#presbymusings

[leonbloder]

Always Something New To Love

I don't bounce back from strenuous activities, road trips, music festivals, or a few too many scotches as I used to do when I was younger. 

I know more than a few people reading this are feeling me now.  I'd salute you, but my elbow is sore for some reason that I cannot fathom. 

I recently went to an outdoor music festival just north of Austin on the hottest spring day, with a heat index of 107 degrees.  I was there all day, enjoying the music, trying to stay in the shade, and not drinking enough water. 

The short version of this sad tale is that I got dehydrated. Despite attending scores of outdoor music festivals, I have never been dehydrated until now.  It was a sobering and humbling experience. 

Of course, the obvious solution would be to drink enough water and not other things that have the opposite effect of water. 

However, another solution would be to avoid attending day-long music festivals when the sun is hotter than the sun's surface. 

The trouble is, I love day-long music festivals even when it's hotter than the sun's surface outside.  I love discovering new bands, making new friends, and generally taking in the shared experience of live music, sweating it out in the pit in front of the stage, and so much more. 

Despite my struggles to get up the next day, I think it helps keep my spirit young, vibrant, and alive, even if the rest of me is achy and sore. 

I read this great quote from author Norman Mclean about getting older the other day, and it seems appropriate: 

As I get considerably beyond the biblical allotment of three score years and ten, I  feel with increasing intensity that I  can express my gratitude for still being around on the oxygen-side of the earth's crust only by not standing pat on what I have hitherto known and loved.  While oxygen lasts, there are still new things to love, especially if compassion is a form of love.  

This resonates with me so much.  Mclean attributes his longevity and ability to stay on the right side of the ground to his openness to change and ability to find new things "to love."  

And then, he shifts to the idea of compassion. 

Compassion requires a certain level of flexibility. The kind of action/emotion grows with us as we mature. We find new ways to be compassionate as we refuse to "stand pat" on what we thought we knew or might have loved in the past. 

As we grow older, we might occasionally have bone stiffness, but that stiffness should not extend to our spirit. We should not be "set in our ways" but fully open to transforming our ways by discovering and loving new things. 

One of the great gifts that God gives to us is the gift of wisdom if we are willing to embrace it.  We learn some things as we journey through life, and one of the things we learn is that we can be bent, molded, shaped, and made new. 

Wisdom comes from this reshaping.  We understand that God and the world are far more extensive and mysterious than ever.  There will always be new things to love, new ways to show compassion, and new ways to become the people we were always meant to be. 

May it be so for all of us, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.  

#leonbloder #dailydevotional #leon bloder #christian living #faith #spirituality #spiritualgrowth #dailydevotion #dailydevo #presbymusings

[leonbloder]

Who Are You, Really?

There is no other developmental process quite like understanding who you are, your identity, and what it means to finally be comfortable in your skin. 

How we learn who we are isn't something that comes easy; more's the pity. 

But when it does come, the revelation of what it means to find ourselves, gain insights into what makes us tick, and stop pretending to ourselves about ourselves often arrives in a flash. 

We might recall the moment like this, "And just like that, I knew..." or "All of a sudden, I realized...."

We don't often pause to reflect on what it really took for us to find the way back to us. Spoiler alert: it took a while, and we weren't the only ones on the journey.  

The great American writer Eudora Welty once wrote: 

Insight doesn't happen often on the click of the moment, like a lucky snapshot, but comes in its own time and more often from within.  The sharpest recognition is surely that which is charged with sympathy as well as with shock--it is a form of human vision.  And that is of course a gift. 

It's just like this when we discover the truth about who we are.  We may feel as though it happened in a flash, but that truth was marinating, waiting, and growing until a time when we would be able to experience it more clearly. 

And the "sharpest recognition" is almost certainly charged with sympathy.  It comes when we forgive our past mistakes, poor decisions, and wrong turns.  It comes when we finally surrender the struggle to define ourselves on everyone else's terms but our own. 

This is when we can also discover how much of the Divine was at work within us all along, bringing us to an incredible moment of self-realization.  

God works quietly in our lives, nudging, guiding, and even cajoling. 

I believe God does this out of love and a desire not to demand or force our love for God. I also think that when we finally give up the fight to control everything, we can see God's hand upon us, never letting us go. 

So, discovering who we are can also be a discovery of "whose" we are. 

The Brief Statement of Faith from the Presbyterian Church (USA) succinctly states, "In life and death, we belong to God."  There is such beauty in this statement, and also great comfort.  

Ultimately, our identity is not shaped by the world around us or our often foolish desires. It is formed by God, who works within, around, and through us. This identity marks us as beloved. We are God's own.  

May this realization bring you joy and, ultimately, peace.  May you come to know who you are, and may this bring hope and a future filled with possibility. 

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, now and forever. Amen.  

#presbymusings #leonbloder #dailydevotional #leon bloder #faith #spirituality #christian living #dailydevotion #dailydevo #spiritualgrowth #self love #self discovery

[leonbloder]

Two Stories About Pearls

In Chuang Tzu's writings, translated by Thomas Merton, there is this interesting poem/parable I read and re-read a few times, pondering its meaning. It resonated with me and reminded me of a parable that Jesus taught (more on that in a bit).

Here's the poem in its entirety: The Yellow Emperor went wandering To the north of the Red Water To the Kwun Lun mountain. He looked around Over the edge of the world. On the way home He lost his night-colored pearl. He sent out Science to seek his pearl, and got nothing. He sent Analysis to look for his pearl, and got nothing. He sent out Logic to seek his pearl, and got nothing. Then he asked Nothingness, and Nothingness had it! The Yellow Emperor said: "Strange, indeed: Nothingness Who was not sent Who did no work to find it Had the night-colored pearl!"

You might wonder what this has to do with anything Devo-related, and I get that. Stick with me, though; there's so much good stuff in this.

First, you must suspend disbelief momentarily and realize this is a poem/parable, enabling you to use your imagination. While there may be no Yellow King in our reality, there is such a thing as a "night-colored" or black pearl, and it's still expensive.

The King's journey to the mountain represents his life's search for meaning and truth. It ultimately leads him to look over the world's edge and then simply return home.

But something gets lost on the way, his valuable pearl.

The pearl in this story represents the most valuable thing to the Yellow King. We don't know what it might be, but the King is desperate to find it, so he employs all the means at his disposal, emissaries of Science, Logic, and Analysis.

Finally, when there are no results, he decides to ask Nothingness, who, of course, had the pearl---perhaps all along.

You might ask, "What is 'Nothingness'?"

This parable has to do with surrender, a letting go of all the effort to seek understanding on your own terms, to find truth and beauty by your exertions.

This is "No-thing-ness," which means there is nothing except surrender that will help you find peace with God and yourself, which is most likely the best explanation of the pearl in the parable.

Jesus told a similar story about a merchant who discovered a "pearl of great price" that was so incredible that he sold everything he had to own it. In other words, he traded everything he'd thought he wanted for what he truly desired.

Jesus began that story with these words: "For the kingdom of God is like…"

His point was that when you finally discover the kingdom of God, or the peace of God all around you, it surprises you and changes you. So much so that you would be willing to surrender everything to attain it.

As Fr. Francis X. Clooney puts it:

"In Jesus' teaching, the kingdom is not somewhere else, not an extraordinary show that can’t be missed or that will never come. Instead, the kingdom is right where we are now, as close as our five senses if only we know how to see."

May we all learn what it means to surrender our efforts to try to glimpse our own "pearl of great price" as we search for God's kingdom of peace here on earth.

May we all discover the truth that No-thing-ness will help us see more clearly that our own efforts on our terms will never get us what we long for. It's only when we surrender that we'll know the truth, which will set us free.

May the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

#presbymusings #leonbloder #dailydevotional #faith #christian living #leon bloder #dailydevo #spiritualgrowth #dailydevotion #spirituality

[leonbloder]

Render Unto

According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus on Tuesday of Holy Week, religious and political leaders came together to try and trick Jesus with a slippery question.  They asked Jesus "Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?"  

If Jesus had answered "No," they would have reported him to the authorities for sedition.  If Jesus had answered "Yes," he would have been discredited in the eyes of the common people, who flocked to hear him speak.  

Instead, Jesus asked them to bring him a Roman coin that was stamped with Caesar's image.  He took the coin, and then asked, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They replied, "The emperor's."  

Then Jesus said, "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar and to God the things that are God's."  

This response forces the crowd to ask two follow-up questions.  

The first question would have been,  "What belongs to God?"  And the answer for Jesus and many of the people who were gathered there would have been: "Everything."  

Then they would have asked, "So, then what belongs to Caesar?"  Jesus slyly implies that the answer to that question is, in fact, "Nothing."  

Jesus' words must have sent a thrill through the common people standing there listening.  

To people who felt that they had nothing and Caesar and his crowd had everything, it was an amazing, liberating moment to hear that God, the Creator, and Sustainer of the Universe was for them and that they belonged to Him, not to Caesar.      

The same thrill should fill our hearts as well.  

Although we may be forced from time to time to deal with corrupt political realities... Although we may struggle with the hypocrisy of religious institutions who often collude with the Empire of the day...  We are not owned by them.  

We belong to God.  And our belonging to God sets us free.  

You see, true freedom comes when we realize God's great love for us, and we respond to that love by offering to God our heart, soul mind, and strength--in other words, everything.   

When we let go of all of the things that are holding us back from loving God, we are set free.  

True freedom comes when we learn to love our neighbor by breaking down the false divisions created by the Empire to keep us in our places.  

When we are finally able to see the world as God sees it, we are free to love others unconditionally.  

May you experience the great joy and freedom that comes from knowing that in life and death, you belong to God.  May you find peace in the knowledge that when God is for you, nothing can truly stand against you. 

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen. 

#presbymusings #dailydevotion #dailydevo #dailydevotional #christian living #faith #leon bloder #leonbloder #spiritualgrowth #spirituality #holy week #Holy Tuesday #jesus

[leonbloder]

The Prosperity Gospel Isn't Good News

The prosperity gospel crowd (who claim that if you give to their church, you will get more back from God than you give) often misuses a verse from Matthew's Gospel to make their case.  

Here, it is from the New International Version (NIV) of the Bible: 

Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

A lot of biblical translations employ similar language for the last line of the verse, translating the last word as "money," "wealth," or "riches." 

However, one version leaves intact in its original form the word used by the author of Matthew's Gospel, the Revised Standard Version (RSV).  The word many other versions translate as "money" is mammon in the RSV.  

Adherents and leaders within the prosperity gospel movement love this verse because it gives them an on-ramp to an argument that people should give more to their ministries.  

Aside from being a gross and self-serving interpretation of the text, those who focus solely on translating mammon to money miss the whole point of the statement itself. 

There's so much more here than a simple indictment of loving money more than God, so much more.  

The word mammon refers to an entire system Fr. Richard Rohr describes as "disorder."  Money may be a part of it, but the more expansive interpretation of mammon shows us that it includes power, inequality, oppression, and privilege. 

Many scholars have further expanded the word mammon to be a slang reference to a Canaanite and Mesopotamian god who demanded sacrifices from his adherents, including the sacrifice of their children, in order to grant them their wishes.  

In short, Jesus appears to be describing a system that acts like a false god or an idol that constantly demands more and more of us without offering anything in return other than emptiness and misery. 

Those who short-change this interpretation by focusing solely on money unwittingly buy into what they say they are trying to avoid.  

Jesus is saying here that you can't live in two worlds.  You can't have one foot in the kingdom of God and another in the kingdom of mammon.  There's no middle ground with this.  

Fr. Richard Rohr puts it like this: 

The love of God can’t be doled out by any process whatsoever. We can’t earn it. We can’t lose it. As long as we stay in this world of accumulation, of earning and losing, we’ll live in perpetual resentment, envy, or climbing. 

This also needs to be said: 

If you have ever been poor, you know what it's like to live in scarcity, to be uncertain whether to feed your family or keep the lights on because sometimes you must make that choice. 

For some cynical preacher to take a verse like Matthew 6:24 and use it to prey primarily on people who don't have any wealth at all is unconscionable.  

These preachers are either unwittingly or uncritically serving mammon when they do this.  Their business model is grounded in accumulation and earning.  The "gospel" they preach is a self-serving black hole that takes and takes but rarely gives.  

God's love is not contingent upon how much or little we give to our church.  God's love is unconditional.  When we live with both feet firmly planted in God's kingdom, we become ambassadors of God's shalom.  

We live out of the abundance of God's love rather than the scarcity of mammon. 

When we live this way, our generosity is not coerced or an obligation. Our entire lives are an offering of gratitude for what God has done, is doing, and will do in our lives.  

May we learn to live more fully out of this abundance.  May we plant our feet firmly in God's kingdom of shalom. And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us now and always.  Amen.  

#presbymusings #dailydevotion #leonbloder #dailydevo #dailydevotional #christian living #leon bloder #faith #spiritualgrowth #spirituality #prosperity gospel

[leonbloder]

The God Of Your Routines

There's something to be said about having routines.  I have more than a few of my own and find comfort in them. 

I like waking up at the same time every day, usually at 5AM.  It takes me a bit to become fully awake, so there needs to be coffee and a big glass of water, and then I begin reading and writing.  

I'm also one of those who could eat the same thing for breakfast daily. 

I like having set meetings during the week so I can plan my days around them, and I prefer setting all other meetings in advance so I'm not surprised. 

I could go on about this as it relates to planning events, trips, etc., but you get the idea.  

Here's the problem with having routines and trying to control outcomes by careful planning:  The sense of control it brings is illusory because when something happens to mess it all up, it can send you spinning.  

But there's another thing that happens when we become entrenched in our routines and intractable with our plans: 

Not only do we become risk-averse, but we also tend to miss out on what is happening around us because we're too busy staring at the sidewalk, measuring our steps. 

We start to see the world as a series of tasks that must be accomplished, so we put one foot in front of the other, doing everything we can to mitigate any surprises we might face, determined to stay on the path we've set at all costs. 

In so doing, we also lose sight of the appearances of the Divine along the way. We stop looking for miracles because we stare at the clock, wondering if we have enough time to keep our routines, schedules, and plans.  

Or we lose ourselves in the monotony, becoming stuck in the "regularness" of life as we check off our lists, going from task to task without seeing the forest for the trees.  

There's a story in the Hebrew Scriptures from the book of Exodus about how God miraculously provided food for the Hebrew people who were wandering in the wilderness.  

The story tells us that every day, a kind of bread-like substance would appear on the ground in the Hebrew camp for years.  They could only take what they needed for the day, and there would be more the next day. 

But after a while, the Hebrew people constantly complained about eating the same thing.  They lost sight of the fact that food was actually appearing on the ground every morning, keeping them alive.  

It also taught them something if they were willing to learn. 

Author and theologian Estelle Frankel wrote about this story in her book The Wisdom of Not Knowing, and she had this to say: 

You see, it's not the fault of our routines that we lose sight of the miraculous in the world around us; it's due to the fact that we are too busy trying to be in control that we lose our ability to have a "beginner's mind." 

When we have a beginner's mind, we are able to go about the tasks and schedules of our lives to do what needs to be done, but we never lose our sense of wonder.  

We may be "eating the same thing each day," but we're choosing to find what is fresh, new, and exciting in the midst of it. 

This requires something of us.  We need to look up once in a while from our task lists and look around to see what God might be up in the ordinary rhythms of our lives.  

Because there are miracles to be found if we are willing to see them.  In fact, there may be miracles to be found that we have taken for granted for a very long time, the ones we used to marvel at but have become accustomed to.  

So, in your regular rhythms today, stop for a moment and see what God is doing all around you.  Let yourself feel wonder as you engage a beginner's mind when you gaze at the familiar.  

See what new things you see in the sameness and the ordinary.  Be amazed at how God appears in all of it.  

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.  

#presbymusings #dailydevotion #leonbloder #dailydevo #dailydevotional #christian living #leon bloder #faith #spiritualgrowth #spirituality

[leonbloder]

Did You Know That Ants Have Tongues?

The other day, I read this line from a Mary Oliver poem and then jotted it down in my notes to think about: 

Did you know the ant has a tongue with which to gather in all that it can of sweetness?  

That quote may seem odd with the whole ant tongue image.  If you think about it too long, it feels downright icky.  The idea of ants crawling on me with their tongues scraping along... ewww. 

So, let's not think about that, shall we? Instead, let's consider the deeper meaning behind Oliver's observation about the ant and its desire to gather all that it can of sweetness. 

First, can we say that life can occasionally be a bit sour?  

Let's concede that for the moment because it is accurate. That sad fact can also dominate our thinking about life in general. 

For many people, sourness seems to be the only thing they can taste.  

They gravitate to it like my kid does to Sour Patch Kids candy.  And before long, they start to believe that even though other people might be able to taste the sweetness of life, they will never be able to. 

I've been in that state before, and I can't say that I liked myself an awful lot when I was in it. Unlike Sour Patch Kids, there isn't a lot of sweetness under the sourness life brings. 

If that's how you live, you can become pretty sour, too.  

We've all met people who live this way, and it's draining to be around them.  No matter what happens to them, even when it's good, they can't seem to taste anything but the sourness. 

Back to the ant and its formidable tongue. 

Oliver was tapping into the notion that if we have the mindset to gather all the sweetness we can in life, we begin to live like an ant walking around with its tongue out, gathering all that it can of it. 

Now, I don't recommend walking around with your tongue hanging out. That probably won't work out for you socially or otherwise.  You know what I mean, though.  

This may look like learning to live in gratitude so that in every situation you find yourself in, you are predisposed to be grateful and to give more generously. 

It could look like taking the time to be fully present in the present.  There are so many distractions around us, and while some may appear sweet at first, they may turn sour quickly.  

Savor the good moments with friends family, and even when you are by yourself.  None of us were meant to be alone in the world; God wants us to have a community to surround us.  

But we'll struggle to find the sweetness if we can't learn to be at peace and comfortable in solitude.  

Do whatever you need to do to gather up all the sweetness you can today.  Practice mindfulness and self-compassion as you do.  Give yourself a break when you taste something sour, but don't dwell on it. 

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.  

#leonbloder #dailydevotional #christian living #faith #spiritualgrowth #leon bloder #dailydevo #dailydevotion #spirituality #presbymusings

[leonbloder]

The Holiness of the World

Yesterday was a good day.  I spent the day monitoring brisket and pork belly in my smoker, along with some sausage, and a smoked cauliflower for a vegetarian guest who was coming for dinner. 

When everyone arrived, laughter filled the house, and then we all tucked in to eat; I had a sense that something special was happening. 

All three of my boys were there, along with my dad and stepmom.  My middle son had invited some friends over, most of whom I've seen grow up from gangly high schoolers to young men. 

The summer night was kind of perfect, and the cares and troubles of the world got pushed aside for a while.  I felt a sense of peace, and joy that I carried with me to bed last night.  

Sometimes, you experience holy moments in the world, and you often don't realize just how incredible they are until you've had time to reflect on them. 

You might feel something at the time they are happening for sure.  

It could be a sense of time slowing down a bit, or of beauty that catches your breath.  You could even feel as though you are observing what is happening outside of yourself.  

The idea of the holiness, or sanctity, of that moment, may not occur to you later. We often find ourselves feeling a sense of longing after we've had one of those experiences, wishing that we could go back to it and feel that feeling again. 

We felt something of the Divine in the world around us, and that feeling never completely faded away.  

I read this quote from author and poet Wendell Berry this morning that really helped me to reflect on my experience last night:  

The Bible leaves no doubt at all about the sanctity of the act of world-making, or of the world that was made, or of creaturely or bodily life in this world. We are holy creatures living among other holy creatures in a world that is holy.  

We don't often reflect on the idea of the holiness of all of Creation, but it deserves our attention.  

I believe that the Universe and God are one and that when we speak of the Universe, we are speaking of God.  The Divine presence permeates all of creation and is constantly creating, restoring, renewing, and resurrecting.  

The Apostle Paul said that it is within God that we move, breathe, and exist. In other words, God is the "ground of all our being," to use theologian Paul Tillich's words.  

We are surrounded by the holy all of the time, everywhere.  But there are times when the veil between God's reality and ours gets a bit thinner, and we see more clearly just how present God is within God's creation.  

It's in those moments that we are reminded of the truth about the world, ourselves, and others.  Even though the world is often not as it should be, it is never separated from the God who created it, and us.  

There are plenty of broken places within us, others, and the world around us, but God is there doing what God does to make it new and right. Realizing this is the first step if we are to be the people God longs for us to be. 

Take the time today to look around you, and be aware of the holiness that surrounds you.  Let yourself see God at work.  Allow yourself to sink into that experience and be filled with peace and hope. 

May it be so.  And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, now and forever.  Amen.   

#presbymusings #dailydevotional #leon bloder #faith #christian living #spiritualgrowth #dailydevo #leonbloder #spirituality #dailydevotion

[leonbloder]

Open Your Eyes

One of the best college classes I ever took was one that I didn't really want to take.

Because of graduation requirements, I had to take either Art Appreciation or something so lame that I've forgotten it since then.

I do recall that I reluctantly signed up to take the art class, grumbling that I had to and that it was held at night.

It didn't take long before I realized that night class was the highlight of my week.

Now, I don't ever use the kind of math I had to learn in college to graduate, but I have gotten the most out of that Art Appreciation class and then some. I'll need to explain how.

I love museums, particularly art museums.

I have been blessed to visit some of the world's most famous art museums, including the Louvre in Paris, the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Galleries in London and Edinburgh, and many more.

Because of the class, I took many years ago, I learned about the various movements within art history and appreciated how the great artists within each movement viewed the world and expressed what they saw through their art.

So now, when I visit an art museum, I see the world differently through the eyes of artists from across history, various cultures, and perspectives.

I don't get hung up on style issues; I just take what the artist is describing and let it instruct me.

The other day, I read this quote from John Ruskin's 19th-century classic Modern Painters, and it resonated with me:

The greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something, and tell what it saw in a plain way. Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion--all in one.

For Ruskin, the great artists knew how to do this and did it well enough that one would be left thinking deeply about their creation long after seeing it.

Each of us has been given the ability to see, but we only sometimes tap into it.

We would rather not delve into the emotions that truly seeing the world around us might elicit, so we prefer to stay on the surface of our feelings and deny our own observations.

Or we become so burdened by the cares of this world, filled with anxiety and worry, dread and fear, that we journey through life, head down, eyes barely opened, resignedly putting one foot in front of the other.

But just as all it took for me was a class where I learned how to appreciate the artist's eyes, for those of us who say we follow Jesus, there is more than a bit of instruction on how to do the same with the world around us.

Jesus taught his followers that there was so much more under the surface of what we merely observe, and for those who were willing to truly see, there was a universe of meaning.

So practice opening your eyes today.

Shut out all the noise and voices in your head (if you have them, like me), push back from the naysayers, Negative Nellies, Eeyores, or anyone who would pooh-pooh your way of seeing the world.

And then don't be afraid to share what you see. You never know who needs to see through your eyes for a while because their own might be clouded for the moment.

May it be so, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

#leonbloder #dailydevotional #leon bloder #christian living #spiritualgrowth #faith #dailydevo #presbymusings #spirituality #dailydevotion

[leonbloder]

Why Did It Have To Be Snakes?

The symbol for the medical profession is weird. It has snakes in it. 

I'm sure you have seen that symbol hundreds of times but never considered it the fact that it contains snakes.  Snakes, y'all.  Ewww. 

To quote Indiana Jones, "Why did it have to be snakes?"  

In the ancient world, snakes were considered symbols of eternal life because they shed their old skin periodically and emerged with a fresh, new appearance. This notion informs the story of Moses creating a cross of snakes when the Israelites were bitten by them and then dying in the wilderness.  According to the story, anyone who looked upon the cross of snakes was healed.  The symbol is called the Caduceus, and this is what it looks like: 

Now that you see it you can't unsee it, am I right?  Snakes.   In Greek mythology, the god Hermes carried a staff with this symbol on it after he tried to stop two snakes from fighting by throwing his staff at them, which they then intertwined.   That's a weird story. Also, there are snakes in it.  The other day, I read a quote that struck me, and the more I thought about it, the more I knew that it would eventually become a Devo. 

In his book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, author John Koenig creates words to express emotions and feelings that don't have words to describe them. 

One of those words had to do with the symbolism of shedding skin like a snake and discovering something new and transformative underneath. Here it is: 

apolytus n. the moment you realize you are changing as a person, finally outgrowing your old problems like a reptile shedding its skin, already able to twist back around and chuckle at this weirdly antiquated caricature of yourself that will soon come off completely.  

I love this and I'll tell you why it's so impactful for us.  We are all going through transitions all the time, changing in ways that might escape us at first but become too apparent to gloss over. 

But if we are willing to embrace the healing properties of change as we grow and learn more about who we are and who we are becoming, it can transform our lives. 

A certain amount of wisdom comes when you can go through changes and shed your old skin, so to speak.  You get the chance to look back at what you left behind with both amusement and gratitude. 

Amusement comes when we realize just how silly we were about some of the things that used to hang us up. Gratitude comes when we realize that we get to leave that old us behind.  

Like a snake shedding its skin, we may retain similar markings and appearances, but we know how different we've become.  We know what it took to get us to the new place; because of this, we can let go of regret, pain, heartbreak, and more. 

So don't be afraid to apolytus now and again.  Let go of what doesn't serve you, and be thankful for what got you where you are today.  Then leave that old skin behind. 

May it be so, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all, now and forever.  Amen. 

#dailydevo #dailydevotional #leon bloder #christian living #spiritualgrowth #spirituality #faith #dailydevotion #leonbloder #presbymusings

[leonbloder]

How To Keep People From Hurting Us

There's an easy way to avoid disappointment, hurt, and spiritual wounding from other people. It's almost foolproof.  

Want to know what it is?  I bet you do.  This is it: 

Stay at home, in bed, order food to be dropped off, binge-watch Netflix, shower occasionally, and do everything you can to avoid going outside, talking to anyone, or engaging with people. 

Some of you may have tried that foolproof plan during the pandemic. If you did, I must ask, "How did that go for you?"

It may have started well, but after a few months, even the most introverted among us cried, "Uncle!" We found ourselves masking up and going to the grocery store even though we'd just had groceries delivered so we could see other people. 

The fact is that being out in the world engaging with other humans will bring with it a certain amount of disappointment. It comes with the territory.  To be human with other humans means that at some point you will get hurt. 

But if we're going to live more fully as the human beings that God longs for us to be, we must learn to risk it. This is the only way to discover the genuine personal connections with others we may lack. 

In fact, something deep inside us longs for genuine connection with people, even though we might be dreading the possibility they will break our hearts. 

Author Anne Lamott puts it like this: 

Reality is so jangly.  It's nice and quiet if you stay in bed or pleasantly distracted with the TV and your personal telecommunications empire.  And yet, something in us longs for liberation, for immediacy and presence. 

We can only hold the world at bay for so long before the effort begins to wear on us, drag us down, and keep us living half-lives of isolation, guardedness, and fear.  

The philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti was once asked how he maintained serenity in the jangly reality that we inhabit.  He replied, "I don't mind what happens." 

I love the simplicity of that line, but I also have a problem with it because I almost always mind what happens. 

I'm also hyper-aware that any potential connection with another also brings with it a lack of control on my part, which doesn't sit well with me because I rather like being in control of my life. 

The "jangly-ness" of it all means that unless we decide to live our lives as hermits with little or no contact with the outside world, we will occasionally get hurt.  

We can't control everything because it's not in our job description.  

But if we risk the hurt, we also open ourselves up to genuine connections, which is worth the risk.  It's worth the risk because if we want to live openly and more fully into becoming the people we long to be, we must let our guard down.  

For some, that last line may have caused a wrench in our guts.  Letting our guard down is the exact opposite of what our mind, body, and soul seem to want to do, and because of this, it's powerfully challenging. 

In the end, though, if we want to say honestly, "I don't mind what happens," we have to drop our armor, weapons, and desire to be in charge. 

God does not desire us to be hurt, but God knows that when we do, God will be present with us, sitting with us in our pain.  

Let this startling truth cover you with a sense of hope and courage to be vulnerable and surrender to God, who will never leave you or forsake you, no matter what you might be feeling. 

May it be so, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.  

#dailydevo #dailydevotional #christian living #leon bloder #spiritualgrowth #spirituality #faith #presbymusings #dailydevotion #leonbloder

[leonbloder]

We Are Here To Witness

Summer is nearly here.

Here in Austin, TX, we are experiencing the slightly cooler but somewhat clear weather of Spring slipping slowly away.

The wildflowers are changing, too. There are still scores of them, but the visible ones are the late bloomers, who will journey into summer heat before fading for another year.

I enjoy the change in seasons and the new experiences they bring. It doesn't mean that I won't long for the crisp fall air around August or will dream of a warm, sunny Spring day at the end of winter.

But there's something about the shift from one season to another that is just magical, and life-giving.

Today, I am reminded of a quote from Annie Dillard I once read:

We are here to witness… If we were not here, material events like the passage of seasons would lack even the meager meanings we are able to muster for them. The show would play to an empty house.

It's incredible to think about this. There is nothing that we can do but witness the beauty of each passing season, the glory of a morning filled with birdsong, and an afternoon of shimmering heat abated by a cool stream where we put our feet.

We cannot stop the songbirds from singing nor prevent the butterflies or bees from making their rounds. We might slow them or shift where they roam by our endless land development into buildings, but we cannot stop them.

But we can witness all of it, which we were meant to do. Part of witnessing is to indeed behold what is happening around us, and beholding should, in turn, lead us to a realization about ourselves and God.

I believe in science, but there is plenty of mystery in the scientific world, just as there is a mystery to faith. The two are not incompatible. If we are willing to have open minds, both can inform one another.

But if we behold Creation and take the time to fulfill our God-given privilege of witnessing it in all its beauty and wonder, we might put some meaning into the mystery.

Because what we are witnessing is the joy of a Creator, who delights when we delight in Creation.

I believe there is love in that kind of creativity.

It's like laboring over a painting, a sculpture, a well-weeded garden, or planting flowers that are arranged just so.

Or it's like taking some old piece of furniture and turning it into the centerpiece of our living room, or we take a bunch of disparate pieces of clothing from our closet and create the perfect ensemble for a night out.

We do it not because we have to but because we love doing it.

That innate desire to love creating, however, we create, is in us because God is in us, a God who is constantly creating, constantly making things new, and doing it all with love because that's the only way God does anything.

When we witness creation, truly witness it, we can, if we are willing, take a step beyond merely witnessing to beholding, which requires stepping outside of ourselves enough to actually experience what we are witnessing.

That is when we might realize something profound. We are surrounded not only by beauty but also by love.

May we all come to know this and be filled with joy.

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us all, now and forever. Amen.

#dailydevo #dailydevotional #christian living #leon bloder #spiritualgrowth #spirituality #leonbloder #presbymusings #faith #dailydevotion

[leonbloder]

Paths, On-Ramps & Purpose

I was supposed to have been a British history professor.

That was my path before I went to seminary, and I thought I had it all figured out.

I was working on my Master's Degree in Early Modern British History with minor fields in Medieval History and Renaissance Literature. That might seem boring to some folks, but I loved it.

I am a nerd.

My major professor was a world-renowned British history scholar who told me that in his forty years of teaching, he'd never had a student he felt could pick up the mantle of his work and carry it after he was gone until I and a fellow student in the program came along.

I got a scholarship to study for a semester at Oxford University in England and to begin the research my professor wanted me to begin so I could start laying out my dissertation focus.

I had been accepted into the University of Chicago, George Washington University, and the University of Maryland, all of which had excellent British history programs.

I felt like the die was cast.

While researching in the Oxford Bodleian Library, I realized that my professor wanted me to do something other than what I felt like doing for the next 5-6 years.

That was a rough realization.

Fortunately, not long after that existential crisis, I was approached about possibly attending seminary. It took another year, a lot of angst, prayer, and about a dozen miraculous signs, but I finally set out on the new path toward becoming a minister.

There have been times in my life when I have regretted not starting a life in ministry sooner. But I've learned that nothing is ever wasted.

The other day, I read a quote from author and speaker Bob Goff about this very thing:

The best way to find the life you were meant to live is to get started, even if you have to pivot later. Great ideas that don't work out are usually on-ramps to better ideas that do.

If you are facing a decision right now and want to know if you should change paths, it will involve some angst, prayer, and probably a dozen miraculous signs.

It won't be easy, but it's worth it. And you can't live looking in the rearview mirror. But you can look back with grace on the paths that you started but never finished, knowing that the whole time, you were being guided by the hand of a God who loves you and longs for the best for you.

Remember those paths as on-ramps, and rejoice.

And if the path you are on right now is one that you know in your heart is not what's ultimately meant for you, don't despair, and don't start thinking that you are stuck. Keep walking, and the path you were meant to follow will find you.

May it be so, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and forever. Amen.

#dailydevotion #dailydevotional #christian living #faith #dailydevo #spiritualgrowth #leon bloder #spirituality #leonbloder #presbymusings

[leonbloder]

The Courage To Step Forward

There's nothing quite like stepping out into the unknown, especially when we have been comfortable where we are for so long.

I remember that feeling after a crisis of faith in 2011, as I emerged from all my doubts and questions in a different space than I had been.

At that point, I had a choice. I could return to my old way of thinking and its familiarity and certainty, or I could forge ahead into an unknown future without knowing what would happen.

I worried that my newfound ideas about faith and belief might have a consequence. I worried it would cost me church members, friendships, and maybe even my career.

I was right about everything but the career.

I would like to think I am a consistently courageous person, but I know that's not entirely true. Like most of us, I want to stay put in what I know rather than step out into the unknown.

But I did learn that if I was willing to show up and be courageous even a little at the right moment, it could make all the difference in the world.

Author Kate Bowler wrote a fantastic poem that I recently read, which goes something like this:

Rescue me from familiar self-hatred. (You'll never do it. You can't do it.) Refine my ambition into honest goals. Quiet my mind when it is already certain that nothing could possibly be different. And rekindle a tenderness in my uncertain heart for my own small moments of courage as I peek my head out from this hiding place--and all the comfort of this familiarity--to announce, "I'M READY!" if only to myself.

I love the phrase "small moments of courage" because that is precisely what I mean.

We are not often presented with moments that require great courage, but there is still some measure of greatness in the small ones where we peek out and decide to emerge.

Author Brene Brown puts it like this:

The willingness to show up changes us. It makes us a little braver each time.

I'm not sure what you are facing right now, whether it be a crisis of faith, health, tragedy, decision, or a host of others. But I can tell you with all confidence that hiding and trying to avoid the discomfort of stepping out in faith will do you no good at all.

You might think that you don't dare to move toward uncertainty, and the cold comfort of the familiar keeps you from trying.

All it takes is one moment of showing up, though, and it can change your life.

May God grant you the strength to step out in faith to face the unknown with courage and peace. May you discover that uncertainty can hold treasures of purpose, hope, and a future if you're willing to embrace it.

And may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all now and forever. Amen.

#dailydevotion #dailydevotional #christian living #faith #leon bloder #spirituality #spiritualgrowth #leonbloder #presbymusings #dailydevo

[leonbloder]

Nothing Lasts

This past Sunday was Mother's Day, which is often a difficult day for me to celebrate, having lost my mom several years ago.

It's funny how grief works. You think it has passed, and you won't ever really feel the pang of loss, but all it takes is a small moment, a memory, a song, or a memorable holiday to bring it all back.

Today, I'd love to reflect on a stanza from Mary Oliver's poetry, or at least a few lines from one that speaks to grief and resurrection.

I read this line the other day, and it hit me in the gut like a punch:

Nothing lasts. There is a graveyard where everything I am talking about is, now. I stood there once, on the green grass, scattering flowers.

Oliver had been reflecting on her deceased parents. Then abruptly, she writes the above line. It's jarring and compelling all at once.

But something is amazing about those three lines. Oliver looks back on the sorrow and pain of her loss and declares, "Nothing lasts."

This is a declaration of both realization and hope. It also extends a kind of impermanence to the grief of loss that has bruised us.

[I heard a song the other day whose lyrics declared, "But baby, a bruise is only your body trying to keep you intact." That's so good.]

Then, Oliver shifts to the image of a graveyard where her parents are laid to rest, ending with the image of her scattering flowers on the green grass, all signs of life… and resurrection.

I really needed to read that poem this week.

I imagine plenty of you may have had a similar experience to mine this past weekend. And plenty more who have been struggling with the pain of the loss of a loved one.

There is no blueprint for grief, dear friends. Each of us has our own journey through it. And there will be waves of it, too many to bear at first. But at some point, the waves come less and less often.

But when they come, don't consider yourself weak or overly emotional if you feel them intensely. Give yourself grace, but you are never over the loss, no matter how long you live.

I've had conversations with 90-plus-year-old people who still looked back on the loss of their parents with sadness. Time does a fair amount of healing of those kinds of wounds, but there will always be an ache, no matter how long we live.

And that's the point, isn't it? We live.

We stand over our grief and scatter flowers on the green grass of hope in the resurrection. We do this because we long to keep living, hoping to see our loved ones again.

So, if you are grieving today, scatter your flowers.

Live fully. Laugh openly. Love freely. Believe strongly.

Resurrection isn't something that happened in the past; it's happening all the time, all around us. And one day, we will also depart this life for the next. Then, we will realize just how fully the Resurrection lives within us.

May it be so, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.

#dailydevotion #dailydevo #christian living #leon bloder #faith #spiritualgrowth #dailydevotional #presbymusings #spirituality #leonbloder

[leonbloder]

That All You Got?

One of my favorite singer/songwriters is the British artist Luke Sital-Singh. If you have never heard of him, you must look him up, download his music, and listen!

This morning, I was listening to one of his songs, "Nothing Stays The Same," and these lines absolutely struck me:

We all believe in something that'll rip us into shreds We all know why it stings to open up your chest We all show signs of greatness that we hope that someone sees Our broken teeth are scattered but we're smiling underneath A thousand bruising muscles still we're running on and on We all know names that ring like thunder rattling our walls Everyone is yearning for a reason for a cause Somewhere deep inside, we're holding on for dear life Oh dear life.

These words really spoke to me today. And they reminded me of another kind of lyricist from the New Testament, the Apostle Paul. (smooth segue, right?)

In Paul's 2nd Letter to the Corinthians, he writes this:

8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. (2 Corinthians 4:8-10)

Based on the semi-religious but absolutely spiritual themes in many of Luke Sital-Singh's songs, he might have drawn upon this passage for the above lyrics. It's uncanny how similar they are.

What I take away from all this today is a sense of triumph, even amid tragedy. Whatever assails us doesn't get the last word. Sometimes, we might get the stuffing beaten out of us, but whatever (or whoever) delivers it doesn't get to win.

Both Sital-Singh's song and the Apostle Paul's declaration contain a certain kind of defiant hope.

In my imagination, this is kind of like the hero in a movie getting beaten up by some villain and his henchmen, and then she looks up from the ground as she slowly rises, wipes the blood from her mouth, and asks, "That all you got, boys?"

Come on! Somebody out there has got to feel this!

There's also a sense of resurrection in both of these passages. In Sital-Singh's words, we hear this: "Somewhere deep inside, we are holding on for dear life."

This resonates with me so profoundly. No matter what may be happening on the outside, we have something within us that still can cling to the defiant hope that life is genuinely "dear" and that restoration and resurrection are possible if we don't let go.

The Apostle Paul more clearly points to it by saying, "We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body."

In other words, our unbreakable connection with Jesus is permeated with the eternal rhythm of dying and rising. We are walking, talking examples of resurrection, even if we don't fully comprehend it.

And nothing can break us, truly break us.

We might feel broken, but there's no way for whatever did the breaking to keep us that way. We might feel like God has abandoned us, but God is literally inside of us. We might struggle to get up, but we still have strength if we are willing to tap into it.

So, if you have been feeling like you have gone ten rounds with something in your life that seems to have the better of you, know that it doesn't. It never will.

Rise. Get up off the ground. And say this mantra until you feel it so deeply it aches:

"That all you got, boys?"

May it be so, and may the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you now and always. Amen.

#dailydevotion #dailydevotional #christian living #leon bloder #faith #spirituality #spiritualgrowth #leonbloder #dailydevo #presbymusings #hope #resilience #empowerment #personal growth #growth mindset #purpose