Daily pages of reflection...for knowledge, understanding, to wisdom
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Reality

October 27, 2018
Year 3, Day 300 | No Comments
Section of The Infant Jesus and St. John the Baptist, Guido Reni, n.d.

In a letter to Schrodinger in 1935, Albert Einstein wrote: The real difficulty lies in the fact that physics is a kind of metaphysics: physics describes “reality.”  But we do not know what “reality” is, we know it only by means of the physical description.  Jonathan Edwards wrote: To find out the reason of things in natural philosophy is only to find out the proportion of God’s acting.   (Walter Schultz – Philosophia Christi. Vol. 11, No. 2 2009) We like to believe that we are on solid ground for belief and action when we have the feeling of assurance that we are dealing with reality, but we may not have enough information to determine reality in the larger context of… Read more

Mystery

October 26, 2018
Year 3, Day 299 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

The most ordinary person is visited with mystery, both natural and supernatural.  Many pass by the supernatural by simply dropping off the concept of anything personal in the divine, or simply ignore its exploration.  Others take it on, even if denial threatens them in the engagement.  On the human side, the factor seems to visit many human beings, and becomes a gift or a curse as the individual may manage it.  This becomes clear to readers of biography.  How in the world could some of the experiences happen?  Why do some persons manage the ups and downs, the occurrences and tensions, the insecurities and the rewards?  The way to dreams, for many persons, is paved with barbed wire, high barriers,… Read more

Prayer Topics

October 25, 2018
Year 3, Day 298 | No Comments
Section of The Taking of Christ, Caravaggio, 1602

During the first years of my Christian experience friends would refer to their prayer lists.  It has been some time since I have heard the list reference repeated.  I would sometimes make a prayer list, but found that I am of such a nature that making the list seemed to take too much time that could be devoted to prayer.  I should have discovered that in making the list I was in prayer for that I was writing about.  God can read as well as listen, and gives attention to written prayers as oral ones, if both are moved along in faith related to God’s instructions we find in Scripture – related to the desires of the heart.  I have… Read more

Beginning Again

October 24, 2018
Year 3, Day 297 | No Comments
Section of Sistine Chapel ceiling, Michaelangelo, 1508-1512

It is clear from Scripture that there was tension between faith and science contexts long before modern scientific theories and consequent conclusions became central in the pursuit of knowledge.  Sophisticated ancients tended to believe in both special mankind and divine gods.  The gods were somewhat humanized except for their miracle-working powers.  Gods were formed like nature-persons rather than mankind striving to be like god-persons.  God-related messages were formed from the idealism of leaders, but the concept of revelation informing mankind of what God is like emerged with the patriarchs of Israel, and given form on first written revelation in the work of Moses.  Revelation replaced tradition for authority.  God appears to have managed the changes well.  (Acts 17:30)  The growth… Read more

Irrepressible Conflicts

October 23, 2018
Year 3, Day 296 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

Susan Gregory Thomas wrote the story of her experience in approaching marriage, family, division, and divorce – in her book: In Spite of Everything: A Memoir.  She recited the deplorable situation for her and her brother after the divorce of her parents, especially their decline into drugs, and rebellion.  Her brother died from the excesses at about thirty years of age.  The story is dismal and tragic.  She was determined to have a solid marriage, and to care for her children in a way that was denied to her in her childhood years.  She documented the significant differences between the times of her childhood and that of her children.  The differences were dramatic, but the end was similar – divorce. … Read more

Faith and Trust

October 22, 2018
Year 3, Day 295 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Benedetto Luti, 1715-20

Is it impossible for mankind to please God (or man) without faith?  Scripture is quite firm that our connection with God, if it is to be gained, must travel an invisible carrier wave he identifies as faith.  At first blush it seems too simple – so simple that we may pass it off as an unworthy route to follow.  Then to incorporate its meanings in a book we call The Bible, written by both gifted and ordinary persons, may seem a bit odd.  Some believe that God should have given his message in a background of the northern lights, and become famous through pyrotechnics.  The modern wailing entertainers become well known, rich, even counselors to the world by streaming words… Read more

Stewardship

October 21, 2018
Year 3, Day 294 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

Stewardship is fun if we make it so.  It is a serious game relating to life.  It has many of the same entertaining features found in competitive sports, but the opponent is really in each of our own persons.  The score isn’t kept by the number of times an inflated bladder is carried by strong men over a goal line, or athletic women can serve aces on a tennis court.  The game is fraught with patience in the participant, some sacrifice to get into the game, some wins and some losses, wisdom related to markets, costs, discipline, budgets, percentages, affirmations and negations, values and shopping.  The list, like do many, may also be extended.  The evidence of a person’s stewardship… Read more

Learning Mentoring

October 20, 2018
Year 3, Day 293 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

We analyze mentoring, not only to know what it is, but to sift through concepts commonly held about mentoring or alleged mentoring – so to discover the importance of what is really an ancient and excellent idea applied to modern life.  Every mentored person ought to become a mentoring person.  Our first mentors ought to be our parents.  Ministers and athletes often refer to the parental mentoring.  In the busyness of our lives the concept and practice has significantly declined.  It is great loss.  However, there has been some evidence of renewal in the education of retired people to become mentors to the young generation.  Many relate to it and many do not.  Some appealing and great literature accents it…. Read more

Learning Leadership

October 19, 2018
Year 3, Day 292 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

The media offer considerable space to the assertion that much of man’s problem quotient is the lack of leadership.  There are many titles in the business world related to leadership, often with special emphasis on biographical illustrations.  One was devoted to the application of Lincoln’s example of leadership applied to modern business.  Lincoln advanced the nation with a gifted cabinet, wrangling and ego-driven.  There are many books related to leadership, especially related to the military from ancient times to the present, some so new they can’t be fully evaluated until the test of history has been applied in time. I have: read widely on the subject of leadership; led (for good or ill) in groups and institutions; preached or spoken… Read more

Culture Shifts

October 18, 2018
Year 3, Day 291 | No Comments
Section of The Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci

Times are a’changin’. During the l950s, more than a million women were asked who would comprise the ideal husband. The answer, in part, was: . . . . behave like a sheik. . . . keep some mystery about himself. . . . tell his wife that he loves her. . . .lie a little white lie if he feels it might buck her up. . . talk and listen to her. . . . stay out of the kitchen. . .do what he promises to do. . . . make enough money so she does not feel compelled to go out and work. . . . help with the gardening and the lawn. . . . take her out… Read more

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