Blog 249 – 03.14.2016

One of the goals of my three pronged approach to this daily blog:theencouragingword.co is to be thought provoking. It is just too easy to listen to the main stream take on everything or even to pick a popular view and always side with that. There was a popular poem written about Jesus some years ago by the title One Solitary Life and I remember the last line said that all the armies that ever fought and all the navies that ever sailed have not affected the life of man on this planet as much as that one solitary life. Other faiths might take issue with that premise but I will say only that Jesus life nor any of our lives is solitary.

We are connected, bound up with the lives of others and every living thing. The Universe, God, is a part of every living thing and no matter how much we may feel isolated or alone it has never been nor could ever be true. The saddest verse in the New Testament is not, “Jesus wept.” But a verse Elvis Presley quoted in the movie, Wild In The Country. Elvis even quoted it in Aramaic as one of the Gospels does then the translation, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.” We are told that all of the sins of the world were laid upon Jesus and that therefore God had to look away. A very imperfect and not at all Heavenly Father like myself would have a hard time doing that so I cannot imagine a loving God turning His back on His son. I think rather it was Jesus’ humanity showing. He was hurting and felt deserted and alone as most of us have.

I have been told more than once that some people find my writing “too religious.” I assure you I am not “religious.” And probably most of my long time friends think I have rejected the religion of my youth. And that is true. Think and Believe are really synonyms. If you have not changed your mind in thirty years you are not paying attention or are working very hard to resist change. Going back, or continually reliving yesterday, is not progress. Going forward, living today to the fullest, to me, that is living. Imagining a better tomorrow than yesterday and working toward it, that is progress. And believing/ thinking you are somehow better or above another is religion at its worst in my estimation. No educational level you have obtained, no club or church you have joined, no oath or pledge you have sworn makes you more deserving of kindness and respect than “the least of these.” To think or believe so, I think, makes you act toward others and yourself less that your best. So if I have a religion it is the religion of the One Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” That religion rules out punching the other guy for not believing/thinking like you or for saying something you don’t like, or for supporting another candidate or team. It also rules out believing/thinking that your team is “the only team” in town.

Your friend and fellow traveler,
David White