In Yoke

It is here, my daughters, that love is to be found, not hidden away in corners but in the midst of occasions of sin. And believe me, although we may more often fail and commit small lapses, our gain will be incomparably the greater.   – Saint Teresa of Avila From Sri Easwaran: The widest possibilities for growth lie in the give-and-take of everyday relationships. The truth of this is brought out in a story about Saint Francis of Assisi. Three young men approached Francis and asked his blessing to become hermits and seek God, each in his own cave, deep in the mountains of Umbria. Francis smiled. He instructed them to be hermits indeed, but hermits all together in a single hut. One should take the role of father; a second should think of himself as the mother; and the third should be their child. Every few months they should exchange roles. Living in this way they were to establish among themselves perfect harmony, thinking always of the needs of one another. We can al...

" …And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side. ..." Mark 6: 45-52. We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite.   We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end. What is my dream of God's purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and un-perplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working towards a particular finish; His end is the process--that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is th...

My work as a technology company sales engineer, consultant, and manager has been greatly improved, augmented and complemented by our alliance and association with the folks at Clearview, the group of former Arthur Andersen, EDS, ACS,  and Accenture consultants who have built the Waco Internet Technology Gateway in Waco. This is the datacenter where we now maintain our offices in Downtown Waco. One thing I appreciate so much and have made part of my work day, and sales discipline—is taking painstaking time to prepare—especially for prospect presentations. The guys who have spent their careers as consultants know that this is very much a Best Practice. Now, when we are seeking to make a presentation to a client, or prospect, or even to have a discovery meeting to work on building a relationship, my work mate Josh and I make sure we rehearse that meeting, carefully scripting the message, carefully wording the ideas, the thought processes behind our solution or project plans. What ...

Acquire a firm will and the utmost patience. ~ Anandamayi Ma As I read this quote from Easwaran's work, I was moved to apply these words to my walk as a follower of Jesus, who became the Christ. Sri Easwaran continues: "We begin our journey towards the supreme goal of life from where we stand." The supreme goal of life, for me, is to continuously become transformed into the embodiment of Christ, in mind, body, will, and spirit. "Just as it is good to be patient with others, it is equally necessary to be patient with ourselves". I find this patience with myself to either be difficult, because of my natural desire to accomplish all my goals and objectives-now, or at other times I find myself apathetic and lazy and unwilling to exert any effort towards transformation. In effect, I am able to see that I am indeed a double minded man. "After all, when the desire to live for others comes to us, we can be haunted by our past mistakes, by the amount of ...

"Perseverance is more prevailing than violence; and many things which cannot be overcome when they are together, yield themselves up when taken little by little." -Plutarch With every thought, we are working on our destiny. When a sculptor creates an elephant, each touch of the chisel shapes the stone. While carving an eye he barely strokes the stone, but those light strokes are as vital as the rough shaping blows. There is no such thing as an unimportant blow.  Similarly, every thought shapes our lives. There is no such thing as a little thought, no such thing as an unimportant thought. It may be heavy, it may be light, but it always should be well-directed, with discrimination and precision. ~Easwaran Sometimes I get a sense that the challenges that we are facing as well intentioned individuals are overwhelming. From time to time, as I survey and experience the anger, distrust and the issues that seem to endlessly cause separation between my friends at church, it affects me...