Faith & Life Inspirational Message

Recently, I took the opportunity to undergo one of those tests that we all should do when we get older.   Of course, there are ranges of these tests that are good for older folks to do.   There are a number of good reasons for us to do these things, but probably the key issue is called self-interest!   The problem here however, it sometimes does not seem to be in our self-interest.   In all honesty I had no interest at all in doing it!   And I could come up with ten reasons why I “really did not need to do it….not now anyway.”             To follow my own “logic” here would only prove my stupidity.   I know there are other ways I opted to be stupid, but most of the time when it comes to my health, I sacrifice stupidity and go with safety.   Throughout the process I am always intrigued by the guile and gravity of my mind.   It is one creative, tricky little dude!   Sometimes I don’t eve...

I am not sure about you, but I am aware that I get ideas and have no sense of why that idea popped into my head.   That does not mean everything I think is profound.   Some stuff that pops into my head is crazy.   Some of it is random, irrelevant or even stupid.   But sometimes some good stuff pops into my mind.   An idea like that is analogous to someone walking up and handing you a $20 bill.   I can imagine that person saying, “Here ya go, $20 just for thinking!” Most of the time, these ideas come and go.   I don’t pay enough attention, so I know I have missed some very good ideas.   Of course, the bad ones should be forgotten.   And I should just laugh at the stupid ones and forget them, too.   When I talk about the good ones coming into my mind, I am not talking about the ideas that come when we are in that half-sleep, half-awake state.   I have in mind more the kind of ideas that come when we are in the shower or doing so...

If we have open eyes, then it seems anything and everything in our world can be a conduit for spirituality.   I know this is especially true for much of what I read.   Of course, since I teach in a Religion Department, much of what I read would qualify as spiritual.   But I also read a fair amount that most folks probably would not consider spiritual.             Recently, I ran across an article that took me to the internet to find something that promised to be interesting.   The article focused on the twin ideas of randomness and chaos.   I was very intrigued.   At one level, I was pretty sure I knew what those two English words meant.   At another level, I was not sure whether they were the same thing or different, but related.   I knew I had never thought about the two at the same time.   If pressed, I would probably have guessed they were basically the same.   So I approa...