The Role of the Subtle

How can we change our life? What can we do, right here and right now to change our life? Maybe, our circumstances are grim, our outlook bleak. Maybe, we feel alone, despondent and without hope. It’s a struggle for some every single day. If applying consideration of how others are far worse off than us does not work to alleviate the pain and suffering of our current situation, what can we do to change the direction of our life?

When thinking of others fails, when we feel there are no concrete, tactile ways to make any change, we must alter our perception of the current reality. That’s easy to say, “Get over it,” not so easy to make the leap on our own. We must start the change in perception with something familiar.

The subtle does have much relevance to daily living, more so than the big events of the day. The subtle shades and blurs those events. It clouds our natural ability to acquire, analyze and act. If we begin to change how we perceive the subtle in our daily life, we have a chance of affecting our analysis and action on the larger concerns.

Let’s start with consumption, something we all do every single day of our life. Maybe, clean water is even an issue for us, go subtler. We all must breathe. Our body breathes all on its own, without any recognition or control by us. Breathing is the only necessity. Change how you view your breathing, and you alter how you view your entire existence.

There’s so much to explore with every breath. Each breath is a miracle in itself. If we don’t believe that, we’re missing the special nature of life. It is a blessed gift, and, opportunity can be found in every single breath.

Explore your breath. It’s not going anywhere. You may find yourself lost, but your breath will come back into awareness once again. You need only try to focus on watching your body breathe. The mind will want to run away, and it will again and again. Try this for a few minutes, even just once a day for a few days. What’s the harm? You’re going to breathe anyways. And, is it truly better to focus on what’s not happening or worse yet what’s painful?

The Proof is How We Live ***

S. Matthew 3: 1 – 17

O: This is the story of John the Baptist. You can feel the passion of his spirit in this text. His desire to bring the message to the people is profound, and his belief of what his role is with respect to Jesus is also profound. Even Jesus has a role to play, and must do what “God requires.”

A: Even a simple man, dressed simply, eating minimally, enough to only survive, has an important role to play, and not just as a messenger of God’s word.

I’m sure you could feel the passion and intensity of John because the people talked about it and spread the word.

I think the most crucial part of this text is the following:

“Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. Don’t just say to each other, “We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.” That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.”

The only proof is in the way we live our lives, not the boxes we have checked. You can call yourself a Christian, but if you do not live a good life, and not only live a good life, but produce good things with that life, only then are you safe. You can even be baptized, but if you continue to live life as you were before, then it is an empty baptism, merely an act on a stage before people and not before God.

God can create more children from stones. That’s how God made us in the beginning, from nearly nothing. All the building blocks were here, but they were not put together in this special way until God put them together. And, there are more building blocks of humanity all around us.

God could wipe us off the planet, as has been done countless times since the birth of Earth. How many times has the slate of Earth been wiped clean? It can be wiped clean again, and at any time. Now is the time to start producing good fruit. There is no better time.

So, you have repented your sins, you have been baptized, you call yourself a Christian, you still must produce good things. It’s the producing of good fruit that is crucial to the work of God. The reason he sent Jesus to Earth was to burn down the trees with unwholesome fruit, the same trees that led Adam and Eve out of Eden. That was the point of bringing Jesus here, to forgive us of our sins. The original sin can be washed from us, and what we do once we’re clean is even more crucial because it is a choice, a free choice.

John goes farther. Jesus will separate the wheat, discarding what isn’t good from that which is. You could be connected to good acts, and still not do good acts. This reminds me of going to church and not acting on any of it for the good of yourself or others. It’s not enough to check a box; you must be good and do good things.

Even Jesus must be washed of sin, as he was born with sin all around him.

It is part of the plan for us to be cleansed, so that it be easier to produce good fruit.

P: May I not only be good but do good things. May those good acts multiply.

The Next Scripture: Matthew 4: 1 - 25

Using Now for Our Benefit

Every action that we take right now should be with beneficial intention. With every step, with every breath we must believe that it will yield beneficial results. This seems simple, but the simple seems more out of reach now for the majority. Let’s take this slow.

1)      Do no harm

This seems the simplest of concepts, yet, we often make decisions and choices that we know lead to our destruction, short-term or long-term. Sometimes, we truly don’t know how our choices will affect us now or down the road. Often, though, we are our own Wizard of Oz.

We should be the first to expose ourselves and our intentions for what they are, a means to our own end.

2)      Beneficial Intent

Intention is at the heart of every action we take and every word we speak. Despite our intention being for ill, we can still create something positive. A huge corporation that is polluting the world can donate millions to charities that do amazingly beneficial acts. Or, we can have good intention for not. A good Samaritan wants to help a cause, donates some money to a not-for-profit. That money is then stolen by a criminal within that organization.

Simply having the intention to do benefit, to us or to others, isn’t the same as actually creating a benefit.

3)      Beneficial Action

Beneficial action is when we act on our intention and follow it through to an end benefit. This isn’t as simple as following the money donated to the humane society to the specific animal at the shelter.  This is taking the dog out of the shelter and feeding and caring for that dog for the rest of its life. It is a huge responsibility. Our actions should be thought of in that same context.

The responsibility is ours to make certain our actions create real benefits.

4)      No Negative Mental Intention

As we take a spoonful of chicken soup, as we take each step on a walk, we should be thinking “this is making me better, this is making me stronger.” If with every sip, with every step we’re thinking how sick we are or how much pain we’re in or will be, we’re poisoning our own actions. The way we think about what we’re doing affects what we’re doing. It actually changes the cells we’re creating in our body. The power of mental intention is that potent, it changes our cells. Another example is an artist. The way an artist feels you can see or hear or experience in their art.

With all that we do, we must believe that it is for benefit to either our self or to others.

In Difficulty Seek Guidance ***

S. Matthew 2:1-23

O. This is the story of how Jesus escaped persecution when he was just a baby. God came to Joseph numerous times, giving him the needed guidance to avoid being caught and killed by Herod. Also, it tells us how Jesus became of Nazareth, guided there by God.

A. When faced with enormous difficulties, persecution and even death, we must turn to God for guidance. He will lead us through the difficult moments. This also shows that death is part of our lives, and always will be. Despite saving Mary, Joseph and Jesus from Herod’s persecution, it was not possible to save all the children that were slaughtered instead.

What a difficult passage for me. It seems so cruel, and unusual. The lengths humanity will go to protect their hold on power and authority. I see this across the planet, even to this day. In fact, the world is far worse now than in the last 4 decades.

You look at the Arab Spring, and how much human life that has been shed, with dictators and militaries trying desperately to remain in control and in power. The brutality being waged in Syria is so sad, so senseless. Where is the change?  Where is the hope?

Initially, I started writing what little God would do to help those defenseless children around Bethlehem. Then, I remembered how he threw his only son onto Earth, in such a brutal time, even more brutal than it is now. Now, there’s an emotional and physical distance between enemies. We can send drones packed with warheads and missiles and kill someone with a touch of a button. One person can walk into a school and press a trigger once and kill defenseless children with little thought or effort.

It doesn’t seem as if anything has changed.

Yet, in this story of the shepherding of Jesus and his family into and back out of Egypt, eventually to call Nazareth home, God saw to it that Jesus was saved for his ultimate sacrifice, the Crucifixion.

P. May God shepherd me through my storms, so that I may lay down my life for the benefit of all others.

The Next Scripture is Matthew 3: 1 - 17

Follow Through on Love ***

S. Matthew 1: 1 - 25

O. My immediate observation is one based in confusion. Why list the descendants of Jesus, leading to Joseph, when Joseph is not the father of Jesus? Is it because of filling some prophecy, saying 14 descendants to David, 14 descendants to the Babylonian Exile, and 14 descendants to the Messiah? It confuses me to list all of these when Joseph is not the father.

A. One of the most difficult aspects of relationships is the humanity found on both sides. Initially, Joseph wanted to run upon discovery that his Virgin wife was pregnant, and he knew the unborn child could not possibly be his. Everything that would be said about him, about her and about the son-to-be would make life difficult with Mary.

   An angel came in a dream to explain how special this child would be. To me, it seems Joseph must have had a profound love for his wife, Mary. He wanted to believe her, that she was still a Virgin, and that the child was conceived by Holy Spirit. All he needed was an extra push by the Angel to follow through with that love, to follow through with that plan.

   How do we apply this teaching? Trust Love. Trust doing the right thing. Sometimes, we don’t get the added push by an angel to do the right thing, to trust in love, even through the most challenging of circumstances.

   Sometimes, all the fears we have of what others think of our faith and our beliefs need to be set aside. Follow through on the Love. The Love that God shared with us with his Son, Jesus. It is Jesus that allows us to move beyond our sin and focus on our love of others. Even from the very beginning, Jesus began to share this beautiful truth with us. Love.

P. May I trust more in Love today. May I not be dissuaded by fear as I start upon this path. May I have the strength to persevere, always.

The Next Scripture: Matthew 2: 1 - 23