Faith

To a significant degree, your emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual well-being, as well as the health and stability of your relationships with others, will be determined by your gratitude quotient. I have learned that in every circumstance that comes my way, I can choose to respond in one of two ways; I can whine or I can worship.  And I can’t worship without giving thanks.  It just isn’t possible. A grateful man or woman will be a breath of fresh air in a world contaminated by bitterness and discontentment. It would surprise me to think that you woke up this [...]

Will power will never succeed in dealing with the deeply ingrained habits of sin.  As long as we think we can save ourselves by our own will power, we will make the evil in us stronger than ever. Everybody thinks of changing humanity and nobody thinks of changing himself.  Leo Tolstoy Our adversary majors in 3 things: noise, hurry and crowds. What happens in meditation is that we create the emotional and spiritual space which allows Christ to construct an inner sanctuary in the heart. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us.  In prayer, real prayer, we [...]

On a deeper level, I believe many of us are hungry and thirsty for a faith based on sacrifice instead of on self-absorption and simplistic denial.  We don’t want to become Christians in order to become an improved man or woman, but an entirely new man or woman—people who live with a different outlook on life, who find joy while others pursue happiness, who find meaning in what others see as something to simply be overcome or cured, who want to drink deeply of life—with its mountains and valleys, twists and turns—rather than to “rise above it”. Ultimately, spiritual maturity [...]