Paralysis from
Analysis
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YOU KNOW WHY? BECAUSE WE PUT OUR EXPECTATIONS TOO HIGH! The strategy here is we have to set reasonable objectives that we can achieve. We need to push ourselves some but not to the point where we stress ourselves into giving up, which is what normally happens year after year… The significance of creating achievable goals and making this a spiritual practice is that we are actually TRAINING OURSELVES INTO ACCOMPLISHING TASKS. WE ARE TRAINING OURSELVES TO BE DOERS. And I believe this practice will spill right over from your personal life into the church where you will actively set achievable goals—where we won’t criticize without offering our idea and service, our hands and our feet… And if many of us are doing this I think we could have a dramatic impact on the future of our lives and the future of this church. Create realistic goals this year and you will be helping yourself and your religious community to finish tasks and not just analyze tasks. Ultimately, you are teaching yourself to be the change you want. And if we create an environment of “change-makers” then there is no telling where we will go together! I picked the hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” because it speaks to this time of the year but it also speaks to us. Emmanuel means “God with us”. But I can use another metaphor—LIFE with us—Spirit with us. Love with us… AND let that energy come to us right now—let God be within us, may the bliss of Life be in us, may the Spirit be in us, might Love be in and with us, so that we can be doers and not talkers; so that we can make our religion real! And let the Power come dwell in our hearts so we can comfort the people and really speak truth to power and really make justice roll down… “O come, O come Emmanuel, and with your captive children dwell. Give comfort to all exiles here, and to the aching heart bid cheer. O come, you Splendor very bright, as joy that never yields to might. O come, and turn all hearts to peace, that greed and war at last shall cease. O come, you Day-spring come and cheer – our spirits by your presence here. And dawn in every broken soul as vision that can see the whole. O come, you Wisdom from on high, from depths that hide within a sigh, to temper knowledge with our care, to render every act a prayer. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel, shall come within as love, as truth, as light, as hope—to dwell.” Let it be so. Amen. |
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Copyright by Rev. John T. Crestwell. All rights reserved. Please contact him for permission to use. |
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