In Yoke

I have heard stories of men and women who were imprisoned in solitary confinement, without anything but their own hearts and their own memories to examine. These same folks tell of how whole passages of scripture, complete stories of Jesus and of the Apostles, of prophets, of Psalms, have come clear to them, untrammeled, descriptive, like medicine to their lonely, tortured soul. These “balms of Gilead” are also available to us-like myself, who have been instructed in the ways of the Lord throughout our lives…even when being spared imprisonment. I know His word has come to me many times in my lowest moments, and in my humdrum day to day existence, to enlighten, to encourage, to clarify, to inspire, to energize. Paul the apostle states- Christ dwells in our hearts through faith(Ephesians 3:17), and all treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden and can be found in Christ. It stands to reason then, that all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge of God can be found—in the hear...

“There is an underlying attitude that cripples and blinds each of us. It can be so pervasive that we do not often question it. This attitude is a perversion of the natural order created by our loneliness and insecurity, by the illusion of separateness, by ignorance. The problem, in a way, is quite simple: we think of ourselves too often and in the wrong way . The result is self importance (or its’ opposite, self hatred), and greed.” As I share the long and sometimes sordid story of my own autobiography, I do so from a “Spiritual lessons” point of view, keeping this aforementioned premise in mind. I can really relate to this…because for a great portion of my life- I have thought of myself too often and in the wrong way . I have been studying the enneagram as a way of self revelation and understanding for the purposes of transformation by the Spirit of Yahweh, through Jesus Christ(YESHUA-His Aramaic name). As an Enneagram three, who is seeking redemption from my natural b...

(adapted from Fr. Richard Rohr) When Job believes he is about to lose his life, he has a choice. He can respond in one of two ways. He can curse God and die; and I think he considers that option quite seriously for a moment ...(I know I have considered the relief of pain and suffering for myself if I was to die and be done with the humiliations I was suffering!) or he can surrender to the love and the grace that he had become awakened to/aware of and say : "Why fifty years? Why did I deserve anything?" When we take on that attitude, we have made a decision for grace, not "rights" or "entitlement"! "Naked I came into the world, and naked I will leave"(Job 1:21) What do I have brothers and sisters, that has not been given to me? All is grace. All is given. Who gave me the hands I am using to type this or to do anything creative? Who created the eyes whose connectivity, configuration, construction, and 'wiring' I cannot begin to understand?...

Who can map out the various forces at play in one soul? I am a great depth, O Lord. The hairs of my head are easier by far to count than my feelings, the movements of my heart. -Saint Augustine Most of us never really see the people we live with. Our friend may be right before our eyes, but we do not see him. We see our idea of him, a little model we have made in our mind, and on that we pronounce our judgments. That is why, when we quarrel with someone, the worst thing we can do is to avoid him or her. We are trying to avoid an image in our own mind, which cannot be done. The mind takes some exaggerated impressions, memories, hopes, and insecurities, draws a quick caricature like one of those sidewalk cartoonists, and then turns up its nose. The person in question should retort, "That's not me;that's your caricature of me. If you don't like it, you don't like your own mind." To heal our relationships, we have to move closer to people we do not like, learn to ...