Grace & Efren

Cheers to my teammate who watches my back, and keeps me focused on the goal. Cheers to my best friend, who always makes sure I’m doing well. Cheers to my financial planner, who’s always assuring me that we’re okay. Cheers to the mother of my kids, who’s love makes boo-boos better.

Cheers to my wife, for 3 of the best years of my life so far. Life would literally not be the same (or as awesome) without you.

Happy Anniversary.

So this whole Lenten Reflection thing, got me reflecting about reflecting. No really. As I was praying about what to post, I was thinking “Why do we even use the word reflection when it comes to ‘deep thinking’ and recollection?”

When I think of reflection I think of a mirror, or still water. That when I look in it, I will obviously see myself. The only thing that will change that is the surface condition of what will reflect my image. So if the mirror is cracked or dirty, or the water is moving, it’s hard to see what you look like at that moment. Finding that accurate image of yourself is difficult under these conditions.

So the question I’m asking myself now is “What condition is my reflective surface in?” Or in other words “What condition is my heart and mind in?”

For those who live holistically (the person is the perfect harmony of mind, heart and body working together for higher good), guilt is a welcome friend that helps indicate that there is something wrong needing to be resolved. When guilt is rejected as an enemy, the conscience is clouded over or destroyed, and the mind is left to its own authority. The body is a helpless soldier with no recourse but to be forced to do even the most unwise and dangerous things without the conscience’s direction and aid.

Anthony Buono (taken from this article)

Like anything in life, guilt should be taken in light moderation. It’s a hard drink to swallow, but it can definitely give you some perspective. But don’t go binge drinking on guilt, you may have a real long depressing hang over afterwards.

If there’s time to complain, there’s time to be grateful.

If there’s time to read up on gossip, there’s time to honor one another.

If there’s time to party, there’s time to pray.

If there’s time to for Facebook, there’s time to read something uplifting.

If there’s time to listen to music, there’s time to be silent.

If there’s time to blog, there’s time to spend with loved ones.

Note To Self: There is time. Always. Spend it wisely.

To be quite honest, this intense relationship I have with God was never in my life plan.

I think a lot of crap happens along the way of trying to make your dreams real. But luckily I was paying attention to see that God was happening during it all.

Thank God for change. It’s my reminder that I’m moving forward.

I always get overwhelmed how fast God is to forgive me, but how slow I am in asking for forgiveness.

I spend days and months of trying to cope with guilt, regret and worry. I’m always taken back when I go to confession and in an instant, I’m reminded that God and I are still cool. That I’m still loved, and that laundry list of not so good things I just read off, is put in his shredder immediately.

He definitely doesn’t waste His time with me. With all my dilly-dallying, I pray I don’t waste anymore time of His.

But he passed through the midst of them and went away

Luke 4:30

This the last line of the gospel for today. To sum up everything before this, Jesus basically walked into town and pissed the town off by essentially saying “change your unhealthy ways.” He even talked about their heritage and how they got screwed because they didn’t change. They then chased him to the edge of town which happened to be a cliff, wanting to chuck him down it. Then… ‘he passed through the midst of them and went away.’ Quite harsh.

Being told that you suck is never an easy thing to take. When someone with an outside perspective lays out the truth, I can’t help but get defensive. After all, they’re talking directly about me, my thinking, and my rationale for doing things (or not doing things). I really do want to throw this truth-telling person off a cliff for cracking my ego.

But I have to realize that truth will always find a way. No matter if I throw this person off a cliff or not, it doesn’t change the fact that this person was right. So truth, like Jesus in this gospel, passed through the crowd and went away. You can’t kill the truth, or worse yet, hide it. Especially after it’s been said. But it will eventually be back somehow, and it may not be so nice when it does.

So when truth comes back into town, I gotta put the armour on my skin, and off of my heart, and not the other way around.

Self-Revelation as a Father No. 19084:

What seems to be a little ripple now, becomes a tsunami of hurt and misunderstanding later on.
Be present, initiate , and be intentional with my time, my actions and my love.

It seems that Japan is the latest trend.

Maybe I need the major news coverage to wake me up, or have #japan hashtags flooding my twitter feed to take notice, or Facebook status updates to motivate me to do something. All this chaos in Japan got me reflecting about, past disasters that have just recently happened. Does anyone remember what happened to Christchurch, New Zealand? Does anyone even talk about Haiti anymore?

I took it a little further and started think about the what’s happening in Darfur, and various parts of Africa. Or hunger in all parts of the world. These ongoing tragedies without the headline buzz.

I think I get overwhelmed, with all this stuff, but I’m reminded that although my heart beats with compassion to help all, I can only be really effective if I can focus that compassion and translate that into helping one person effectively. I’m sure if I can do that consistently, I can begin helping another, and then another, and then another…

[highlight]If you’re reading this in an Imported Note in FACEBOOK, click here to watch the video.[/highlight]