Monthly Archives: June 2013

Jun 29 2013
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Let the Wise Listen…

Research shows that you and I spend 55% of our day listening; moreover, the listener is responsible for 50% if not 51% of any given communication. The Proverbs tell us what studies on listening have shown….that listening is decoding process that takes discernment. In the following poem, based on Proverbs 1:5, I try to make sense of the decoding process.

Let the wise listen…
With discernment
Receiving all the words,
Regarded as a gift.

With discernment
Reflections on new learnings
Regarded as a gift,
Guide us to respond.

Reflections of new learnings
Receiving all the words,
Guide us to respond…
Let the wise listen.

~jemsweet

I would love to hear from you concerning whether the above helps you understand the role of listeners more. What are your insights and understandings of how to process what is being spoken to you?

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Jun 26 2013
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Listen!

Again Jesus began to teach by the lake. The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. He taught them many things by parables, and in his teaching said: “Listen!…Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” ~Mark 4:1-9 (NIV)

Jesus emphatically invites the people in the crowd to become listeners. He knew that how he was listened to was just as important as the words of the parable he shared with them. Listeners are responsible for 50 if not 51% any communication. To fully grasp the deeper meanings of Jesus’s teachings and parables is to take full responsibility for being a listener who has ears to hear.

Listening looks easy but it’s not simple. Every head is a world.
~Cuban Proverb

How is God inviting you to be a listener?
What is the most challenging part of listening for you?

Jun 22 2013
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See What Love

MY HOW BUSY WE BECOME WHEN LOSE SIGHT OF HOW GOD LOVES US.
~Julian of Norwich

There are two ways, I see, to begin to look at this quote. The first is “how God loves us” which will result in a desire to be less busy. The second is “how busy” which will result in a desire to be loved by God. I wonder if the key to either is a life with margin…a life that does not lose sight of “how” I am living at any given moment.

See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. ~1John 3:1

Am I, are you, too busy to be loved by God?

Jun 19 2013
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Joyfully

Walk joyfully on the earth and respond to that of God in every human being.
~George Fox, founder of the Quakers

Do you see God in every human being you meet? When was the last time you joyfully walked and responded to another person? Is this simple statement really that simple? I would enjoy reading and responding to your comments concerning this quote.

Jun 15 2013
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“Come to Me!”

Have you ever come to Jesus? Watch the stubbornness of your heart, you will do anything rather than the one simple childlike thing — “Come to me.” If you want the actual experience of ceasing from sin, you must come to Jesus.

Jesus makes himself the touchstone. Watch how He used the word “come.” At the most unexpected moments there is the whisper of The Lord–“Come unto Me,” and you are drawn immediately. Personal contact with Jesus alters everything….The attitude of coming is that the will resolutely lets go of everything and deliberately commits all to Him.

“…And I will give you rest,” i.e., I will stay you. Not–I will put you to bed and hold your hand and sing you to sleep; but–I will get you out of bed, out of the languor and exhaustion, it of the state of being half dead while you are alive; I will imbue you with the spirit of life, and you will be stayed by the perfection of vital activity.

~ Oswald Chambers, “My Utmost for His Highest (June 11th)”

Jun 12 2013
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Loving God and neighbors!

He said, “That you love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and muscle and intelligence—and that you love your neighbor as well as you do yourself. . ~Luke 10:27 The Message (MSG)

This week is Vacation Bible School at church, with this verse being illustrated in our daily Bible lessons. I am starting to wonder if these words are more than just a command. Am I missing something?

Are you and I being invited into a whole new way of loving God and loving our neighbors. After all, neighbors are friendly, giving, bold, forgiving and welcoming. How well are you and I befriending ourselves and others, giving grace to ourselves and others, boldly forgiving ourselves and others. Finally, are we able to welcome who we are in Christ and who others are in Christ in an affirming manner?

What are your thoughts?

Jun 08 2013
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This is the Voice of Mercy.

The day after uploading my last posting, this was emailed to me. It seemed fitting to post it.

There is, deep within, one voice, at once very strong and very gentle, that can calm the storm. It says something extremely simple like, ‘It’s okay. I love you anyway.’ It seems to come from beneath all the other voices, and though it is a quiet voice, it speaks with compelling authority. This is the Voice of Mercy.

~Elaine Prevallet, from Weavings May/June 1980

Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. ~John 15:13

May this Voice of Mercy be the only voice you and I listen to, so we might know we are indeed loved “anyway.”

Jun 05 2013
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God’s New Mercies

Merciful Lord, this day…

By God’s new mercies,
I am aware
despite whatever grief
I think I bear, there are
others barely holding up
under pain and pressures
I cannot begin to fathom.

Because of God’s new mercies,
I must confess
not wanting to know
how dark the darkness
just might be for them,
for I would rather dwell
in my own naive reality.

With God’s new mercies,
I surrender
to reminders of my own
story, and then begin
again to hold the tears
of others, as though
they were not my own.
~jemsweet

Jun 01 2013
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Lord, please lead us!

Lord please lead us…
Toward perfect peace and rest
Into the light,
The light of your love.

Toward perfect peace and rest,
Now we follow…
The light of your love
Where eternal glory dwells.

Now we follow
Into the light
Where eternal glory dwells…
Lord, please lead us.

~jemsweet