| Last week a friend sent me an email with the following attachment. Currently, I'm training for step #24.
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| how is it that the life of a most loyal, beloved friend can just cease in an instant?
Princess
dear friend
family dog
people lover
brave soul
life is not the same without you. thanks for blessing me.
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| everytime someone tells me that they have received a calling to preach a certain message to a certain audience, it makes me squirm. they don't really believe that, do that? why yes they do. there are actually people who think that just as prophets of old were commissioned by God to preach a specific word (i.e. Amos to Israel), they too are the hand-picked servants of Yahweh to speak truth, usually to call others to repentance/warn of judgment.
but times are different, my friends. our call is only to love - to receive the love of God and to give love freely. eveything else is just commentary.
then there are those who make blanket statements such as, "I cannot be unhappy or have bad days because God is my eternal source of joy." while I applaud your rigorous efforts towards holiness, I simply cannot agree that God can be that insensitive to ask us to ignore our feelings and emotions. By pretending that one is doing well when he or she is actually not and claiming that God requires unchanging contentment in him is really unfair and rather masochistic.
If God is love and love is what he has for us, then there is no judgment for coming to him just as you are.
everywhere I look today, there's bad theology. even more ironic is the fact that churches (particularly evangelical churches) are where the most disturbing theology is preached. sure there are a lot of varying theologies and spiritual streams out there, but I believe that the soul knows the difference between good and bad theology. the soul at its most lucid and unadulterated state is able to pick out truth like choosing a white object amidst a sea of black objects. this is because the soul is the life of God living in every human being, whether they are aware of it or not.
Other shoddy teachings to be wary of:
-Jesus is a suffering messiah. so too are we called to suffer for his namesake.
-tragedies like the tsumani and AIDS are God's punishment for the sins of mankind.
-(and my personal fave) we ought to move into the slums and inner cities because that's where God is. (not that this is not true - God is there. however, our motivation should not be out of duty or even conviction; but rather, because God loves us and simply that.)
Dear friends, let us listen to the voice inside each of us. For there the spirit of God resides.
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| Dear Ms. Su-per-fantastic,
I got you a birthday gift while
vacationing on the beaches of Melbourne, Australia. I had hoped that
you would thoroughly enjoy your new pet, but to my dismay, my boyfriend
chopped it up and made sushi:
I am so deeply sorry. Happy birthday, anyway.
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Gosh,
I just realized how lame and boring my blog entries have become. Oh
well, I blame it on being out of school and a full-time job, and thus
having no reason to procrastinate via xanga. Now I think I just use
xanga as a means of writting memos to myself.
Rosa, you saw a
fabulous pair of shoes displayed at a boutique in Berkeley this
weekend. You told yourself that the next pair of shoes that you
purchase would be that one.
It just so happens that treehugger.com has an article on this line of
shoes. "Pikolinos was awarded the ‘Flower’ last year for their
Ecological City range. They are apparently the only Spanish business so
far which uses the EU eco-label. Their Ecological City range
uses chrome-free vegetal tanning for the leather, water based
adhesives, natural dyes and they have biodegradable soles. The company
prides itself on its environmental policies and they even celebrate
Pikolinos Environment Day each year. Last October this coincided with
International Bird Day and all the staff went out into the local
wetland area of Alicante and planted trees." Obviously this is ultra
cool.
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I'm packing away again for my next trip, while simultaneously looking online for tickets to China (btw, anyone know what the best airlines are?)
My new year's resolution was to be a pilgrim, but I've become exhausted from traveling. "Be careful what you wish for," Lydia says, a little too late.
Whatever, here's to living my twenties to the fullest.
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| Next up,
-Berkeley visit
-retreat at Malibu
-FRANCE
All in the month of March!
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Photos from a most beautiful place, "home": |
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