Relationships – Page 18 – gregoryjoel.com

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Courage

April 21, 2021 gregoryjoel

“Better is possible… if we care enough to walk away from what was and brave enough to build something new.” – Seth Godin

Yesterday’s guilty verdict was a step in the right direction – moving away from what has always been. It took courage to take the first step. It took courageous prosecutors, jurors, the Floyd family, and countless protesters to shine a light in the darkness of America’s racism. Yet the question remains – where do we go from here?

We are always asking that question at Unity Unlimited, Inc. and Opal’s Farm. One step we can take together is to go to http://www.opalswalk2dc.com and sign the petition for a Juneteenth Federal holiday.

Ms. Opal – the Grandmother of Juneteenth – constantly reminds us that “no one is free until all of us are free”. Juneteenth is not only the celebration of freedom for black Americans. It offers us all freedom from racism, injustice, and bondage to old ideas – no matter the color of one’s skin.

Celebrate freedom and unity. Sign the petition today.

Remember – It takes even more courage to move farther down the path toward racial justice.

Be courageous and be the change.

Send another 1.5 million petition signatures to Congress

Community, Connection, Faith, Family, Friendship, Grace, Gratitude, Quotes, Relationships

“How joyful you are if you have a friend with whom you may talk as freely as with yourself, to whom you neither fear to confess any fault nor blush at revealing any spiritual progress, to whom you may entrust all the secrets of your heart and confide all your plans.” – Aelred of Rievaulx

April 17, 2021 gregoryjoel

Community, Connection, Emotional Health, Faith, Family, Friendship, Generations, Grace, Love, Neighbors, Quotes, Relationships, Simplicity, Social Justice, Spirituality

“Life is not what you alone make it. Life is the input of everyone who touched your life and every experience that entered it. We are all part of one another.” – Yuri Kochiyama

April 14, 2021 gregoryjoel

Belief, Bible, Christian Mysticism, Christianity, Emotional Health, Faith, God's Economics, Grace, Hope, Humility, Practice, Prayer, Quotes, Red Letter Christians, Relationships, Responsibility, Simplicity, Spirituality

Hidden Gems

April 11, 2021 gregoryjoel

“When you looked at me

your eyes imprinted your grace in me;

for this you loved me ardently;

and thus my eyes deserved

to adore what they beheld in you. . . .”

Let us go forth to behold ourselves in your beauty.

—John of the Cross, “The Spiritual Canticle,” stanzas 32, 36

This was in my email this morning from the Center for Action and Contemplation. Fr. Richard Rohr goes on to share his own paraphrase of John of the Cross’ poem…

“You give a piece of yourself to the other.

You see a piece of yourself in the other (usually unconsciously).

This allows the other to do the same in return.

You do not need or demand anything back from them,

Because you know that you are both participating

In a single, Bigger Gazing and Loving—

One that fully satisfies and creates an immense Inner Aliveness.

(Simply to love is its own reward.)

You accept being accepted—for no reason and by no criteria whatsoever!

This is the key that unlocks everything in me, for others,

and toward God.

So much so that we call it “salvation”!”

I grew up in a religious tradition that often failed to share the words of the early Christian mystics. I wish that I had brought their words to life earlier in my journey with God. Yet, everything comes in its’ right time. For that I am so grateful.

When a Pharisee came to Jesus, he asked the question, “what is the most important commandment?”. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence. This is the most important on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: Love other as well as you love yourself. These two commandments are the pegs: everything in God’s law and the prophets hang from them.” (Matthew 22. 37-40 (The Message – emphasis mine).

Everything – just do these two and the rest will take care of itself…