sharing the right things???

“It is a lesson we all need—to let alone the things that do not concern us.
He has other ways for others to follow Him; all do not go by the same path.
It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us to follow Him,
and to follow Him in that path.”
St. Katharine Drexel

(the sun, clouds and sky / Julie Cook / 2021)

Time may one day be back on my side…
and so with no further ado, while I try my best to
jump back on this blog train….
let’s get on with the meat and potatoes…the substance and sustenance
of what really matters.

Picture the hobo train jumper running alongside a moving train full
of open boxcars…
He’s running as fast as he can in order to keep up with the
rapidly accelerating train…his outstretched arm straining to grab hold of a
hand rail that is just out of reach.
Does he dare leap, hoping to grab hold while pulling himself up into the open car
or does he slow his pace and let the train move on without him??

The risk?

Getting crushed and run over or missing the train???
Which is the greater loss??

I’m the train hopper, straining to grab hold—still running to
stay up with the moving train….that moving train is life itself!
And it will not be slowing down and it will not wait on us.

So I’m taking the chance, I’m leaping.
The hour is dire.
We need to speak up and out during these scary and very dark days.

As I was getting all my little computer ‘windows’ open, ready to start a post,
I was pulling up my email…and while doing so, I was quickly scanning the Yahoo
cover page of “news” snippets…a wealth of the headlines and the ‘dead’lines.

And suddenly one word came into clear focus in my brain…SHARING

The entire notion of sharing…

Sharing is caring right???
Isn’t that what we tell kids??

But is it???
Is it caring or is it careless??

One look at any electronic outlet (FB, Twitter, Instagram, Pintrest, etc)
and it’s clear as rain, sharing is the name of the game.
That whole notion of TMI (too much information) has gone out the window.
Folks now want to air all sorts of laundry…the good, the bad and the ugly.
Boasting and Bragging
Shaming and degrading.

And so what is the benefit of such mindless, idol sharing?

The majority of what is being shared is more sordid, vile, foul, gossipy
false and inflammatory rather than it could ever be edifying, gracious and glorious.

There is so much we, the followers of Christ, need to be sharing throughout these most
precarious days as time is of the essence.

So let’s ask ourselves…are we sharing that which is truly worth chasing
a moving train over or is is more dribble than substance??

“Now there’s no one who approaches God with a true and upright heart who isn’t
tested by hardships and temptations.
So in all these temptations see to it that even if you feel them,
you don’t consent to them.
Instead, bear them patiently and calmly with humility and long-suffering.”
St. Albert the Great, p. 164
An Excerpt From
Manual for Spiritual Warfare

It’s all in the lighting

It is by the path of love, which is charity, that God draws near to man, and man to God. But where charity is not found, God cannot dwell.
If, then, we possess charity, we possess God, for “God is Charity” (1 John 4:8)
St Albert the Great

The same tree, seen at three different times of day. The first two images were taken within minutes of one another as it was late afternoon and the sun was setting— yet still battled to shine through the cloud coverage of the day.

The last image was taken this morning after a heavy fog had rolled in during the night–obscuring vision, muting colors and dimming the morning light.

French Impressionist Claude Monet’s famous paintings of the haystacks at Giverny, as well as his paintings of the Rouen Cathedral, are all studies of how the lighting of the day, as well as the time of the year, can and will affect an image or landscape.

Once again, it is all in how one views something–be it an object, person or place, which often effects how the image (person, place or object) is then treated or regarded by the viewer. A pig wearing lipstick is still a pig, but give that pig the right lipstick and lightening, then you’ve got a swine who simply outshines all the others.

As we transition to Advent, I want to continue with the theme of our not only waiting and watching, but I wish to concentrate on that of our giving and of our thankfulness. As St. Albert the Great reminds us— one must possess charity of heart in order to not only tend to, nurture, bless, and to be present for others– but one must possess such in order to be full of the living God.

If the living God does not reside in our hearts, then the possibility of our spiritual giving to and of our providing for others will never be permissible. The depth available will never be reached, let along touched. Without the living God residing in our hearts we will never grow into the potential of our being. Not only will we be cheating ourselves, we will be cheating the very individuals who need for us to be full of that Holy wealth of Life.

May we enter into this holy time of waiting and watching. . . being ever receptive to our need of being filled with the life and breath of the only true Living God. May we be humble in our receiving of the very Light that shines not only on us this day, but which shined so very brightly on that single night so long ago when the world would no longer to be the same.