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

Maturity And Education

November 11, 2017
Year 2, Day 315 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Woman of Samaria, Benedetto Luti, 1715-20

One tends to feel that maturity has something virtuous and special related to it.  The child yearns to be grown up which is to be mature in physical body, and a time when big persons make their own decisions about eating spinach or drinking milk.  As early as elementary school the student is revealing factors related to gaining (affirming) or evading (denying) maturity.  This maturity relates not to physical growth, although some physical growth is necessary to contain it, but to the conduct of the seeking student.  That maturity may be stalled by a number of barriers such as: puberty that forces too great emphasis on the physical body; environment that introduces negative values and directions for the social context… Read more

Materialism

November 10, 2017
Year 2, Day 314 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

When I began my professional life in both Christian higher education and public ministry, the common belief was that couples, whether married or unmarried, tended to break up over differences related to sexual intimacy and attendant differences, as first cause.  There is no doubt that, given the amount of sexual infidelity in marriage and casual liaison, it is a large cause for both start and break-up found in the context of sexual experience.  The scenario for each person varies – with formation problems relating to mutuality and fidelity, and the sense of sacredness (spirituality, privacy, love) relating to faith context.  Vows relating to spiritual integrity and fidelity have been partly protected in secular society by tradition and law.  This last… Read more

Theology And Life

November 9, 2017
Year 2, Day 313 | No Comments
Section of The Crucifixion, Pedro Orrente, ca. 1625–30

One is impressed in reading history as related to the impact of preachers and their sermons upon the lives of individuals and society.  This includes ranges of contexts, such as the difference in New England puritanism, and Virginia renaissance.  From ministers much of the education of the colonial people was generated.  Preachers were the common denominator in mentoring and monitoring the development of the education of their emerging youthful male members, from their congregations.  Many of the leaders we extol in the various fields of development were minister-educated persons.  It is said that the greatest American thinker of the eighteenth century was Jonathan Edwards.  He was a preacher.  It is said that the greatest American thinker of the nineteenth century… Read more

Spiritualizing

November 8, 2017
Year 2, Day 312 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

God is not in the business of testing our credulity.  That is the hobby of fanciful human beings, acting on shreds of information to prognosticate the future in this way or that way, and to conclude with a scenario that might be possible – in the belief that with God, all things are possible.  The problem, of course, is that God does not do all things, even though he could if he would.  He does only that he determines to do.  He does not do all that he is capable of doing.  Mankind is not positioned to cope with all that perfection.  God is not contradictory, but adapts to the situations mankind creates, as a parent may adapt to the… Read more

Scholarship

November 7, 2017
Year 2, Day 311 | No Comments
Section of Christ and the Adulteress, Lucas Cranach the Younger and Workshop, ca. 1545–50

Scholarship is to be analyzed in competing contexts.  It is a search for truth, and is most supported in the scientific context when there is hard (agreed upon) natural evidence verifying conclusions.  It is presumed to be most honored when it uncovers information, or offers something that hitherto has not been found or recognized.  It presumes that the researcher is intrepid, in that he/she has been painstaking to find evidence, to verify hypotheses, to justify ultimate firm observations, suggesting belief and action.  Candidates for Ph. D. degrees are often asked what they found in their research that added to the store of knowledge.  Hopefully there is something more than the already-known information of what has gone before.  This is not… Read more

Persona

November 6, 2017
Year 2, Day 310 | No Comments

Wise persons look for meaning.  Without meaning, individuals, even societies, do not find themselves.  For those without meaning, life becomes something of a gamble (crap shoot).  Chance (events), as it is cast, controls their lives.  Chance offers sometimes good and sometimes ill, sometimes the joker and sometimes trumps.  Sometimes things seem all aces.  Sometimes there appear twos, three, and fours in various combinations or colors that will spell out losing perhaps at low level.  So those persons may sink into addictions that will destroy them before their time.  Some addictions may even add years to life because they are athletic or wholesome, without being too strenuous, or they may be helpful to others, so helpful they may simply reinforce poor… Read more

Guidance

November 5, 2017
Year 2, Day 309 | No Comments
Section of Adoration of the Magi, artist unknown

The Bible takes on a large objective in achieving its purposes to tell the contextual story of mankind’s beginnings, (both physical in nature and spiritual in need of relationship with God); of life personally (beginning with Adam and Eve) and socially (beginning with family); of life experience related to solving problems personally (education, faith/redemption, work and wisdom for life); and, of a culture for the good life that accepts the mysteries of life/death (sufferings/blessings related to nature, and the hope of Christian promises related to immortality).  This lengthy sentence is a summary in the oft repeated statement that the Bible is the story of redemption, not only for spiritual salvation but for effective way of life in nature.  The approach… Read more

Sayings

November 4, 2017
Year 2, Day 308 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

In addition to Biblical Proverbs, several modern and other proverbial concepts have been helpful in my life. The Wise Person Learns How to Discuss Negatives in Affirmative Ways for Understanding. The Wise Person Is Aware that Emotions Nibble Firmly at the Mind for Prominence. The Wise Person Believes That God Prefers to Solve Problems than Judge Them. The Wise Person Is Patient With the Complexity of Life Context. The Wise Person Practices the Virtues Found in the Fruit of the Holy Spirit. The Wise Person Seeks Genuine Humility Born of God’s Meaning. The Wise Person Knows That Personal Peace Is Available in Any Circumstance. The Wise Person Tries to Find That Which is Affirmative in the Ugliest Situations. The Wise… Read more

Intentionality

November 3, 2017
Year 2, Day 307 | No Comments
Section of Noli me Tangere by Hans Holbein the Younger

A common idiom from the past is: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.  The meaning, of course, is that attempting in sincerity to do the right thing does not assure that the end will be good.  Like so many sayings of cultures the statement assumes some contexts that may not be standard experience for many persons.  Further, so many sayings have a ring to them that invite careful attention.  However, if knowledgeable, we retain more complete understanding that there are limitations, omissions, even errors in such statements unless the agreement between persons is on the same wave length.  Even then mutuality may be limited.  The saying does embrace a truth that intentions, no matter how honorable, do… Read more

Suddenly Better

November 2, 2017
Year 2, Day 306 | No Comments
Section of The Descent from the Cross, Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1435

We know from records that the ancients believed in incremental learning, as we do in our era.  The length of time for formal education requires concentrated years that delay other valued experiences in students’ daily lives.  Recognizing the time factor in education is helpful. The recognition itself can serve to speed up the incremental process, in that persons may refuse to act, regarding factors over which they have influence.  A bit more can be drawn from each day for disciplined persons, when they recognize they have some control over the speed of various life processes, including intellectual growth – a vital factor for collegians taking several years to speed up their learning curves.  This may happen for those completing a… Read more

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