Sunrise behind a Lighthouse Picture by Richard Sawyer
Our Blog is Inspired by The Holy Spirit
Memorial of Saint Gregory the Great, Pope and Doctor of the Church
R. I trust in the mercy of God for ever.
I, like a green olive tree
in the house of God,
Trust in the mercy of God
forever and ever.
R. I trust in the mercy of God for ever.
I will thank you always for what you have done,
and proclaim the goodness of your name
before your faithful ones.
R. I trust in the mercy of God for ever.
Emphasis mine Psalm 52:10, 11
This past week and today’s reading have helped me grow in understanding of what Jesus was doing when he upset the Apple Cart by condemning the Scribes and Pharisees, and making the prostitutes and tax collectors winners.
Jesus was establishing ALL are sinners.
I now believe PRIDE is one of our biggest sins. As we reported years ago, C.S. Lewis, in his book The Screw Tape Letters, said that satan will try to get you to use the words I and my. By saying I and my we, you and I, are committing the sin of pride.
Why?
Where’s God?
If you’ve done it all then God wasn’t in that particular part of your life, and you should realize by now that’s NOT TRUE. God is in the air you breathe, the water you drink, so how was God not in the act you claimed you did by yourself?
O.K., maybe some of you are thinking this is right,
But
How do I combat pride? The first step is:
Thanking God ALL of the time, and asking God to forgive you for the wrongs and sins you have committed.
Two examples: We were talking to a person who has been “T” Boned twice while driving her car. This almost happened to me and we started the habit of thanking God for getting through the intersection safely. For you this may seem crazy, but to me, yes, me, it just makes sense. In Maine the red light seems to be a challenge flag, and cars, school buses and fire trucks have run the red light as we waited to get through the intersection.
And when they do go through, and I’m not hit, I thank my Father with more vigor for giving me the Patience to let the cars, trucks, etc. run the light.
The other example is writing our blog.
The first statement in our blog is “Our Blog is Inspired by The Holy Spirit.” Because I take NO credit for the blog, when we’re finished writing our Blog I am filled with Joy.
I remember clearly the third week we were writing the blog and satan convinced me I, yes I, couldn’t write fifty-two blogs. Well, satan was right. I, yes, I couldn’t write even one.
BUT
Weeeeee have written over one-hundred and eighty blogs, and at the completion of each blog I, yes, I am filled with Joy and I, yes I, am sad that this particular blog is finished and I, yes I, have to wait until Monday to start this particular Joyful process up again.
As a confession I, yes I, was using a light form of AI for a few months to correct Spelling and sentence structure. The Holy Spirit put a stop to that! I deleted the program, and except for spell check and the review of the blog by our son Mike and my brother Roger, this is OUR work.
The second step to combatting pride is confessing your sins, and you do that, I believe, at the moment after you realize you have committed a sin.
This is where I am finally starting to understand the two thieves, one on the left and one on the right of Jesus.
The thief on the left said, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” I just realized this man’s sin was the sin of PRIDE. He was putting himself on the same level as Jesus, and asked to be taken down from his cross along with Jesus.
The thief on the right said, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” The thief on the right, confessed he was guilty, and then said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
The thief on the right didn’t dare ask for anything more than to be remembered, and Jesus responded, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Emphasis mine Acts 23: 39-43 for all of the above passages
What I have just realized in typing this blog is all the elements for a Joy filled life are in these few lines. The thief on the left was filled with Pride. We don’t know what happened to him, BUT I, yes, I am willing to bet he wasn’t filled with joy.
The thief on the right confessed his sins, but in asking to be remembered was also thanking Jesus, by asking to be remembered.
Eighty-four years and I am now just realizing how important these words are in our life. Today, I, yes, I have learned even more and gained a deeper appreciation of what was happening during the Crucifixion of Jesus and the interaction between the thieves.
I, yes, I, am also now convinced the thief on the right died praying, I will thank you always for what you have done,
Prayer:
If you want to grow in Love, Joy, and Peace this is a result of growth in Patience, Kindness, Generosity, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
Sidebar:
Our initial blog has been long, so we will skip the SideBar this week. In hopes you will spend some time contemplating what we wrote above, it has changed my, yes, my thinking.
Wrong, it’s Tuesday afternoon, and we have just come home from playing our middle son Dave in golf. Some of you may recall Dave, said “Dad you can’t die until I beat you in golf.” You think the Masters is pressure golf, I am fighting for my life (Just Joking) every time we play, and I am blessed to say we won today by one stroke. We went from winning, to losing, to tying to winning on the last hole, last shot.
We are mentioning this because I had the thought (The Holy Spirit) on the golf course today, life is like golf. Every stroke is important, and most importantly you don’t know the outcome of any hole until the hole is completed.
On the ninth hole Dave and I were tied. We both had great drives, and Dave fell apart when he had three puts to my two.
But we have a real advantage in life don’t we. We know the final result, and it’s not because of anything we have done, because what we have done is sin, but because of what Jesus did when he died on the Cross by taking all of our sins with Him.
Writing our blog, going to the Jail, etc. doesn’t give me a gold star. NO, what I, yes I, get is JOY! And JOY tells me I am trying to mimic Jesus when he walked this earth, and hung dying on His Cross.
If you truly consider it, Life in the Holy Spirit really is a whole lot easier than golf.
And,
For that I truly Thank my Father, Brother and The Holy Spirit.
One last comment: On the back window of my car, someone left a butterfly in the wiper of the rear window. Gail and Jean Hays were playing cards and Jean asked me if I knew what a butterfly meant? I didn’t but checked Google: “Butterflies symbolize freedom, lightness and Joy, reminding us to let go of our burdens and embrace a sense of liberation. They can also serve as messengers of spiritual evolution and connection with the Divine, representing the souls journey towards enlightenment and higher consciousness.”
We had to pass this along.
Picture:
Beautiful moment with the sun coming through the clouds right behind the lighthouse. Picture by Richard Sawyer
Please keep Snapping!
And if you want the ten calling cards shown above, email me and I will send you my address, send me a STAMPED self-addressed envelope and I will send you ten cards.
Email me if you want a copy of the prayers we discussed.
fprince101@gmail.com
Remember, if you want to submit a picture, please do not include people. We have to get permission from that person to use their photograph.
