Talent

 Jesus did not pick followers, the Apostles, who were very learned or eloquent.  They would never convince anyone by promotion, words or learning.  They were simple people, but they believed.  So they attracted others by their thorough and deep belief.  I think the best way to attract people to a belief is in how you live it, not in your speeches or exhortations.  That might end up being “saying one thing but doing another.” Attraction is in the action of your life, not in words of promotion.  

The Whirlwind

 As the saying goes, “Sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind.”  Busyness for its own sake does not feed the heart.  A heart that is not fed will always act inappropriately.  It will act in ways that are like the wind.  Nothing is planted.  So nothing is harvested.  Action without prayer is all busyness that does not feed.  

The Marriage

Good spiritual practice is like the marriage vow.  I do it for better or for worse.  Stuff happens.  Sometimes the prayer/meditation is not what I wanted or expected.  But I don’t give up.  I am in for the long haul, for better or for worse.  Actually the prayer is not “worse.”  Only how I feel about it is worse.  My feelings and  judgments about  results are just my side of things.  I am in relationship with my God, Power who has a God way of doing things.  My job is to be faithful daily in the practice.  

The Fall

 I go out to run in the early morning darkness to avoid pollution and traffic.  My mind tells me to wear a light strapped to the cap I am wearing.  It would shine on the ground in front of me so I would see obstructions, ruts, stones, branches in the running path.  But I say “No.”  I got this.  I don’t need a light.  I know the roads.  So I go out and run.  Just as I pick up the pace, my full speed, I trip over something I did not see in the dark.  I fall.  I am cut up and bleeding.  It is pride goeth before the fall.  I have enough spiritual practice to know the right thing to do, but not enough to do it.  

Mute

 Meditation and Evil keeps us mute.  Evil keeps us mute so that we do not say/do anything that might be helpful to another.  I ignore or practice indifference.  Meditation keeps me mute during the mediation so that I can eventually say something that is helpful to another.  Too soon is often too much of what might have been a good thing.  

Light

 How might I have a sense that I am helping others.  For sure, it comes when we are a light in dark places.  Someone might talk about things that they have lost or how they feel lost.  This is a dark place, though often accompanied by self-pity.  No matter.  It is a darkness and if you are on a spiritual practice then you can become a light in their life.  Your heart connection will guide you on what to do and not to do, to say and not to say.  The prayer life you have will free you from mixing up your ego-self with good advice or action.  The ego wants praise.  It wants to feel better than the person in darkness.  The ego only acts to be helpful if it boosts the ego .  Pray and then act.  

Belonging

Someone might drink in order to feel a sense of belonging.  They find that the drink has become addictive and they still feel a lack of belonging.  Then they stop drinking with the help of a Spiritual Power, God, and the foxhole prayers that got them started.  They say they are on a spiritual path of prayer and acting better in public.  But they still don’t feel a sense of belonging.  That is why there are “programs” of sobriety that include group.  You join a group and get to know and be known.  Maybe there are weekends of spiritual growth together.  You can belong to God, but it is nice to feel a sense of belonging to something you can see in human form.