of this. Personal responsibility is the answer. A smart guy I once met said, “If you are not part of the problem, you can never be part of the solution.” (Adam Kahane)

You Get This

Sometimes it’s hard to see those handprints, becuse the problems always seem to first hit somewhere else. Someone else. It’s hard to see how everything–I mean everything–is totally interconnected. But it shouldn’t be. I’d guess that most bartblog readers are at least a bit the spiritual type. Maybe you’re a christian, maybe you’re tuned in to some other form of the great spirit at the center of it all. Either way, it’s not such a leap to think about this whole Earth–all of creation–being hitched together in ways we don’t begin to understand. If you believe, like I do, that it’s all from one Source.

I Dare You

So, here’s my challenge for you. Spend an hour in nature, by yourself, in the next week. No book, no ipod, no texting. Just you and the trees and spring flowers and grass and critters. Just get out there, spend some time in the quiet wild, just contemplating nature. I beleive that’s the doorway to a more clear understanding of this global warming/love the Earth kind of thing. And a whole lot of other things. Please try it. The worst that could happen is you spend an hour in a calm, beautiful place, and you can go back to living and being just the way you did before.

Let us all know how it goes for you…

 
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Posted by on April 29, 2009 in global warming, God, Mother Earth, Stuffitis, universe

 

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average poems

12 Jul

Image

A long time ago I decided to start sharing a bit of my poetry here and there on this blog. Then I didn’t. I think I’ve only thrown one poem up here in three years. I write little ditties mostly when I’m hiking, so they are inspired by what I see and come to know out there. Some is haiku, some isn’t. It’s all in one of the journals I tote around with me most all of the time. Here’s a little peek from a couple recent hikes (but the rest is off limits–I’m kind of a 12-year-old girl like that).

From a hike near Lake Vermillion this spring:

Baby Whitetail's foot
lies lonely on the trail
Spring can bring death too

...

Tiny see-through wings
Delicate and left behind
She flies no more

...

Long to climb her limbs
Pine cone hangs out of reach
Fear keeps me on the ground

...

Studying a Dragonfly on a Blade of Grass
6.21.2008

Dragonfly hangs from a blade,
a business shingle from the grass,
ignoring Newton's gravity.

Sky blue beauty,
long tail and wings,
six legs cling to everything.

A broam blade banquet,
or break from the wind?
Floats away without an answer.

...

Infant Cedar in the Grass
6.22.2008

Baby tree so soft and small,
looks more like a fern.
Hiding 'neath the grass so tall,
tower when you get your turn.

...

(Reflections on a recent meditation...)

True life flows in me
Time is gone, just one with source
Living in right now

...

Wild

Beckons me to see
Not to go or come or do
to be in and of

...

Image

 
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Posted by on July 12, 2008 in God, Mother Earth, poetry, universe

 

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Serendipity vs. Providence

17 Nov

ser‧en‧dip‧i‧ty  [ser-uhImagen-dip-i-tee] An apptitude for making fortunate discoveries by accident; or an instance of making such a discovery.

prov‧i‧dence  [prov-i-duhImagens] a manifestation of benvolent care and guidance from God.

Which is it? Why do seemingly chance things and introductions (that turn out to be whiz bang) happen? I’ve written before about my feelings on God’s purpose vs. plan for each of us. I’m as sure as I can be that I am here to do something good, not just to wander through life. I beleive I (and you) have been given the awesome gift of “no autopilot.” God has a purpose for me, but doesn’t send a lightning bolt when I step out of line with some plan–there isn’t a specific step-by-step path I’m supposed to follow. But we all are told our true purpose (or maybe multiple ones), if we really listen carefully. I think our calling is more about procedure, behavior and actions than about a specific end game. It’s about how we live, not what we conquer. Otherwise, what’s left when the goal is accomplished? Are we done? Of course not. Mother Teresa never “finished” her work. Neither did Abe Lincoln or Dr. King. They were all relentless about thier purpose and the behaviors they lived and preached.

OK, off my soapbox. I should tell you why I’ve been thinking about this today (as I sit at Oscar’s Coffee on 26th and Marion Road in Sioux Falls, sipping some carmel apple cider). I had a meeting this morning that seemed like providence. It was with someone I actually met through this blog. She posted a comment about something totally unrelated to my work or hers. But it led to a meeting this morning about work, and I think it will further lead to a great partnership on a number of projects. When you’re work is about changing the world, like mine, it’s nice to run into folks who understand you and think in many ways like you do.

I think serendipity happens a lot, but providence is way more fun.

 
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Posted by on November 17, 2006 in God, Work

 

Purpose, without a plan?

20 Jul

God made me. On this I’m sure. And everything I am and have is God’s gift to me and, I hope, to the world (ok, so at least to my Mom, the kids and a couple of freinds). But what about the whole “He has a plan for you?” On this, I’m not so sure. Would God’s plan really include some awful stuff? People have always explained away the nasty parts of life as a lesson or an opportunity for growth. Maybe they’re right. But…..

What if God has a PURPOSE for me, but not really a step-by-step, this-is-how-it-will-happen kind of plan? What if we’re put on this Earth to do something, but God gives us the freedom to make choices that will change our future. Every choice we make changes the course of our life here on Earth, right? It’s the greatest gift He has given us–freedom. He gives us a compass via our consience, and a road map through the great Biblical storytellers. But I think He lets us choose the path. Some of us are fulfiling our purpose, some choose not to, and others haven’t discovered thiers yet.I’ve held this belief my whole life, but didn’t really define it until today. Thanks, Jim, for the revelation.

Sometimes our purpose is a burdeon. Sometimes I want to run away from the call to fulfill my purpose. I even find myself subconciously, but intentionally, distancing myself from God sometimes in an effort to run away from “the pull.” Do you feel this? Or am I really that wierd?

I am here to serve. I’m here to make communities better. It’s what I do (and live, and breath, and sleep). But I’m also here to be an entrepreneur. To me, that just means figuring out where there is a hole in the market and filling it. And so far, the “market” has been communities in general. A “social entrepreneur,” I guess. There is a lack of great hands-on practitioners in community and economic development. I have these talents (gifts) to share. I don’t always want ’em. But here they are. Lots of purpose, no real plan…

[posted from the couch]

 
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Posted by on July 20, 2006 in God

 
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