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Living The Solution – Online Newsletter |
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February 7, 2005 ISSUE |
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Opening Thoughts:
Planting trees and planting hope can have a lot in
common, as attested by the work over the years by Wangari Maathai, the
2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
How do we plant hope in the hearts of others, particularly
those who are overwhelmed by life’s struggles? Not by condemnation
or condescension. We must meet each other at the point of our pain and
compassionately encourage. This requires humility and a heart filled
with love. The source of this love is God…may you find it now.
Peace and joy,
Tom Gilbert
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IN THIS ISSUE
Feature Article: Dare You To Move (Song Reflection)
In The Spotlight: Valentine
Ideas - Love and Marriage
Daily Thoughts: As I Have Loved You
Prayer & Sharing Requests
Quotable: Complaining
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| FEATURED
ARTICLE |
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Dare
You To Move
Song Reflection: Switchfoot
By Tom Gilbert — February 2005
Welcome to the planet
Welcome to existence
Everyone's here
Everyone's here
Everybody's watching you now
Everybody waits for you now
What happens next?
What happens next?
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened before
Welcome to the fallout
Welcome to resistance
The tension is here
The tension is here
Between who you are and who you could be
Between how it is and how it should be
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Maybe redemption has stories to tell
Maybe forgiveness is right where you fell
Where can you run to escape from yourself?
Where you gonna go?
Where you gonna go?
Salvation is here
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
I dare you to lift yourself
Lift yourself up off the floor
I dare you to move
I dare you to move
Like today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened
Today never happened before
(Song lyrics copyright of Switchfoot
and writer and provided here for “song reflection” context)
Trying to approach each day,
even each moment, as something new, alive and real is a
great challenge to us all. Switchfoot issues this challenge
in their popular song, Dare You To Move from their very
successful “the beautiful letdown” release
(Columbia/Sparrow Records). This band continues to grow
in their music and I think they recognize that to reach
a wider audience they need to remain true to their beliefs
without being too preachy.
The music is melodic and rock with enough
of a contemporary, post-alternative vibe to grab youthful
attention. The hook is large and inviting. It works well
with the lyrical challenge to step out of your false
self and be willing to get real…today, as if this
has “never happened before”.
The opening lines state the obvious, but
without being trite. This is always a good indication
of well-written poetry. We can approach the beautiful
mystery and recognize it is for all of us (Welcome to
the planet/Welcome to existence/Everyone's here). Then
the writer shifts us quickly from the “all” awareness
to self-consciousness (Everybody's watching you now/Everybody
waits for you now/What happens next?)
Read the song reflection here.
Discover more thought provoking articles
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| IN THE SPOTLIGHT |
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Valentine Ideas - Love and Marriage
Relationships are often stressful and difficult. True loving relationships are
extremely rewarding and a reflection of God's involvement in our lives. The covenant
of marriage is holy. It's a sacrament, thus sacred. We present here some books
on love and marriage.
On
sale here.
See more at our Spotlight Specials page
Our Living the Solution online store
has resources to help you grow spiritually. It’s
secure, extensive with many great gift ideas!
Visit our
online store
There is something for everyone. When you shop with us,
you support our ministry – thank you!
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DAILY THOUGHTS & REFLECTIONS |
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As I Have Loved You
"Let me give you a new command: Love
one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is
how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples--when they see the
love you have for each other." (John 13:34-35 — The Message)
Do the non-believers you know — those
you work with, go to school with, meet at your kid’s
sports games with — know you are a follower of Jesus
because of the love you show? Can others see the love you
have for your friends, fellow believers and the love they
show for you, or are they aware of your beliefs because
you keep telling them how they are living their life wrong?
Jesus never said anywhere that people would know, and respond
favorably to that. We are not His followers by our self-righteous
sanctimonious piousness, our “I’m better than
you are” attitude. If fact, there is only one place
that Jesus ever said anything about how the world would
know we are His followers, right here in John; “Love
one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one
another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are
my disciples—when they see the love you have for
each other."
We so often, and so easily, forget that God is not concerned with the outward
appearance. He is concerned with our heart. He cares less about what we do than
why we do it; our motive, our heart, is what matters and we are to have love
in our heart for our fellow believers. We are to love them the way Jesus loves
us.
So then, how did/does Jesus love us? Our first response might be, “He died
for us”. Now that seems like a lot to ask of each of us, but I think the
answer to how Jesus loves/loved us is a little less dramatic than that. He loves/loved
us unconditionally. He came and died for us with no guarantee that we would respond.
That is our choice, but He had to make the first move and restore that opening
for the relationship. He provides for our needs daily, He gives us our jobs,
families, our sight, hearing, and the air we breathe. He gives it totally and
completely unconditionally. He gives it with only the hope that we would recognize
that He is the one who is caring for us. That is the kind of love Jesus is speaking
of in this verse. Not so much sacrificial love but unconditional love — meeting
the needs of others even before they speak them and expecting nothing in return
for our efforts. Now that kind of love will get noticed. Non-believers around
you will wonder what is going on. At first they may think you are crazy, but
when they see you continue to live that way and they see other Christians in
turn loving you and meeting your needs they will start to take notice.
We as Christians are known for so many things, and most of them bad: bigoted,
self-righteous, narrow-minded, goody two-shoes, holier-than-thou, everything
but what we are to be known for. Let’s start today; let’s make it
our prayer and focus; let's be the people God created us to be and to be known
for what we are to be known. Let’s love our fellow believers in such a
way that that is what we are known for.
Live it with Passion
Pete Reinbold
Get daily inspiration with a Scripture verse and commentary
at
Daily Thought
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PRAYER REQUESTS & RESULTS |
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Prayer works. It really does.Submit your prayer
requests and we will pray for them.
Of course, we keep your information confidential.
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My thoughts are shared regularly on the pages of
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the Journal pages.
We welcome and appreciate your feedback. If you would
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It is our hope that the content of Living The Solution will
stimulate you to deepen your faith. That is certainly a result for us in both
our writing and reading. If you would like to see articles on a particular topic
or you have comments please let us know.
Send an email
Quotable: Complaining
Complain as little as possible of
your wrongs, for, as a general rule, you may be sure
that complaining is sin: ... because self-love always
magnifies our injuries.
— François de Sales (1567-1622)
Copyright 2005 Living the Solution, all rights reserved.
Tom Gilbert
Editor/Web-servant
Living The Solution
www.livingthesolution.com
P O Box 25584
Albuquerque, NM 87125-5584
Toll free 1-800-399-2564 ext 105 (US only) or 505-247-3232
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Radical
Grace
by Richard Rohr
408 meditations by America's foremost retreat master and preacher, striking the
spirit of each season.
order
here
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