Christmas

Good morning, God, and thanks for this new day in our lives. It's Christmas Eve, and Christmas comes tomorrow. It's a day that I love to experience every year because it's a day when we're supposed to be focused on love, peace, joy, and hope. It's a day that originally was about you "coming" to earth as a person to be some sort of savior, though since you're everywhere all the time, it doesn't seem to be all that necessary for you to have to come to earth to "save" us. You do that all the time just by being, it seems to me. We're the ones who tend to shut you out of our lives, and that could make us feel that we need an intercessor when dealing with you.

I think I love Christmas mostly because of the ways that people focus on each other rather than themselves. Of course, I realize that much of what people do for others does come with selfish motives, but all in all, during this time of the year people are willing to do more for their fellow human beings with less question than we're willing to do during the rest of the year. It gets our focus outside of ourselves and on others and their wants and needs, and gets us in a frame of mind that allows us to try to meet some of those wants and needs.

I often wonder what the world would be like if we could approach life and living and other people in that way, every day of the year. I think that Christmas acts as a wonderful reminder of what we're supposed to be like and how we're supposed to act, but the shame of it is that it's wrapped up in a day that's now more about commercialism and getting than it is about compassion and giving.

So what do we do about Christmas? How do we make it about love and hope and not so much about the presents? When I look under the tree I see a lot of presents, and it's just my wife and me--shouldn't we be able to have a simple Christmas with no presents at all, and still enjoy the day just as much? Or am I compensating too much for having had so many Christmases with very few gifts? Or am I over-analyzing, and we just found quite a few things that we simply wanted to give to each other? I know that they're not super-expensive gifts, just some things that we thought we would like. I don't want to think too much about something that shouldn't be thought about too much, like motives for gift-giving.

A reply:

Christmas is rather complicated, isn't it? It's about the story of a virgin birth many years ago that didn't even take place in December, combined with non-religious holidays having to do with the winter solstice, now about gifts and food more than about togetherness and love. The togetherness is still there for many, many people, yet it's somehow become less important than the gifts and the parties and such. While it is nice to see children get excited about getting gifts, for example, you do them a great disservice when you teach them to equate a day with such an important message to getting gifts that are, for the most part, unnecessary in their lives--they may be enjoyable things like toys and books, but the vast majority of the gifts that are given are completely unnecessary, when all is said and done.

But isn't that what often makes gifts so special--the fact that they're things that you want, but wouldn't necessarily buy for yourself, or couldn't buy for yourself? A gift should be about the recipient's wants and needs, not about just needs. There are times in our lives when there isn't enough money to satisfy many of the wants, and then it's important to focus on the needs. But all in all, a gift is a gift, and there shouldn't necessarily be a need to quantify its value or justify it.

The gift that I gave to you--the gift upon which Christmas is based--is the ability to hope and to love. That's what the holiday is about, and you can make it whatever you want. It can be just as valuable with a thousand gifts under the tree as it can with no gifts under the tree. The gifts are a beautiful reminder of how good we can feel when we put our minds on others and their wants and needs. My hope is that people remember how that feels and continue to focus on others for the rest of the year. Of course, I can't force them to do so, so most people simply get caught right back up in their own little rat races or dramas, but that doesn't mean that we shouldn't try!

The gift I gave to you is my love, and I ask you to pass it on, any way that you know how, all day, every day, if possible. It's yours to do with as you please, but remember that the more we share it, the more it grows. Your goal is to help it spread around the entire world and to become a part of every person on this planet. A world of human beings who all are focused on love would be a beautiful world indeed.

Family Ties

Good morning, God, and thank you for this new day that we all have to live through. It's full of possibility and potential, and I'm grateful that I have a chance to live through it and experience all that it has to offer. I'm in Colorado now, visiting my parents for a couple of days, spending some time with them for the holidays, and it's pretty enjoyable so far. It's been warm and rainy, though a cold front and a storm are in the process of moving in.

It's really fascinating to me to consider family ties. In my family, I could easily have rejected the ties--there was enough strife and enough anger and pressure and dysfunction that waling away from it and never looking back would have been a very logical act. But I didn't do it, mostly because I've always known in my heart that doing so would have been a mistake. And now that my parents are much older and life is much different for all of us, I do see just how silly--and destructive--that would have been. That said, though, I do recognize that I've spent much of my time living rather far away from them, not necessarily on purpose, but that has been the reality.

I think it's safe to say that it's pretty impossible even to define family to the satisfaction of everyone involved. There are the genetic ties, of course, but past that, there are so many ways that different families diverge in their ways of being and of treating each other that it would be useless to try to find universals in our ideas of family. And that's okay, I suppose--the important thing is for me to define family for myself and to decide how I'm going to interact with my family so that they know that I love them and that they have someone to count on, rather than focusing on what I can get from family--even though that, too, is very important.

A reply:

Family is a fascinating concept, and one that allows people to feel a bit of security in a world that's constantly changing and that offers very little in the way of consistency. Of course, your concepts of family are changing a lot in today's world, which leads many people to feel extremely insecure, for that one part of their lives that used to be consistent is not longer so--some people are just as afraid of the changes in their own concepts of family as they are of the changes going on in the world around them. These people suffer greatly, for the refuge that they could and should be able to count on is not at all available to them. Having to go through life without any sort of safety net is truly a daunting task.

You've been right to keep the ties to your family strong, though you've also been fortunate that your family is one with which you can do so. And I would challenge your assertions about family and ask you to reconsider them as ties to your parents, for your ties to your siblings aren't nearly as strong. And you know why. Your siblings bring you down, while your parents don't do so. And you know that you can do nothing personally to change your siblings' situations or relationships to life, so maintaining strong ties with them would be extremely frustrating and possibly damaging to you and to the people in your new family.

It is a very good thing that you've maintained a strong relationship with your parents, and it's obvious that you'll continue to do so. This relationship will be something that helps you out in difficult times and that allows you to give to others in the form of being there for them, and giving them something to be proud of in their own ways. You'll constantly have to decide whether or not to strengthen your ties with your siblings, and that decision will be based on whether you can handle doing so, and whether the relationship will be balanced or imbalanced, healthy or damaging. Follow your heart.

Liars and Deceivers

Good morning, God, and thank you for today--we have a new day to make our ways through, with many new possibilities to explore and people to meet. Life is going on and on, and we're making our ways to the end of the year and the beginning of a new year--a year that I have to say doesn't fill me with hope and enthusiasm, given the fundamental changes that we're going to see, as well as the conflict and anger and frustration that are going to become part of so many people's lives in the near future.

I have to say that I don't understand how many people can see the lies and the manipulation that our president-elect is saying and practicing, yet still support him. It's frightening. They seem to feel that anything is okay as long as it fulfills their personal agendas--to the point of electing a leader who can't be trusted. At all. Not with anything he says or anything he does. I'm incredibly disappointed that this man has been made president, and I'm very fearful of what he's going to do to the people of this country. Now more than ever, we need your help, it seems.

Of course, I can't let the fear control me or dominate my life. I have to do the best I can to make sure that within my sphere of influence, things stay as stable and reliable as possible. But it is very difficult to watch other people support wrong, and to be unable to do anything about it.

A reply:

It's going to be a difficult time for very many people. Many people will become disenfranchised, alienated, threatened, fearful, angry, hopeless. Many others will learn from the status quo that it's okay to lie, that the ends justify the means. In some cases, it will become hard to hold people to high standards of honesty and integrity when their primary model of these two qualities shows little to none of either in his life.

Your focus, though, must be on what you can do to make things more positive for yourself and for the other people in your life--your family and students and friends and acquaintances. Even for strangers whom you've never met before. Enjoy their company, help them out, model the integrity and honesty that you feel should be the norm.

And be aware. Whenever this type of change occurs, there are other changes that happen, too. More people become concerned and are willing to step out and take action on issues that before, they would have been glad to leave to someone else. More people are often willing to speak out for the good when more people are speaking out for the bad. People pull together in ways that they hadn't before, because they feel that the stakes are higher and they feel the threat of being personally affected by the negative new paradigms. There will be new groups formed and old groups will strengthen, and these groups will fight for social good, the good of all. Join them or support them.

The sun will come up again tomorrow no matter who is in which office. It's easy to say that this sounds defeatist, but it's not. It's stating a simple fact. And what you do with your life and your resources still is up to you. Have faith--in me, in yourself, in your fellow people. Things will be okay, even though there will have to be conflict in order to make sure of that. There will be hard times, and there will be times when it seems that hope is lost--don't let those times get the best of you. It really is all up to you. Hang in there, and do good. And keep the faith. The liars and the deceivers always have their downfall, and they usually bring it about themselves.

A Different World

Good morning, God, and thanks for this new day! Thanks very much also for a nice Thanksgiving Day yesterday, and a safe and warm place to live, as well as the work that I have and the opportunities I have.

It's been quite a while since I last wrote you. There have been several occasions when I've wanted to, but it's been difficult with all that's been going on, both in my life and in the world in general. It's very hard to get a true feeling for how things are these days--there are so many negative things going on in the world that sometimes it's hard to stay focused on the positive. From our recent election here in the States to the protests at Standing Rock to the situation in Syria and the potential problems that are going to be hitting us over the next several years, things are getting kind of difficult to comprehend, much less handle.

In many ways, it seems that the world has changed significantly over the last few years, and not for the better. I know, though, that there really hasn't been a change in the world itself, just in what we see and what other people are willing to share. Violence and hatred and greed and prejudice have always been a part of some human beings' lives; it's just that now, we're seeing more of those things because more people feel comfortable in putting them out there for the world to see.

I think that my main concern is what I should do, now that these things are out in the open so much? How should I react? Should I do anything at all different, or simply keep on doing what I'm doing as far as the teaching and the websites are concerned? Mine is a minuscule voice in this world, and I don't know that it would have any effect at all, especially on its own. But with whom can I join voices? How can I work to make my voice heard in a way that will be effective--that will help people to see what's truly important in life, things like honesty and integrity and love for our neighbors? I know that people have been trying to get/help other people see these things for as long as human beings have been on this planet, but have met with limited success. How can I be more successful--or even slightly successful?

I suppose if one word could describe my overall feeling about the world and everything in it right now, that word would be "discouraged." The world right now is not a place that encourages in most places and situations, and I'm feeling more and more the world around me as I grow older/grow up. It's quite a shame, but it's very real.

A response:

You've joined a very large club, that of human beings who have been discouraged by the actions and words of their fellow human beings. It seems that many people, no matter how much positive they have in their lives, are simply too afraid of losing everything to be able to understand that life isn't to be controlled and manipulated, that it's to be lived in a manner that shares love and compassion rather than a manner that focuses solely on personal gain, especially financial.

You live in a country that is truly blessed with wealth and abundance, but that has been manipulated and controlled by a relatively few people who have money and supposed "power." You and I know that the power they believe they have is fleeting and transient, but they are able to control and manipulate others due to their influence over other people who are too afraid to stand up to them. Their control has led to many unfortunate things, such as the disparity in wealth between those who have much and those who have little, the destruction of nature, the disenfranchisement of many minority groups, and the terrible reduction in the effectiveness of public education. Your country no longer has an educated populace in general--it has many, many people who function on a visceral level rather than thinking things through, for thinking intimidates them and makes them feel awkward and impotent.

When all these dynamics work together, it leads to results such as your country saw in its recent elections--when a hate-filled, misogynistic, racist, and not very smart person is elected to the highest office in your land. And many, many people simply cannot believe that such a thing can happen--even though this is a rather natural result when so much fear is present among your people.

Discouragement is a natural response when one sees that in spite of very obvious reasons for not doing something, people do it anyway. It's a natural response to seeing people not do something that seems to make complete sense. It's a loss of faith that the people who surround you really care about the world and the people and plants and animals in it. It's the loss of sureness that all that we do serves some purpose, that our actions and mere presence on this planet actually mean something.

Sometimes discouragement comes in a very big package, and it seems to overwhelm you. It sounds like you're there now. But keep your hope, because all is not lost. Life moves on, children continue to be born, and the world still needs its guides and teachers. You have your very concrete tasks in life that you've accepted fully, and it's up to you to continue to teach and guide, helping people to face life with less fear so that fewer things like those that just happened will occur in the future. We need to build our young people up so that fear isn't their biggest motivator. Only then will what you see around you start to resemble any kind of ideal that makes kindness and love its cornerstones.

Being Tired

Good morning, God, and thanks for this new day in our lives!  We're in our ninth week of the semester, which means that we're getting closer to the end, so my extreme busyness is coming close to an end finally. There are still almost two months to go, but with significant breaks on the horizon, it definitely looks doable.  It's been a very busy semester, but it's also been very enjoyable.

I thank you for the chance to work hard for a season in order to make it possible to take time off later. This seems to be how I function best--work really hard for a time, then have some down time. It's a way of life that I enjoy, of course, or I wouldn't be doing it, and I'm glad that I have the chance again to do things this way. Who knows what the future will bring? I'm going to enjoy this now.

And I am enjoying the classes, though I do find myself getting tired. I think that a large part of it may have to do with the works that we're reading--I don't enjoy the particular book that we're on, and I wish I didn't have to lead discussions on it. It wears me out. But that's part of life, isn't it? And soon we'll move on to better and more interesting and not-so-violent works that will make class much more enjoyable.

I guess that this is just a rambling note, rather than something specific, but that's okay. It's very early in the morning and my brain is kind of scattered this morning, so life will go on. Not everything has to be focused strongly, does it?

In any case, thanks again for the day and the opportunity to work with some very special young people!

A response:

You're very welcome--I hope that you enjoy this day. And you're right: not everything needs to be focused strongly. Sometimes the best thing that we can do is just put out our thoughts just as they come to us, without trying to put them in any sort of order or category. When you can do that, you can often clear the distressing thoughts from your mind--the mere act of expressing them gets them out of there, making room for more productive and positive thoughts.

It's good that you know about your own rhythms and abilities, otherwise the difficult times would be harder to handle. When you know, though, that you will have down time after the busy time for recovery, the busy time isn't as draining. You have this time now for the learning and the teaching that you can do during it, so it's important that you make the most of it while it's here--for your sake and for the sake of your students. Long breaks for teachers are very important at the ends of semesters and school years, for the rest that they provide is really the only thing that makes such an intense job possible. Everyone has different tolerance levels, of course, but because teaching is a job with such a strong need for constant giving, it's a job that drains energy rather regularly.

Enjoy the rest of the semester. You have some really good students who have a lot to give to the world in the future, and part of what they will have to give will come from what they do in college, and part of what they get from college will come from you. So don't give up, and don't give less than you can--you have recovery time ahead.

A Time for Being Busy

Good morning, God, and thank you for this new day in our lives. It promises to be a busy one for me instead of a day of rest, but I'm in a busy period, and what happens, happens. I'll have my rest soon enough, so this busyness is very tolerable.

It's something that's fascinating to witness in my life--the up and the down periods, the times when my schedule is so packed that I have almost no free time for anything, and the times when I have more free time than I even know what to do with. It's perplexing sometimes, but I am learning to live with it.

I think the main danger would be in making the busy times permanent--starting in some sort of work, for example, that didn't allow me to do other things that I love doing. I love teaching, but I also love coaching cross-country with middle-schoolers, and writing, and running. If I were to have work that didn't allow me to do any of those other things that I love doing, I'm not sure what my life would be like. I'm pretty sure that I'd be looking for a way out of that work--I certainly wouldn't resign myself to it and allow myself to suffer through it each day. Unless, perhaps, it was a job that helped many, many people, and that probably wouldn't get done if I weren't doing it.

Hmm.

A response:

You're welcome for the day. I hope that you're able to make the most of it, no matter how busy you may be.

Being busy is an important topic to focus on sometimes, for I certainly did not create you and your companions on earth to simply be workers. Your lives were not designed to fit a corporate need or a law firm's need or a hospital's need. Your jobs are very important because they give you something to work for and they give you a sense of accomplishment and ways to earn a living financially, but they are not meant to take up so much of your life that you're unable to enjoy other aspects of your lives. It's a shame that so many people have to make appointments to grab a cup of coffee with their friends; that so many people never get out into nature because their weekends are filled with the chores that they weren't able to do during the week; that so many people rarely sit down to a relaxed meal with their loved ones because they're still at work doing things that benefit their bosses.

A time of being busy is different. You know that from when you taught high school and coached three sports--the seasons came to an end, and you were able to rest. Rest does come in those situations, and they literally do follow the "for everything there is a season" rule. You can work eighty hours a week for a few weeks on a worthy task, and things are fine; when you do that for years on end, though, you've put your life out of balance and you're most definitely neglecting other things in your life that could be even more important than your work.

I wish you well during this busy time. You're in it for the right reasons, I think, and it will benefit your students greatly. Try to enjoy it, even. Your rest time will come soon enough.

This Semester

Good morning, God, and thanks for this new day and this new week. I have a lot to do this week--a lot of responsibilities to fulfill, a lot of classes to teach, much work to do. But it's gratifying work that I enjoy doing, so it's not like having a lot to do is a terrible thing.

As a matter of fact, I thank you that I do have a lot to do--it's nice waking up in the morning with a sense of purpose, and having the chance to fulfill that sense of purpose by doing things that I love to do, and getting paid for doing so. I think that life would be rather unbearable if I didn't have things to do that made me feel good about myself and that helped me to grow as a person. Teaching is what I definitely feel called to do, and I know that I'm good at it, so I don't have to deal with frustration at having work that I struggle to accomplish.

Now that the fall semester has started up, I'm glad to be in the classroom, and I would ask you to be with me over the next few months so that all of the young people that I work with will get what they need from me in order to learn the things that they want and hope to learn. I hope that you'll be with me to help me to keep balanced and focused, and to help me to be understanding and compassionate, as well as to be open to new ideas and new ways of approaching the topics that we study.

A reply:

Will I be there with you? Of course. Will you listen to my guidance? Very possibly. Remember that I'm always there with you, and that I'm always available to help guide you. You always have decisions to make, and I can help you to make them in ways that will be beneficial to the greatest number of people. The best decisions aren't always the easiest ones, as you well know, so sometimes you'll balk at making them. Sometimes they alienate other people and seem to be arbitrary, but sometimes they need to be made.

As a teacher, of course, your decisions have an impact on your students--and you have 120 of them this semester. It's a lot of work, of course, but it's important work, as you well know. You have to decide about class content, about how much time you give to creating assignments, about whether to pass papers or not, and many other things. You'll just have to decide based on your professional judgment, being as objective as you possibly can.

And one of the things that I know you've learned as a teacher is when to be harsh and when to be lenient, when to give exactly the grade that's deserved and when to try to help the student to learn something important by giving him or her a second chance. These are the decisions that are the most difficult, and it's fortunate that they don't come up all that often. Just remember me when you have to make them, and allow me to be a part of the decision-making process, and they'll be much easier to make and much more accurate.

Ask me to be a part of the planning process, ask me to help you understand your readings clearly, ask me to be with you in class so that you can be more effective there, and I will be there. I know that you already have asked me to be there for the whole semester, so guess what? I will be there.

Now it's up to you to stay mindful of my presence so that we can work together, instead of you taking on this huge set of tasks on your own. I think that we can do a very good job together, and I look forward to it!

The Stress Is Worth It

Good morning, God, and thanks for this new day! We're in our third day of the new semester now, and the stress has kicked in--waking up at 2 in the morning, my mind all over the place getting things ready, trying to remember new names of new people, feeling the pressure of wanting to make sure that my students' experiences are worth their while. But it's a stress that's definitely worth it, of course. Teaching is what I've chosen to do, and I'm pretty good at it. And teaching allows me to make a positive contribution to the lives of other people--and a contribution that isn't limited to just the people in my classrooms. I may wake up in the middle of the night and I may spend hours on things that I'd prefer not to spend hours on, but it definitely is worth it--to me and, I hope, to the students in my classes.

The stress is here, I know it, and I hope that I'm able to deal with it effectively so that it doesn't make me less effective in the class. I hope that it makes me a better teacher, not a burned-out teacher. I'd prefer to sleep the night through, but during the school year I very often don't, even after as many years as I've been at this. So please be with me this semester--and every time I step into the role of teacher--and help me to give my students what they really need and more, and help me to deal with the stress so that my students never notice that I'm dealing with it. Thanks!

A reply:

You're welcome. It's gratifying to hear that you love teaching, for it is an important gift of yours, and one that's necessary among human beings. The fact that you take it seriously and that you stay focused on the students is very important, as you well know--you've had those teachers who simply didn't care and seemed to just be making a paycheck. You got very little out of their classes, and you don't want to do that to your students.

The stress is another issue. Perhaps it's time that you start taking seriously some of the stress-reducing techniques that other people have developed. They're out there, many of them, and they're not that difficult or time-consuming to do. One of your problems is that you don't tend to feel stress as stress--in fact, you thrive in stressful situations, so you often mistake them for things going just right. And things may be going just right, but still be stressful. Think about how you grew up and how predominant stress was in your life, and how you got "used" to it. Yes, you do know how to relax, but you're also very good at functioning just fine--even at a higher level--when things get terribly stressful. That, too, is a gift, but not one that you've learned to compensate for in other ways. It's like when you run a race--you run slower when you're running a 10k than you do when you're running a 5k because you need to pace yourself and save something for the end of the race.

But in your stressful situations, you're not able to pace yourself. You have to do what you have to do. So it's important that you find other things that will help you to deal with the stress so that you'll be saving something for later. Yes, you have your running, and that is helpful, but you run even when you're not under stress. It's not something you do specifically for stress. If you do find something for stress, such as some sort of exercise, meditation, or hobby, I think you'll find that your sleepless nights are fewer and your ability to be effective in the classroom even higher.

It's something for you to consider, at least. Enjoy the semester, enjoy the students, and enjoy your experiences.

New Starts

Good day, God, and thanks for this new day! I have a lot to do today, all of which is pretty pleasant, so it looks to be a good day. Of course, what I give to the day will mostly determine what kind of day it is, so please be with me to help me to give all that I can.

Starting next week, I'll be teaching five new classes with about 110 new students, so once again, I ask you to be with me during my new start so that I may be able to be an effective teacher for these young people who need effective teachers in their lives. I hope to be someone who can help them to learn the things that they need and want to learn, but mostly who can help them to learn how to learn. My goal is to help them to enjoy the learning, too, so that it isn't something that they're doing just to fulfill requirements.

So please help me on this new start to have patience, insight, love, discernment, and the necessary knowledge to help them to learn and to grow. I'm good at what I do and that fact helps me to be confident as a teacher, but I never want to grow to be too confident and stop seeing the needs of the students and mistakes that I may be making.

A response:

Good day to you, too. It sounds like it will be a good day if you go into it with a positive attitude--your attitude does more to make a day positive or negative than anything else, and if your perspective is focused on the positive, then the positive will be what you see and experience. And even some things that others may see as negative can turn out in positive ways for you.

As far as your new start is concerned, all you have to do is remember that when you ask me to be with you in any endeavor, what you're really asking for is the consciousness of the fact that whatever you do in my name, you're doing with the right motivation and in connection with me. I am with you always, so you don't have to ask me to be with you; when you do, it's like you're lighting a candle that you already have that was full of potential and that's now being useful and helpful.

One of the reasons that so many people feel so much anxiety is that they try to do everything themselves. They forget that they have a connection with me that never goes away and that never diminishes--but that they don't always tap into as they could or should. A prayer opens that connection, it doesn't establish it. When your heart is yearning for something and you ask for my aid, remember that the candle is always there and that it never burns down or out--but it does need you to light it in a very simple way.

You know from experience that the semester will be a good one. You're not facing any challenges at this point that will be difficult, but one never knows--with 110 students, there are bound to be some unforeseen issues coming your way. But you also know that the means to deal with those issues is within you and with you all the time--a simple shift in focus from doing everything yourself to asking for my help, an act that will strengthen the connection you have with me in order to deal with any situation in a way that you wouldn't be able to do otherwise.

Enjoy your semester, and enjoy your students' company. Help them to learn and to grow, and make the time that they spend in your class worthwhile. And have fun.

Good morning

Good morning, God, and thank you much for this new day--I hope that I'm able to make something special of this new day in my life.

I don't really have anything special to ask today, or anything in particular that I wish to discuss. I just want to say thanks for the day and thanks for all I have, and ask you to be with me so that I can treat others well and do things that are helpful to others. I don't really have anything in particular to ask for, either. So thanks!

A reply:

You're welcome. And I'm always with you, so I'll be with you today, as well. Enjoy all that it has to offer you.

Watching Lies

Good morning, God, and thanks very much for a new day in our lives. I really do appreciate this gift, and I hope that you'll help me to make the most of it! It's promising to be a very nice day, so I hope that I'm able to help it to live up to that promise in my life--and perhaps in the lives of others, as well.

As you know, we're in the midst of a presidential campaign here, and we have to be exposed over and over again to the candidates and their words. This campaign, though, seems to be different because we have at least one candidate who loves to lie, and who doesn't even care if he's caught at it. When he's caught in a lie, he'll just say something stupid, such as "I never said that."

The other candidates aren't as blatant as all that, but they do their share of twisting facts to make themselves look better. What's bothering me isn't the lies so much--they help me to determine whether I can trust someone or not--but the fact that most of the people who support these politicians don't care whether they lie or not. Even when they're presented with strong facts that prove that the person has lied, people support that person anyway, seemingly not caring at all that if a person is going to lie to you now and then deny it, that person is going to lie to you in the future--and possibly as an elected official who now affects our lives very strongly--and then turn on you when you call out that lie. And with the influence that comes from an elected office, turning on you can become extremely dangerous.

How can we allow things like this to go on? How can we embrace and support people who simply don't seem to care about the truth, and who are willing to manipulate us and deceive us at every turn? I'm very worried for the future of our country when I look around and see the terrible things that are happening.

A reply:

You're welcome for the day. I truly do appreciate it when you appreciate it.

Yes, what you mention is very concerning. I gave all of you a pretty decent mind that you can use not just to receive messages and comprehend them, but also to analyze them and judge their veracity. The fact is, though, that many of you choose to turn off your minds because you fear the dissonance that will result when someone you support says something that you cannot support. You fear losing the illusions that you've built up that make you comfortable and that give you a sense of safety.

The societies that you live in are different than societies in the past, but they're also very similar. People still have insecurities that plague them their entire lives long, and fears that keep them up nights. One of those fears is the fear of being wrong, and different people feel that fear at different levels. And when you add insecurities to the picture, that fear of being wrong leads to the fear of losing friends, losing respect, losing status, etcetera, because of being wrong. So rather than admit being wrong in a case like this, it's easier to simply continue to support a candidate even when the dissonance becomes extremely strong.

It's also human nature to deflect an argument to something else rather than face facts. "The only reason people think he's a racist is because of the press." "Maybe he did do that, but look at the opponent--that person did something even worse." When people do this, they're trying to protect a decision and/or belief that they've already espoused or made or developed. You find yourself now in the middle of a situation that allows people to believe things that aren't true--and worse, to choose to believe things that they have tons of evidence that they aren't true.

A lot of this has to do with a focus on the worldly things rather than on spiritual things, rather than on love and peace and hope. I've given you love to work with, and I've given you a heart and spirit that cannot be deceived. Yet you choose to do all your thinking with your brains, and to make all of your decisions based on logic and thinking. Right now, though, people are feeling more isolated from one another than ever, in a large part due to their new-found addiction to screens of all sizes, and that isolation strengthens the fear that they feel. And how do they deal with that fear? By constantly searching for more information--on those screens--and using their brains instead of their hearts and spirits.

It's going to get worse before it gets better. The current campaign is a symptom of a much larger sickness in your society than is evident on the surface--it's like a sore that indicates a cancer beneath the surface of the skin. It's definitely going to test everyone in many different ways. Peace and love are always possible, but people are choosing information and technology instead. It's not making for a pretty picture.

Worries

Good morning, God, and thank you for the opportunities that this new day has brought to us. We have an entire day stretching out before us, full of many chances to be nice to people, to give to people, to compliment and encourage, to share and to love. I hope that I'm able to take advantage of as many of those opportunities as I can.

It's kind of amazing that there are so many different things coming up in my life right now, so many different new things to do and new possibilities, yet behind it all are the worries that a summer without full-time work can bring. We're still paying off someone else's loan--money that we don't really have--so we're stuck in an extremely difficult financial situation that isn't getting any better. We have to pay out $1000 a month that we don't owe--and you know the reasons why--so that someone else doesn't lose her home. It's extremely difficult, and though the fall looks to be more positive, I won't see a paycheck from the fall until September. Until then, we have to struggle by.

The plans that I had for bringing in money this summer aren't working out, unfortunately. I've definitely tried, but so far, no go. So we're watching what we owe start to increase again, and neither of us want to be stuck in that type of situation again. We've worked too hard to get out of it, and now we see ourselves being dragged under again. It's only for a short time, it seems, but a lot of damage can be done in a short time.  We both know that making the payments is the right thing to do, but why does doing the right thing cause so much damage to us and cause so much worry? It's extremely difficult to deal with, and we're not getting any help from anyone to alleviate the situation.

A reply:

You're very welcome for the day. I hope that you make it a marvelous one.

We've talked about the money issues before. This is the first time you've been so specific about the causes, though. Your financial problems are being caused by your willingness to help out other people and to make sure that someone else doesn't go under because of a commitment that you made over a decade ago. Your worries are caused by a combination of your need to be in control of situations and a lack of faith that things will be okay--even better than okay. You will not go under. There will be resolutions to problems that you cannot see or even imagine right now.

It's okay to have a lack of faith. There are many so-called religious people who try to make a lack of faith seem to be a personal fault, something that only less-devout people suffer from. The truth is, though, that anyone who tells another person that a lack of faith is a personal shortcoming, really doesn't know what faith is. Faith is something that you strive for, not something that just magically appears because you "believe in" me. Your personal faith doesn't give you any sort of personal in with me--I love all of you equally--though it can improve your life simply by the nature of what it is.

You see, having faith helps you to think with confidence, and when you think and act with confidence, doors open up to you simply because you approach things differently. You don't go to a job interview thinking negative thoughts and hoping against hope that you may get hired; rather, you go to that interview knowing that you have a lot to offer and that you could be a tremendous asset to the organization. With confidence, you don't talk to other people in a hesitating fashion, hoping that they'll like you; instead, you talk to them knowing that you have a lot to offer them, and that if they reject you for whatever reason, the problem is theirs, not yours.

And many people mistake this type of approach as arrogance--but there's a huge difference between arrogance and confidence. A confident person will recognize another confident person, yet a person who has little confidence will often mistake confidence for arrogance. Unfortunately, they'll also often mistake arrogance for simple confidence, and they don't notice the warning signs of the problems that an arrogant person can cause.

Your faith can give you confidence. It can't cause money to appear out of nowhere, and it can't change situations immediately. But the confidence that comes from a clear and simple faith can help to change situations, and it can also help you to feel at peace and to get more from each day that you live because you're coming from a place of peace. And when you feel at peace, you're able to treat others much better. Have faith. That's not a mandate, but a suggestion.

Priorities

Good morning, God, and thanks for this new day in our world. It promises to be a beautiful, mild summer day, and I hope to make the very most of this gift in my life.

As the summer goes on, I find myself once again trying to deal with setting and keeping priorities--I find that it's far too easy to waste a lot of time on things that don't really matter to me, and to neglect doing many of the things that are very important. I am working on a book, and that's going fairly well, though it could be going better. I have a lot of website work to do, and I'm doing much of it, but not all that I could be doing. Part of my problem is that even though I promise myself to sit down and write out all that I need to do, I avoid doing that as I do other things.

I don't think life is all about doing and achieving--you know that. But I do know that there are many things that really need to be done, and putting them off isn't at all a good idea. I do know also that I get things done much more effectively when I have some sort of plan to do so--yet sitting down and making the plan is one of my weaknesses, and when I don't do so, hours can go by with nothing getting done. That makes me feel that I'm squandering time, because those hours also aren't a restful, peaceful time for me, as rest should be.

A reply:

Yes, it is a beautiful day, and yes, it holds many great opportunities for you to make the most of it. Please do so--that's why you have it!

Priorities. . . there's a word that humans have a very hard time with. Life is full of choices, isn't it? And each time you face a choice--of what to do, what to buy, what to throw away--your choice can be a reflection of your priorities, or not. Most people set priorities about things that they feel they should, such as work or accomplishments, but relatively few people make priorities of things like encouraging and helping others, resting and relaxing, spending time with the family. Priorities are something that can be used to help one to organize their thoughts and make decisions, yet most people react to the present moment's realities and spend time on Facebook even though their priorities don't include that at all.

The hard part is sticking to your priorities, it seems. Because one of your priorities is to have priorities, but you don't really. Believe it or not, I've given you enough time to do whatever you may want to do in life; most people, though, spend that time doing anything but the things that will help them to make their dreams come true.

Life isn't about achieving, but achievement definitely makes people feel good, especially about themselves. And if you want to achieve, remember that doing so isn't necessarily a question of prioritizing or using time well--it's about making the decisions that will allow you to do so, such as deciding not to visit Facebook at all today, or sitting down with that piece of paper to write that letter, or not turning on the television to watch a show that you've already seen (and trust me, even though you might not have seen a particular episode of a particular show, you've already seen the story in some other series).

Perhaps next time we can talk about decisions.

All This Killing

Good morning, God, and thank you for this new day in my life. I hope that I'm able to make something special of it--you've given me the day and the tools, and I sincerely hope that I'm able to use them and make this an extraordinary day in some way.

I have to say that I'm getting very frustrated and even somewhat disheartened by all the killing that's going on in the world. Whether it's killing by individuals with assault weapons here in our country or terrorist attacks in other places, it hurts to see so many people willing and able to kill other people for reasons that are simply incomprehensible. If you disagree with someone, then talk to them. If you believe something different, then acknowledge the differences and move on with your life. These are the strategies that human beings have been given; these are the ways that we can use our minds and hearts to deal with our fears and prejudices rather than using violent means to make a point that virtually never is taken in the way it is intended.

The violent people are not having their claims examined in objective ways. They lose that chance when they choose to harm and kill other human beings. They are not eliciting sympathy for any cause, nor are they helping people to understand problems. And because of their misguided attempts to deal with their fears and challenges, other people must live in fear of physical violence, which makes their lives very difficult, indeed. So many people are dying needless and tragic deaths because a relatively few people feel that they have some sort of right to kill others, and there really are no words that can express how awful it is that they do this, and how awful it is for the rest of the world to see the constant killing of innocent people on a regular basis.

A response:

This has been going on forever, as long as human beings have been around. It's extremely sad and completely unfair to virtually everyone, yet no matter how much human beings progress in their knowledge and scientific endeavors, you still do a relatively poor job at teaching young people how to live together in peace, how to deal with fears and insecurities, and especially how to employ effective problem-solving skills in order to accomplish your desired goals without resorting to the lowest form of persuasion: violence and intimidation. The people who are doing the killing are afraid and they're angry, and they are willing to listen to others who are afraid and angry more than they're willing to listen to people who are not.

Even with good upbringings, such people can be "caught" by others at times when they're most vulnerable--when they feel alone, and are afraid that they always will feel that way; when they feel no hope for their future, and they're afraid that lack of hope will last forever; when they see what they perceive as injustice and feel angry about it, and they don't think that other people will do anything at all about that injustice. When you're feeling these things, it's very easy for someone else to convince you that other people are to blame for your problems and the problems of your country, and it's very easy for those people to convince you that a completely appropriate way of responding to these issues is indeed a way that is actually completely inappropriate.

Humans like to go after symptoms rather than diseases, so they declare war on terrorist groups rather than examining the situations that give rise to such groups and then doing something to deal with the problems that people are having. There are too many arguments about how much money to spend on creating more jobs, for example, an act that would bring hope to many more people, and not enough recognition of how that expenditure would actually save time, money, and much heartbreak down the road. You need to create situations that help people to have hope, you need to create inclusive social structures to help young people to have a sense of belonging, and you need to teach people not just about how to deal with their problems in life, but also a deep respect for their fellow human beings and their own fears and hopes and dreams. The violence is real and it will not go away until more people feel connected and hopeful, rather than disenfranchised and hopeless.

And what can you do as an individual who doesn't have any influence at all over the decision-making processes that could help to solve some of these problems? Not much, of course. But your prayers and your positive thoughts will help not just to keep you aware of the problems, but to think about how to avoid such straightforward problems in your own sphere of influence--to see how your own contribution to your own world can keep people there from feeling the things that the violent people feel.

Reflection

Good morning, God, and thank you for a new day in our lives. I hope that I'm able to make the most of this new day and not just enjoy it, but make something of it that will be positive for me and the other people in my life.

Summer is here, and the transition of the seasons is a good way to remind ourselves just how "seasonal" our own lives seem to be. While most people really like summer because of the heat and the longer days, I have to say that it isn't my favorite season at all--it often gets too hot, and I need to have an air conditioner on just to sleep sometimes. And when it gets TOO hot--boy. In the winter we can dress appropriately and compensate for the cold, but when it's hot there's really nothing that we can do to compensate for the heat. I'm fortunate that I don't live in a place that's also humid.

But anyway, I just wanted to say thank you for today and let you know that I am trying to keep life in mind, that I'm trying to reflect on it rather than just pass through it; to learn from my experiences rather than just move through life from experience to experience without getting anything from them. So thank you for this new season and this new day--I really do appreciate them.

A reply:

You're very welcome. And I'm very glad that you're reflecting--it's important that you do so if you want to make something more of your life than just an existence. But I trust that you'll also allow many situations to simply be, without too much reflection on them. Sometimes reflection isn't just unnecessary, but it can seriously diminish the pleasure and the learning that can come from simply feeling a situation, from letting it touch your heart instead of your mind. I gave you a mind that you can use to interpret and analyze and explore, but I gave you a heart to live from. Yes, they must work together, but human beings seem more willing to let their mind dominate and they thus make the heart suffer. Don't do that, okay?

What to do?

Good morning, God, and thanks much for this new day in our lives!  We have another set of hours to do with as we will, and I hope that I'm able to make those hours productive and useful and enjoyable.

As you know, we had another massacre in our country a few days ago. Meanwhile, the politicians keep attacking each other, more and more people are going into debt and struggling financially, the schisms between groups--political, racial, ethnic, you name it--are growing wider and people are getting more and more angry at each other, calling each other names and threatening each other over the most ridiculous of causes. . . it makes me wonder just what we're supposed to do. How can we fix the world? How can we help people to care for each other rather than be angry at each other and try to hurt each other? Not a lot makes sense these days, and it seems that things keep on getting worse. Corporations are growing stronger and controlling more and more of our money and resources, while millions of people have to do without--though many of them can afford their cell phones and monthly data plans.

When I was a kid, I thought the world would be a much better place by now. There would be more equality, we would have figured out how to spread prosperity around so that more could live full lives. We wouldn't have so many differences based on gender and race. And to a certain extent, that has come to pass, but at the same time, in some areas things are even worse.

And what can I do about it? I've never felt so helpless and so lacking in influence. We have two negative candidates for president, and I don't want to vote for either of them. So what do we do? How do I find something to do that can help me to feel that I'm actually doing something about situations that bother me so much? I don't want to be a person who complains without doing something about the situation, but I'm also not in a position of influence who can change these things. It's very frustrating, and there seems to be no end in sight for the frustration.

A reply:

Things will always go wrong. You're a human being, exercising your free will, and you're surrounded by other humans who are also exercising their free will. The major problem is that not every human being exercises free will with an eye on their responsibilities to their fellow people and their societies. Not every person looks for the common good, but for their own good, no matter what they say they're doing. Not every person uses their creativity and imagination--they simply do what others have been doing because it's somehow "safer." People allow themselves to be ruled by their fears rather than their love and compassion. Add to this the fact that these days, because of technology, you have a much broader view of the world around you and you see things that you never would have seen before, and you have a very difficult world to live in. That is, it's difficult to live in if you care about your fellow humans and you hope to make the world a better place. Which is most people. It's rather easy to live in if you want to take advantage of others and look out for your own good only. The human race is full of predators. It always has been and it always will be, unfortunately. I didn't make you that way--it's just that many people choose that path because they're afraid of the paths of love and compassion. They're so afraid that they won't have control over themselves and others that they create what they believe to be control by hurting others instead of helping them.

But your bigger question was what you can do about it to allay your frustration. And it's a very good question. First of all, it's important to remember that you're not the caretaker of the world and that it's not your responsibility to fix all of the problems of the world. You have your own sphere of influence, and it's important that you recognize it and be well aware of it, and then do your best to make sure that you put as much positive energy into that area as you can. For example, you're a teacher. You can teach young people to recognize the problems that they witness, but you can also teach them not to fear and to feel good about themselves. People who feel good about themselves are much less likely to need to hurt others than those people who feel very bad about themselves.

A confident person is much less likely to respond to a hurt with another hurt, so you can teach young people to have confidence. An educated person is much more likely to recognize problems that are occurring than someone who doesn't have a broad field of knowledge, so teach the young people to see the world in its entirety, and not just in small slivers that reflect their own self-interests.

You know other things you can teach. You know how to make people feel good about themselves. Compliments and encouragement really can change the world. And your students may not go out and change the world themselves, but they may parent a child who does. Do the absolute best you can within your sphere of influence--you are where you are for a number of reasons--and you will have a positive influence on the world. You just won't see it in the news. You may never see any concrete results at all, but that's what faith is all about--keeping on even when you don't see results.

And learn to love the frustration. It's a sure sign that you really do care, that you really do love.

The best of intentions

Good morning, God--and thanks much for this new day in our lives! We have another day to live and to love and to breathe and to learn and to experience, and I hope that I'm able to make the most of it. Thank you very much for the many opportunities that lie before me today--I really do appreciate them, and I hope to make the most of them.

I have a question for you today that may sound like I'm bitter when I'm not--why is it that so many of the things that I do bear no fruit, and actually often fail pretty miserably? I've done a lot and I've worked very hard at what I do, yet I very rarely see any positive results of the work that I do in life. I especially don't see any positive financial results of my efforts, and after a while that starts to wear one down, I believe. In my positive moments I'm fine with this fact, but there are other moments when I feel frustrated and confused. It's very hard sometimes to put forth so much effort and see so few tangible results. And it's not about expectations that haven't been met--it's more about the frustration of working very hard and very much and seeing almost nothing in the way of results.

Why is it that when all is said and done, I've basically failed at so many of the things I've chosen to do, even though I've put all that I can into them? And what might I do to stop failing--or is failure simply a part of who I am? And I don't say that as a defeatist, but as someone who has had so few tangible successes in my life that I start to wonder if there will ever be any sort of tangible success--be it financial or otherwise--for me to see as results of my efforts.

A reply:

You're welcome for the day--it should be a very nice one. It's interesting, because your first paragraph says quite clearly "I'm going to do my best to live this day fully and completely," and what could be a more compelling success than that?

Of course, if your definition of success involves return on what you've done, then success is more difficult to define. And return is often a very good indicator of success. You've written several books, and one of the indicators of success of having written is to have people actually read those books. You've had relatively few people buy and read your books, which can be a very difficult thing to have happen. After all, you wrote them with important life lessons in them, yet if no one reads your books, those life lessons aren't shared at all, are they? This can be discouraging, yet I know that you're already planning your next few books. You aren't discouraged enough to stop doing what you feel called to do--and I would call that being successful, also.

On whose terms are you defining and measuring success? Your own, or those of other people in the world? Are they the terms of people who judge and who make others feel inadequate if they don't meet certain arbitrary criteria, or are they the terms of people who love others and who care for them and who would be supportive of you in anything that you do? Which group of people would you rather belong to? Why?

"Failure" for one person is another person's success. I cannot give you an answer for your question--I don't know why your books haven't sold, why some of your commercial ventures haven't earned you money, why so many relationships have fallen by the wayside. I can assure you of one thing, though--keep on living your life and doing what you feel called to do. Ultimately, success means doing what you feel called to do and doing it well, and so far, you're there.

Another long absence

Good morning, God!

And thanks much for this new day in our lives. I really appreciate the opportunity to live through another day on this amazing planet, and I'll do my best to make the most of this day that I've been given.

It's been a while since I've written anything here, as you well know. A long vacation will do that--my wife and I took our first long vacation--two weeks--in many years, and while we were gone, we had very little in the way of Internet connections. It was a good thing, though, because I wanted to spend as little time as possible online. Our goal was to be together and to do some exploring, not to do the same online stuff while on vacation that we do at home.

I want to thank you for the opportunity to take the vacation. I know that the vast majority of people on this planet will never be able to take such a vacation, and that it's only an accident of fate that we happen to live in a place that allows us the economic possibility of taking the vacation we just took. I want you to know, though, that we don't take it for granted, and that we do very much appreciate it. I do wish that more people could do things like that, but I learned long ago that it's important that we live within the realities in which we're placed--we shouldn't make ourselves suffer if we live in a situation that is better than other people have. Vacations are important in life; I know that my wife and I very much needed this one.

So we thank you for the chance to travel and to see new things, and I'll do my best to make sure that the benefits of the vacation make a difference in my life.

A response:

Welcome back. Yes, vacations are important--I gave you a world to experience, and if you want to get to know that world better, vacations are one of the ways that you can do so. I want you to know the world, to feel comfortable in it, to enjoy and learn from all that it has to offer you. You know as well as I do that you have never been extravagant with your vacations, and this particular one was a special treat on a scale that neither of you have ever experienced before. There's nothing wrong with treating yourselves, until it becomes excessive. But almost anything in excess is a mistake.

Vacation is a time for rest, relaxation, and renewal, and I sincerely hope that you've been able to experience all three. I also sincerely hope that the rest and renewal allow you to do stronger and better work in the different areas of your lives--in your work and in your relationships and at your church. Use the strength that you have now that you're rested to contribute more strongly in ways that you feel are most appropriate. You rest so that you can approach things in your life more effectively and more enthusiastically; nobody is served when you work yourselves to exhaustion. Enjoy your rested state, and all that you get done in it!

No particular thing to say

Good morning, God, and thank you very much for this new day! The sun will be coming up soon, we'll see blue skies and feel warm temperatures, and we'll have another day full of opportunities to make something special of it. We'll be able to talk to other people, get work done, relax and meditate, cook food and eat it, and really, anything else that we want to do, as long as we can afford it, of course. I won't be able to hop onto a plane to Australia just like that. Though I have to stop when I say that--I actually could do that, though I would be changing a lot of things if I were to do so, not the least of which would be my relationship with my wife if I spent that much money on a whim like that.

Being spontaneous is really important in life, of course, but we have to use our reason to decide which things are worthwhile and safe enough to try. I could try going out rock climbing, but there's a very good chance that I would fall while doing so, as I have no training at all. On the other hand, a nice hike up to a mountain lake may be not just doable, but inspiring and uplifting.

An interesting set of ideas set up by a sentence about what I can't do. So perhaps this is what this note is about: I'd like to ask you to help me to be spontaneous when I can be, and to help me to discern between those things that truly are valuable enough and possible enough to undertake, and those things that may seem like a good idea at the time, but which may not be the best for me.

A reply:

Good morning to you, too. I'm glad that you're here for this day, and I hope that you're able to make of it all that you're able to. A lot of what you do and don't do has to do with where you are with your tastes and desires--the simpler you're able to keep things, the more likely you are to have an astonishing day! That may be something for you to explore in a future entry. . . .

You understand why discernment is considered a gift of the Spirit--because it's an important skill to have when you need to make decisions. The human life is filled with decision after decision, and knowing how to make them effectively is extremely important for you and the other people in your life. Your father's decisions to go out drinking as soon as he got a paycheck had a lasting effect on you and your family. Your own decision not to drink for so long had a lasting effect on the person that you've become.

Impulse can be a wonderful thing, of course, but it can make things unpleasant if the impulse leads to negative results and has no real positive return. Impulse has been one of the most consistent obstacles to a full life for many, many people, and that's a shame. Practice your discernment when you face an impulse, but also remember that when the stakes are very low, impulse can be a wonderfully liberating force. Picking up a book and going to the park to read can be a very positive impulse; going skiing instead of going to the job interview you had scheduled may not be.

Of course, if it were me, I would tend to err on the side of spontaneity, trusting myself to be able to discern between what's good for me and what's not.

But that's just me. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Mindfulness and Giving

Good day, God, and thanks much for this new day in our lives! I really do appreciate it, and I'm grateful that I have another day to live, people to see and to interact with, food to eat, a place to live, work to do. Today will be another special day, I know, in this life that you've given me.

Of course, it's hard sometimes to make the most of days--sometimes we just let them flow by on their own without contributing to them, without doing anything that might make the day special. We seem to just assume that the day will bring us everything we need and then some, without thinking much of giving back. When we do this, though, we rob ourselves of many opportunities to make our own days better. If I don't give that compliment or encouragement, I never experience the feeling that we get when someone else appreciates what we say or do. If I don't give the time and energy necessary to do my job better, I miss the gratification of having done a job well. I don't have to kill myself and work a 70-hour week to do my job well, of course, but I do need to give that something extra.

If I could ask for anything right now, it would be that I be able to give that little extra wherever and whenever I can, that I be mindful enough to recognize when it's appropriate--even necessary--and brave enough to actually do it. I want to give to the world, not just take from it.

Thanks!

a reply:

You're welcome, as always. And I will do my best to help you to keep your eyes open, but as you know, most of that task will fall to you. Since I'm not a micro-manager, it's impossible for me to control you like a puppet all day, every day. But I can help and I do help. In something like this, my help comes in the form of gentle reminders every day of just what there is that can use your help, be it another person, some trash on the street that needs to be picked up, of a problem that needs to be solved, for example.

Oddly enough, most people ignore my little reminders that have been built into their lives. When their kids ask them for advice, they try to solve the problems instead of taking the opportunity to help the kid to learn to solve her or his own problems. When there's trash on the ground they walk right by it, doing nothing about it--often not even noticing it! When a friend needs someone to listen to them, they tend to talk more than their friend does. It would be very frustrating to watch were I the type to get frustrated.

Giving to the world can be simple, but most people choose not to do so. And that's a shame, as much for those people as for the world, which could really use the help. Keep in mind that while I won't control your thoughts or actions, there are plenty of reminders of what you want and need all around you, every day. Keep your mind and your heart open, and you'll see them. And when you do see them, please act on them. It's for your good, and the world's.

Spring Isn't Bright for Everyone

Good morning, God, and thank you for this new Friday in our lives. I really do appreciate this new day that I have to live through and experience, and I hope that you'll help me to make the most that I possibly can of it.

It's spring here, which of course is an amazing blessing in our lives. The days are becoming warmer and we're enjoying being outdoors more that we have over the last six months or so. It feels good not wearing a heavy coat, and we're all enjoying the sunshine and the chance to go for long walks and to play outdoors without freezing.

For some people, though, I know that spring can be a painful time. When they see others being together outdoors and they still feel lonely, it can be very difficult to get through a day. Not much has changed--people were getting together even in the winter--but now it's all very obvious because it's happening outdoors. For those who feel lonely, spring can be one of the hardest times of all. It's a time of new love while they're "stuck" in their loneliness; it's a time of picnics and pick-up games, while they're still uninvited.

It's for those people that I want to offer a prayer today. Please help them to find the strength not just to get through their days, but to fight the personality traits inside themselves that keep them from making connections with other human beings--the fear, the feelings of inadequacy, the lack of hope, the walls that they've built up around themselves. I offer my prayer for them in the hopes that they will be able to make the connections that they need to make in order to feel better about themselves and also be able to contribute more to the lives of the other people around them, as they really wish to do.

Thank you.

A reply:

You're welcome for the day. Spring really is a special time, isn't it? I hope that you're able to allow it to work inside of yourself, to make you a happier and healthier and more loving person.

Your prayer is an important one, and it is noted. Many people aren't able to fully enjoy the beauty of spring because of the darkness inside of themselves, and it really is a shame. You were there once, as you well know, so you know just how painful it is. I would invite you to consider just what you yourself can do to answer your own prayer, things such as offering a kind word to someone who seems to need it or being there for someone to talk to when they need someone. As you know, though, going through such difficult times is an extremely strong learning experience, and I would add to your prayer the hope that people going through those times learn what they need from them in order to help others. Many people go through such difficulties and learn only resentment and anger, while others learn of love and compassion.

Thank you for your prayer. It always makes me feel good to see people praying for one another, keeping the needs and desires and hopes of others in mind as they go through their lives. One of the most important goals of being human is to reach a point at which the needs of others supersede your own needs, and it's always important to keep working in that direction. It's called love, and learning to love is one of your most important tasks while you're on this planet.

May your Friday be bright, and may your weekend be even brighter.

Just a hello

Good morning, God! I just want to say hello and to thank you for this new day in my life. I hope that I'm able to make it all that it can be!

A reply:

Good morning to you, too! Enjoy the day!

Fairness?

Good morning, God! Thank you much for this new day--I ask you to be with me as I work my way through it, to be a gentle guide so that I can be a more effective teacher for my students, and a kinder person to all of the people with whom I have interactions today.

I've been thinking a lot about fairness recently. We live in a country in which very few people control most of the wealth--few people live in extreme luxury, while many people live in abject poverty, struggling to get by, and no matter how hard they work, they're never able to get ahead or put money in savings or do things that others take for granted, such as go on vacations or eat out at a nice restaurant. And there are no real defining lines for who suffers so much--single mothers, people of certain races, the elderly, people with the "wrong" degrees from college--all of them are represented well on the list of people who struggle so hard and so often.

Of course, I'm speaking of financial struggle right now.  I know there are other kinds of struggle--many other kinds. But many of those are caused by financial stress, and it seems such a shame that so many people are unable to experience many of the joys in life because of the completely inequitable distribution of wealth on this planet. It's such a shame.

A reply:

Good morning to you, too. I will be with you--all you need do is be aware of my presence, and you'll know it. All that you wish to be, you can be. I will help.

Fairness? We could talk for years about that topic, especially about how human beings change as soon as they feel the slightest bit of wealth or power. About how they become so afraid of losing that wealth or power that they start to devote all of their actions to maintaining it, and the welfare of their fellow human beings becomes unimportant to them. It's a pretty horrible tendency, I agree.

But then we'd also have to discuss free will, and the fact that I'm not a micro-manager. I don't control people like puppets, forcing them to get rid of half their wealth so that others can benefit. Boy, would I like to. But that would undermine everything that I stand for, and it would make for a world that in some ways would be even less palatable. I feel extreme sadness for the people who spend much of their lives fighting just to make ends meet. Some of them haven't been prepared for life by their parents; some haven't paid attention to the signs of hope and opportunities that I've sent their way--partly because they haven't been taught how to recognize them when they see them.

It's hard to witness without feeling sadness, even despair. Our ideas of human nature are often formed by looking at the selfish and the greedy--who are really just the fearful--yet their actions are not at all representative of the human race as a whole. This inequity does serve some purposes, but it would take me hundreds of pages--discussing some concepts that the human mind isn't able to comprehend just yet--and much, much time to explain it fully. Let me just give you the short version: adversity builds a person, helps a person to develop; wealth does not. The human being grows stronger through tension, just as your muscles build--only by dealing with things that are difficult, not things that are easy. As Christ said, there will be poor always. Unfortunately, there will also be those who prey on them because they find easy targets in them and because they need to find someone weaker than they are to make themselves feel better. It's only an illusion that makes them feel better, but they need that illusion.

Keep feeling compassion. Help when and where you can. Give when and where you can. No, it's not fair, and it's not how I want things to be. But it's where you and your fellow human beings are taking yourselves these days--and that direction can be changed.

Just a hello. . . .

Good morning, God, and thank you very much for this new day! I don't have a lot to say today, but it's been a while since I said hello on this page, so I wanted to get back to it. I do miss our discussions, but the last few weeks have been quite busy, so my time has been spent on other things. I haven't forgotten you and I still want to talk, and that will happen much more as my semester comes to a close and time isn't as much of an issue.

A reply:

Good morning to you, too. Enjoy the day. And don't worry, I've heard your messages and prayers even if they haven't been here. And remember, I'm God. I don't feel slighted if you're talking to someone else or spending time with someone else. I don't feel that you're neglecting me--I recognize that you're involved wholeheartedly in the life that I've given you. If I were to feel bad about that, I would be pretty petty, wouldn't I? And petty I am not.

It's good to hear from you again. Keep staying in touch!

Winter's back

Good morning, God, and thanks much for this new day!  It's a snowy morning again, after several weeks of spring-like weather that had us all thinking that winter and snow were distant memories. And while it's a bit of an annoyance, there are, of course, many positives that come with having more snow. The snowpack in the mountains is being replenished, so there will be more water in the summer. We'll have more groundwater when this stuff melts. And it's really pretty.

It reminds me so much of life--just when we think we've worked our ways past something, we find out that we really haven't. It comes back up and bites us, sometimes making us think that we haven't accomplished anything at all or that we're actually moving backwards in life. I think I'm in that kind of stage with my teaching--I still often wonder about whether I'm an effective teacher or not, about whether I belong in the classroom, about whether or not students are getting what they need from me. Sometimes I think I need to work harder on planning, but then I go and have some of my best classes with no planning at all. Some students don't like having me as a teacher, some students really enjoy my classes.

These are doubts that I thought I had worked my way past. Long ago. But they're back, or they're still here, just rising to the surface once again. It may be a pretty crappy metaphor to compare it to the return of winter, but I guess it seems to work. In any case, if anyone gets what I mean by it, you do. At least, I hope you do!

I guess if I had anything to ask of you as a prayer, it would be that you help me to be the best teacher I possibly can be so that my students will benefit as much as possible. Then, when these doubts start coming up, I can look at the positive side of them, just as I can see a lot of positive aspects of spring snowstorms. Maybe they make me a better teacher. Maybe they help me to appreciate what I'm doing and what I've done in the past that helps me to do what I'm doing now.

A reply:

Spring snow is a beautiful thing. It's a reminder of the difficult times that your part of the world has just gone through, and you know for sure that better times are coming--you just have to get through a few more storms. And it's your choice how you get through them. You can celebrate the snow and the beauty, or you can feel depressed because it's not warm enough and there's not enough sunshine. It's always your choice.

As far as the analogy of your doubts, perhaps you forced a metaphor because when you started writing, you didn't realize exactly what it was that you wanted to write about, but it came to you nonetheless as you wrote more. In any case, the metaphor works for me--I might have used a different one, but it makes sense.

What are the late snowstorms in life? The resurgence of negative things, or the resurgence of positive things? Last year there wasn't as much spring snow, and there were more summer fires. Is it simply a disparity between what you want and what you get? Yes, everyone's ready for spring, but would spring from here on in be the best thing for your area? And I'm not just talking about the people, but the wildlife and plants and the soil and earth itself.

Perhaps your doubts and fears (you don't use the word, but it's there) are the best thing for your students. Would you spend as much time mentally going over your classes if you didn't have them? Would you spend as much time preparing if you didn't have them? This resurgence of your doubts could be a way for you to make sure that you're giving your all instead of becoming complacent and continuing to do things the ways you used to do them, as so many other teachers tend to do.

It's a good reflection. As a teacher you're planting seeds constantly. Your doubts are that spring storm that prepares the soil to be fertile, that provides the water for the rivers two or three or four months from now, when it finally melts. The doubts ultimately give your students a benefit two or three or ten years from now, when they think back on things that they've learned and something that you've taught comes back to them. Live with the doubts--don't let them control you, but don't dismiss them as useless or harmful.