Like Rain from Heaven

I have often pondered the billion, billion tears that have been cried by human beings in our time here on earth. I have seen tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears of despair, tears of relief and tears of exhaustion to name a only a few. My heart has been touched by many of them. As I have written before, there is something pure in the tears of honest emotion.

It was a recent encounter with tears of faith that got me to thinking. They were evidence of the conflict going on inside my friend. Their appearance was almost if to say, “I believe, please help my unbelief”. The thought occurred to me that each tear represented hope…hope of the way things could be, the way things should be. Maybe that’s what most tears represent, the difference between the way things are and the way we wish they were.

We wish our children never experienced any pain; that they never died before their time. We wish our faith was pure and without conflict. We wish ours was a better world. We wish that we were better people. Our tears are evidence of the difference between our dreams and our reality.

I believe that our tears keep us healthy. They preserve something vital in us. They may be all that does sometimes. Our tears preserve our humanity. Human tears have flowed like a river down through history. They’ve opened human hearts like a river opens dried seedlings. They’ve nourished new growth and kept us from drying up and blowing away. I have seen those who were no longer able to shed tears and it was as if something had died in them. I know in some of them something had died…their spirit.

There was a time not so long ago when men considered it ‘unmanly’ to shed tears except in the darkest moments of life. They paid a price for that... Men believed the world was hard and they needed to be hard to meet it head on. I believe that still…but I don’t believe there is anything unmanly in shedding tears. Sometimes it’s even a sign of real strength, the strength of an open heart. Hopefully more men in my generation are learning that. The women and children in their lives need them to have open hearts as much as they need them to be strong.

As I have written before, tears can represent moments of grace. It is a truth that a broken heart is an open heart. In the tears of a broken heart can be found moments of grace. While they cloud our eyes they can clear the vision of our hearts. Such tears can be like magnifying glasses that allow us to see the evidence of God the most clearly.

In my search for the evidence of Gods hand I am constantly amazed where I find it. Tears, too, are a blessing and a miracle from the Most High. The day is coming when He will dry them all and they will no longer be necessary.

Till that day…

Socialism...or something like it

I’ve been thinking about the formula for socialism lately. It goes: “From each according to their ability to each according to their need”. It sounds simple enough. When it’s applied to the world of economics it has proven not to work very well. Human nature and our proclivity towards greed and self-aggrandizement make it a pipe dream. In some cases where it’s been applied the results have been disastrous. Capitalistic reforms have proven to be the best efforts in tempering socialism.

Capitalism takes into account human nature and even encourages greed. By itself capitalism also has its evils, greed being the major one. In a wise society it’s tempered with social welfare reforms. No government in history has pulled off a socio-economic system flawlessly, but the United States and some of the other Western democracies have made a valiant effort. They've done so by seeing the value of individuals.

What struck me recently was the thought that the socialist formula can be applied to other, less tangible, things in life with some success. Plug ‘goodness’ into that formula for example. “From each according to their ability, to each according to their need.” Now, that sounds like a wise equation to me. Each of us has gifts we can offer the world. In some they may be a small thing, but even the smallest things have value in the world of goodness. We all have the need for goodness in our lives. Even the worst of us, in some cases especially the worst of us, need goodness. Just imagine a world where each of us contributed to our fellow man what we have of goodness. That’s a dream too, but a nice one. The difference is, paradoxically, when we give away our goodness we lose nothing. In fact, when we give away our goodness, we find that it actually increases in us. If money did that…we’d all be devout socialists!

Instead, too many of us practice capitalism in our goodness too. We are only concerned with what we can get for ourselves. That usually proves to be disastrous. You see, if we all only work to amass goodness only for ourselves we usually end up losing it. There’s that paradox again! The scriptures say to not lay up treasures for ourselves on earth where moths and rust corrupt, but rather to lay it up for ourselves in heaven. We can only do that by giving away our goodness…

I’m convinced that people who are drawn to socialism are drawn to it because, in their hearts, they plug goodness into the equation instead of money. They mean well but don’t seem to get that that’s not how it works…unless everyone ponies up. They see human nature as basically good. Capitalists too, often see human nature as basically good. We might like to believe that, but what it turns out to be is FAILURE TO READ THE BIG PRINT in history and psychology. That’s a subject for another time.

For now I only want to add that the world I’m describing here is a dream too, because our very nature would have to change to achieve it. The good news is that the essential part of the equation is within our power. Each of us has the power to choose to give away our goodness. Each of us can choose to live the way of get or the way of give. We create the world we live in by the choices we make. Choosing to live the way of give will begin to change the world…because that will change us.

May God Bless Mothers

Sometimes, I admit, I get to feeling a little jaded, a little cynical, about my species. It seems we, human beings, are capable of the lowest forms of debauchery and the vilest forms of evil against one another. If an alien species were to listen only to our news broadcasts they would probably steer clear of this little blue planet all together. It can be very disheartening if that’s all one sees. But, if one takes the time to look there is also beauty in our species; there is a nobility in human beings that can’t be denied. Often, it’s only as far away as the person next to us.

I recently made a new friend. I met a young mother in a sculpting class that single handedly has restored some feeling in me for the human race. She has two small children and when she speaks about them her eyes light up and a smile almost involuntarily crosses her face. She begins to glow. Listening to her, it’s hard not to hear the love that she can’t contain. Her heart is completely open because of the love of her husband and those two little human beings God has entrusted to her care.

I recently told her the story of another friend and how he lost his little girl when she was only an infant. Her eyes began to well up with tears. I found myself being touched by her open heart. That simple thing was evidence of the hope for all humanity to me. If we are capable of that feeling, that empathy, then there is something worth preserving in us. This new mother became an ambassador for all that’s good in us. For just a moment I saw us the way God sees us.

Most of us love our mothers. Even the most hardened criminals have a soft spot in their hearts for the woman that gave them birth and their first glimpse of love. If we can hang on to those first lessons of love we learned, those from our mothers, they can strengthen us against the hardships ahead of us in life. Other things in life can harden us and twist our views of the world, but having a mother like this one…that’s a blessing, one that can see us through some very dark times.

I have no doubt that God has specially blessed the children of my young friend. What they will learn from their mother will give them a strength of spirit that will last them for a lifetime. Her light will shine on all those around her…like it has on me. And, that light will shine on through her children. I only hope that something of the light that shines through my mother shines on through me.

Therein lays the seed of hope for humanity.

May God bless all mothers…

The Idea...

When you look at the flags of the countries of the world you can see some hint of their values and their histories. The governments of most countries of the world were built on history. Unlike most others, the government of the United States of America was built on a philosophy. Our flag represents an Idea. That Idea is that all human beings have value.

In our ‘sacred writings’ we declare that all men are created with equal rights under the law. All people have God-given rights and among them are the right to life, to liberty and the right to pursue their own happiness. That’s a radical break from most governments in history! The divine right of kings in European history, for example, assumed their citizens were at the disposal of their monarchies. Most countries have treated their citizens like they existed for the sake of the country. Many countries still treat their citizens that way. The Idea of the United States is that the government exists for individuals. The purpose of our government is to ensure and protect the God-given rights of every human being…even from itself.

We Americans are often ridiculed around the world for our up-start ways. We have one of the youngest cultures on earth. We’re barely over two hundred years old…a mere youngster in the eyes of history! What many of our detractors fail to realize is that we also have one of the oldest governments on earth. That’s because most of us believe The Idea. We hold the truths of it so dearly that we want to share it with the rest of the world. We’re excited about that…and rightfully so!

We believe in The Idea that our flag represents so strongly that our people have shed their own blood in every country on earth to spread the message! Men and women in the service of arms for our country have laid down their lives for over two centuries to spread The Idea that all human beings have value. They gave their life’s blood for the freedom of their fellow human beings. They shed their own blood for The Idea! They are still doing so today…

We have detractors among us that have never worn the uniform of our military. They have never faced the possibility of death for The Idea. They are content to exercise the rights that other people have sacrificed their lives for. That’s OK. The men and women who died to give them those rights ensured that they, too, have the right to be heard. We don’t begrudge them that. The right of individuals to speak with dissenting voices keeps our republic strong and vital! That’s a part of The Idea.

Our citizens have come to these shores from every country on earth because of The Idea. Many of the countries, that are our loudest detractors, sent us the dregs of their societies. We took them in…happily. Together we have built the greatest country in the history of the world!

We built it on The Idea…

The Religion of Peace?...The Facts:

(Originally Posted 12-31-04)


Sept.5, 1972...International Olympics...Munich, Germany...11 Israeli athletes murdered

Oct.23, 1983...United States Marine Corps barracks. Beruit, Lebonon...241 murdered...80 wounded

Oct.1985...Achille Lauro hijacked...69 year old American tourist in a wheelchair murdered...because he is Jewish

Dec.21, 1988...Pan Am flight 103...Lockerbie, Scotland...270 murdered

Feb.26, 1993...World Trade Center...New York, New York...6 murdered...1000 injured

June 25, 1996...Kobar Towers...Riyad, Saudi Arabia...19 murdered...372 injured

Aug. 7, 1998...U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania...224 murdered...hundreds injured

Oct. 12, 2000...Navel Vessel USS Cole in Persian Gulf...17 murdered...39 injured

Sept. 11, 2001...World Trade Center/ Pentagon...New York, New York/ Washington D.C....3030 murdered...2337 injured

In Israel since the second Intifadah there have been 425 terrorist attacks... 377 Israelis murdered...2076 injured

52 were suicide bombings...murdering 288 people...

(This information is dated and far from complete).

March 11, 2004…Spain, 10 bombs exploded on four commuter trains at three railstations, murdering 191 people, more than 1,800 injured

Sept.1-3, 2004…Beslan, Russia…1200 plus people in an elementary school taken hostage by 32 terrorists, 330 murdered…176 of them children (They were not allowed to eat, drink or go to the bathroom for three days while they were held hostage. Bombs killed many of them, many more were shot in the backs as they tried to escape)…over 500 injured...24 children orphaned.

All of these crimes against humainty were committed by Muslim terrorists.... And where was the outcry against these mass murders in the Muslim world? Not one major Muslim organization has condemned them...

America has put its sons and daughters in the service of arms in harms way to protect Muslim lives many times…to liberate them from Fascists in North Africa in WWII, to protect them from Serbs in the former Yugoslavia and to liberate them from one of the most brutal dictators in the history of the world in Kuwait. Now American soldiers and marines shed blood in Afghanistan and Iraq...to set Muslims free from oppressive governments.

Cynics will say that Americans are only interested in the oil the Middle East has to offer. That is one interest. The fact is that America and Europe have made Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Middle Eastern oil producers some of the richest countries on earth because the land they live on lies atop rich oil reserves. That has raised the living standards of millions of Muslims and it has served to give them a voice in the world…one they would not have otherwise.

While Arabs cried foul when the United Nations created the nation of Israel in 1948, because that act displaced the Palestinians and left them without a homeland, they have been silent about the plight of the Kurds, the largest ethnic population without a homeland...because the Kurds live in Muslim lands. Arab Muslims have ignored the will of the United Nations and tried on more than one occassion to wipe Israel out of existence. Arab Muslims claim that Israeli Zionists seek to take over the world because Israel, in it’s own defense, conquered some of the land of the Muslim nations that have attacked them. No mention is made of the fact that the Koran dictates Muslims try to conquer the world for Islam. Muslim history is a history of conquest and bloodshed and is there to read for anyone who cares to. Many Muslims today openly proclaim that world conquest for Islam is still their goal.

There are some two dozen Arab Muslim nations that all share the same language, culture, religion and ethnicity…and they are all ruled by dictators. In many of those lands women are treated like property; non-believers are only barely tolerated and the freedoms that the Constitution of the United States of America declares are the God-given inalienable rights of every human being...are non-existent.

Where, exactly, is the 'peaceful' part again?

The Spice of Love

I think romance is the nicest dimension of a relationship between a man and a woman. When I was younger I used to wonder why, in the movies at least, the town always cheered when two lovers got together? It wasn’t happening to them so what were they so happy about? I finally understand why the town cheers. I find myself these days silently cheering for lovers that look happy together. Just to know that it’s possible between two people gives me a good feeling. In a way, I think it is somewhat akin to seeing ballet dancers or gymnasts move in amazing and graceful ways. It can give us pleasure just to know it’s possible for members of our own species to do such things…even if we can’t. That is the faith of love.

Some people think romance is dead. It seems like too many people are cynical from having been burned. Too many people are content to selfishly use each other to fill one need or another. Men use women for sex. Women use men for money. And it goes on and on. It’s too bad. I came to realize late in life that this life is supposed to be a blessing. A big part of that blessing is finding someone to share it with. People that don’t let themselves experience romance only scratch the surface of life’s blessings. People that are only in relationships for sex or whatever they can ‘get’ out of them never really mature. Some are destined to be ‘deeply superficial’ it seems. That is the pain of love.

Some people let the romance in their relationships die. They become so fixed on the day to day that they forget that love can lift them above it. It’s a shame to see the romance die in lovers. Sometimes it seems to die but in reality it has only matured. Romance is different at different times in a relationship. It can be roses and wine in front of a fireplace or walking along the beach in the moonlight in the beginning. It can always be that way for some, for others, after so many years, it may just be a your eyes meeting across a crowded room or the little knowing glances and comments that no one else is privy to. Romance is the spice of love.

A mature relationship is one that allows two people to grow together, to explore the depths of what it means to be human together. When two people know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, when they know the raw truth of each other and still love each other it uplifts them. They become more than the sum of their parts. When two people have laughed and cried together, when they have experienced life’s joy and life’s pain together it creates something new and unique in the universe. It creates a bond that’s beyond anything physical. That is the dream of love.

These are, of course, observations from the outside looking in. This kind of blessing only happens to two hearts that are open to each other at the same time. Its rarity makes it seem like it only happens to the lucky few. I’m just happy that it happens at all…that it’s possible for a human heart to find another that fits it and they are content to grow old together. That is the hope of love.

King Solomon once wrote: There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four, which I know not: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent on a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid…

Romance is one of Gods true miracles. That is the blessing of love…