A Grateful Thanksgiving

 I hope everyone has a wonderful, grateful thanksgiving tomorrow.  The holidays can be hard for many folks as our lives don't live up to what we see in movies and in books.  I think that is where people with faith have a huge advantage.  Life has inherent meaning and purpose.  Also faith gives one a sense of gratitude.  After all, George Washington set aside a day for "Thanksgiving and prayer" which has become our Thanksgiving.  My favorite quote of thanks is:

 I love this quote!  It is so full of faith.  Can you actually imagine thanking God for everything that has happened to you?  All those bumps in the road?  I think not.  

And to unabashedly tell God, "Yes God, Bring it.  Your will be done."  Wow, scary stuff.  

Intellectually I get it and am fully onboard but I confess this is aspirational stuff for me at this point.  So I pray for God to deepen my faith and work at it everyday.  But I am thankful that I have enough faith to truly be grateful this Thanksgiving despite all those bumps in the road! 

I hope each of you have a grateful Thanksgiving.

Pax

Joe    

I need to Listen better

 No post last week because my mom had the flu and I was quite busy as she was pretty sick.  Happy to report she is getting better.  I did get to read about St Loyola though and how he was a terrific listener.  Apparently instead of correcting people he would hear all they had to say.  "When he would get to know the person better and the person felt more at ease, the Father would slowly proceed and, without any violence, change the whole game."  from Fr Goncalves de Camara.

In an earlier post I mentioned the importance of "being right" in an argument and as I got older that became less important.  I think the older I have gotten the better I have become at listening as well. It is still hard if we are busy or stress about something else.  To actually try to listen and understand what someone is trying to tell us takes concentration and commitment; it is hard.  

 It is much easier to tell someone your ideas,problems and stories than to try to understand where they are coming from.  That is why I love the above proverb.

I think I am pretty good at listening to people in the clinic.  It's what I have been doing for 30+ years and have received an awful lot of training in how to do it. But with my family it can be hard sometimes because I want to help but they aren't ready to listen; or perhaps I am not listening well enough to understand them.  That is why I need to listen better.

 

Pax

 

Joe 

Let us not be distracted

 Sorry I did not post last week.  I moved my mom into her house and there was no time for meditation.  This week it was chapter 12 of Tao Te Ching. It still amazes me how closely this a lines with the Judeo-Christian message.  Here it is condensed:

The five colors blind the eye.

   The five tones deafen the ear.

        Precious things lead us astray.

Therefore the wise are guided by what they feel and not by what they see.

    Letting go of that and choosing this. 

 So let us not be distracted by things of this world.  As we have talked about before, things are meant to bring us closer to God but they can also have the opposite effect.  A nice car may bring us pleasure but if it becomes an obsession or us coveting it leads to bad decisions/interactions then it becomes a, "Precious thing that leads us astray." 

 

It is so easy to fall off the path with marketing and all the material goods we are blessed with in the US.  I need to constantly remember that "My ways are not your ways" says the Lord.  I need to constantly be reminded to stay on the path and play the true long game.  

Pax

Joe