happy sunday morning!
i am excited about worship this morning at the tampa underground church...
nouwen really spoke to me this morning [and he sounded remarkably like nancy as we talked last night about who we are and what God is calling us to do with our post-50 lives]...
"Jesus' primary concern was to be obedient to his Father, to live constantly in his presence. ONLY THEN did it become clear to him what his task was in his relationships with people. Perhaps we must continually remind ourselves that the first commandment requiring us to love God with all of our heart, all our soul and all our mind is indeed THE FIRST. I wonder if we really believe this. It seems that in fact we live as if we should give as much of our heart, soul and mind as possible to our fellow human beings, while trying hard not to forget God. At least we feel that our attention should be divided evenly between God and our neighbor. But Jesus' claim is much more radical. He asks for a single-minded commitment to God and God alone. God wants all of our heart, all of our mind and all of our soul. It is this unconditional and unreserved love for God that leads to the care for our neighbor, not as an activity which distracts us from God or competes with our attention to God, but as an expression of our love for God who reveals himself to us as the God of all people. It is in God that we find our neighbors and discover our responsibility to them. We might even say that ONLY IN GOD does our neighbor become a neighbor rather than an infringement upon our autonomy, and that ONLY IN GOD and THROUGH GOD does service become possible."
i am a person of action...
sometimes TOO MUCH ACTION and not enough stillness, meditation, reflection, etc.
i need more BEING WITH GOD time to define what HIS action is for my one and only life -- not just pursuing what i think is best [or what other people lay on me]...
i will be 50 on march 19 -- there is not enough time left for uncertainty -- i want God's voice to lead me into HIS ACTIONS!
for all you rednecks -- i am ready to be a rifle for God [not a shotgun]...
THANKS to henri [and even moreso to nancy] for the reminder!
blessings!
guy
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You are right on here.....when we make people our focus we follow every whim and end up overly concerned about their needs and our need to be accepted......the shadow of co-dependency falls upon us....but with holy guidance we can operate like operatives who hear a secret voice....
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