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Living The Solution – Online Newsletter |
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May 2, 2005 ISSUE |
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Opening Thoughts:
The month of May is one of my favorite months. Spring
is getting in full swing (although we are having a strangely
cool day in New Mexico), the first quarter of the calendar
year is done, school is almost out (I loved that as a kid!)
and the warmer summer months are nearly here. I’ve
always favored the sun and fun activities.
Mother’s Day is this Sunday. What a challenge, what
a calling, and what a vocation to be a Mom. I wrote the
feature article with my mother in mind.
Peace and joy,
Tom Gilbert
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IN THIS ISSUE
Feature Article: A Mother Knows
In The Spotlight: Breathing
Under Water
Daily Thoughts: The Power of the Message
Prayer & Sharing Requests
Quotable: Divine Quality of Receptiveness |
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| FEATURED
ARTICLE |
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| A
Mother Knows
Article by Tom Gilbert — May
2005
I never saw my Mom pregnant. Or if I
did I certainly don’t remember it. I’m the
middle child of three. My sister is three years older and
my brother is just eighteen months younger. So, my mother
was towing me around as a toddler by the time my brother
was born.
Now that I have a couple of children of my own I have personal experience with
a pregnant woman. Guys, let’s face it – we won’t ever truly
appreciate what women go through during those months of carrying a child, let
alone the whole labor and birth experience. All we can do is be supportive and
in awe.
God’s mystery of creation and the differences between men and women is
impressive. Women have so many special gifts that are hard for the male species
to understand, let alone appreciate. The ability to carry a new life and eventually
give birth is got to be in the top three. Right up there is the long-suffering
acceptance, encouragement and nurturing that they give to their children.
I don’t have a lot of vivid
memories as a young child. But I do remember my Mom
being there for me. She would instruct. She’d
enforce rules. She’d agonize over my rebellion.
And now, many years later she has an amazing intuition
for helping me grow spiritually.
As I’ve walked my path over the years I keep getting surprised at how Mom
knows what to say or pass on. We live cities and many miles apart. She sends
cards and letters – often apologizing for writing when she seems to be
in regular correspondence, especially compared to my more infrequent replies.
She says things to me that are full of deep meaning, wisdom and truth that I
often don’t absorb until much later. And she has an uncanny knack for sending
me books that are just what I need at the time – and for some time to come.
Read the entire article here.
Discover more thought provoking articles
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| IN THE SPOTLIGHT |
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 Breathing
Under Water
How do we breathe under water? What
does that even mean?
If you think about doing something that radically transforms you then the statement
begins to make sense. Is not the message of the Gospel to be so changed that
we become a new creation? The idea of being born again demands that we live differently.
This year’s summer conference from the Center for Action and Contemplation with
Richard Rohr explores the Gospel and 12-Step Spirituality. This is a conference
for everyone, not just those in recovery from drugs and alcohol. We must admit
we all have addictions and the spiritual path of the 12 steps is beneficial to
anyone.
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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The Power of the Message
"Friends, you well know that from early
on God made it quite plain that he wanted the pagans to hear the Message
of this good news and embrace it--and not in any secondhand or roundabout
way, but firsthand, straight from my mouth. And God, who can't be fooled
by any pretense on our part but always knows a person's thoughts, gave
them the Holy Spirit exactly as he gave him to us. He treated the outsiders
exactly as he treated us, beginning at the very center of who they were
and working from that center outward, cleaning up their lives as they
trusted and believed him. "So why are you now trying to out-god God,
loading these new believers down with rules that crushed our ancestors
and crushed us, too? Don't we believe that we are saved because the Master
Jesus amazingly and out of sheer generosity moved to save us just as he
did those from beyond our nation? So what are we arguing about?"
(Acts 15:7-11 — The Message)
Peter made these statements after many
hours of arguing about whether or not the non-Jewish Christians
had to follow the Law of Moses. Even after all they had
been through and all they had seen they were still not
totally getting it. Jesus' death, resurrection, and ascension
completely and totally fulfilled the law; we now live under
a new covenant, a new agreement and new arrangement of
grace.
The church today is full of so many rules and regulations, do's and don'ts, many
of them not even based in Scripture, that don't bring life but bring death. They
bring about the death of the heart, they kill the freedom, the passion, the heart
of the people, and they do just the opposite of what Jesus came to do. He came
to set us free.
Christianity is not about rules and regulations. Rules and regulations kill the
heart and rip the life out of people. Christianity is about relationship, relationship
with God and others. We are to love them as God has loved and accepted us --
right where we are, just as we are, and flaws and all. How dare we impose rules
and non-life giving things on the people that Jesus died for; how dare we take
away the life that Jesus gave them.
Jesus died so that we would live under grace, not under the rule of The Law.
Grace brings life; the Law crushes life out. If we truly believe that God came
to us by grace and accepted us unconditionally, then why do we find it necessary
to tell others they must follow rules instead of live by and under the Grace
of God? Are we not instructed by our Father through Jesus to love others as God
has loved us?
Let's drop the pretense, the control, the desire and quest for power over others.
Instead, let's love them as Jesus loves us. Let's live under grace both in our
relationship with God and with others, extending the grace that we have received
to those around us. That's the power of the message of God, the power of the
cross, grace!
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
our web site, especially on
the Journal pages.
We welcome and appreciate your feedback. If you would
like to submit an article please see our writer's
guidelines.
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: Quality of Receptiveness
"When I think of talking, it
is of course with a woman. For talking at its best
being an inspiration, it wants a corresponding divine
quality of receptiveness, and where will you find this
but in a woman?"
— Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809 - 1894)
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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God's
Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left
Doesn't Get It
by Jim Wallis
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here
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