One of the hardest decisions to make, after having your heart ran through a shredder, is to try again. You have said, “No way!” “I could never trust again.” “I can’t take the chance, or I never want to feel that kind of pain again!”
Me? What did I used to say? “God, it’s too hard.”
I once quoted, to a lady, a line from a song, “All my ex’s live in Texas.” After she got done laughing, she asked, “My God, how many do you have?” “One,” I replied, “But that’s all of them!” Through the many years since my divorce I have learned what real love is, by becoming intimate with my Heavenly Father, and also when man fell out with God, he fell out with women as well. I have the vertical connection, with God, in place, and now I am open and willing, to take a risk, to try again, with the horizontal connection with a woman.
Notice the cross? Yes, that one. The one Jesus died on because he took the ultimate risk of love coming here to die for our sins. I’m sure his heart aches when people reject him. If a relationship is based on loving Jesus, then together you will have the vertical and the horizontal connections in place that will support a healthy, loving relationship.
Love is a “risky business”, but when done the way God intended, I’m trusting it will be one more thing God will look at and say, “It is good.”
Copyright © 2018 Mark Brady, All rights reserved
When someone does something nice for you anonymously, it isn’t a mystery to be solved, but yet, a love to be received.
I was in a court room this week. On trial was my perception of someone. After hearing arguments from both the accuser and the defendant, the judge was ready to rule. I was found guilty of thinking I knew someone and the motive behind their behavior. If the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help us God was told, the fact of the case was, I didn’t. Honestly, I didn’t know them at all. In court, both parties in the case, sat down and explained their side. Each party was heard.
How do you measure spiritual growth? Do you compare yourself to Billy Graham? The Apostle Paul? Mother Teresa? Joel Osteen? Or perhaps you compare yourself to your pastor. First of all, what is “spiritual growth”? It is the process of becoming more mature in one’s relationship with Jesus Christ.
I would go visit them, and before I knew it, they would be giving me a guided tour of their latest acquisitions. Antiques, what nots, weird things, but things that appealed to them. I would hear the story of where they found it, and why they liked it. The one fact that never went unnoticed was how excited they were over their latest find, and the one thing that always struck me funny was when they would ask, “You want to know how much I paid?”
Confession: I have never been inside a confessional booth. I grew up in a church where doing so was not part of our spiritual practice. I am at a temple where there is one. I am writing this blog post while sitting inside it. Not intended, but in order to see I brought a small, but bright LED light. It is casting such a white glow I think it scared a couple checking out the temple.
After my father passed away, recently, I reflected on his life, and realized there were a lot of gifts, “life lessons” he gave me, but today I want to share the 5 biggest ones.
brady, mark a. 