VIOLENCE IS NOT THE ANSWER

    "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword." Matthew 26:52. Yesterday was a sad day. In a beautiful little city in West Texas on a military base near to my heart, someone became so enraged that they raised a gun and shot two people. In a house in the suburbs of Denver a man who had much to live for, became so despondent because he could not play football right now that he raised a gun to his head and shot himself. How sad that people's lives are reduced to a single bullet. How sad that all these centuries after Jesus told us that violence is not the answer do we still turn to violence in anger , fear and despair. When will it ever end? Only when we all come to realize the one truth of life: LOVE IS THE ONLY WAY. My prayers go out to the families of those affected by violence, whether in one single act or daily. May love penetrate the armor of anger, hatred and hopelessness and allow all to find a better way.

"PEACE AND LOVE" IS THE ONLY WAY

    It has been 9 years since the tragedy of 9/11/2001. Yesterday brought back memories and sadness for what was lost that day and for what we humans still have not yet learned. "Peace and Love" is the only way. I could write many things about what is and isn't happening both here in the US and around the world, but that would only create further debate and division. I pray for those who cannot see beyond their fear, anger and hatred, for they are prisoners to a horrible pain. I prefer to be free as I trust in peace and love. So today I send out Peace and Love to all, in hopes that a simple prayer will touch everyone's heart. Join me now in taking into our hearts the words of St. Francis of Assisi:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.


O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen

 

And to help us to practice and spread Peace and Love to others, remember these words written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for children in Calcutta:

              People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

            If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

            If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. 
Succeed anyway.

           If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

            What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

            If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.  Be happy anyway.

            The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

         Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

         In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

BEFORE ENLIGHTENMENT CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER. AFTER ENLIGHTENMENT CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER Zen proverb

    Today is Labor Day. It is the US holiday that began from the death of several workers during a strike in New York City in 1882. Long lost is the first meaning of this day for in the 21st century it is more traditionally celebrated as the end of summer, even though the season of summer does not end for several more weeks. To me, it is a day to "chill" and enjoy the cooler weather, an excuse to eat those things I don't normally eat and to do whatever I want. Today I plan to swim, shop, get a pedicure and work on my writing before heading back to my counseling job tomorrow. Which brings me to the subject of the Zen proverb above....Work.

    To some people work is a necessary evil, to others it is their life's passion, to many it is an means to an end. According to the proverb it is what we do whether enlightened or not, for enlightenment, peace and happiness come from within not from the environment beyond us. I have felt work as a necessary evil, a means to an end and as a passion in various forms throughout my life. I have worked as a newspaper carrier, a car hop, a life guard, a camp counselor, a ward clerk and a lab assistant in a hospital, a lab tech in the Army, a receptionist, a word processor, an HR representative, an HR supervisor, an HR manager, and a licensed professional counselor first in a private practice and now working with the military. But my true passion has transcended all of these, beginning many, many years ago when I was barely a teen. My true passion is to write. I have written research papers, poems, articles, song lyrics, short stories and books. I have been writing in a journal almost every day since I was in the Army. Before then and certainly before e-mail, I wrote about my life as letters sent to friends and family as I moved about the country and world. I was spurred on by my passion and by the high praise I received about my skill. And today my Labor of Love on this Labor Day is to continue to write. Today I take a leap of faith, believing that as this is my passion I will continue to write until the day I die, knowing that in some time and space of my future life here on earth, my passion will become my career, my job, my form of prosperity. Until then writing is my love, never ending, always present, exactly where I want to be.