Jesus, like all other religious leaders, taught men to pray, that is, He taught them to look away from the world of ordinary sense impressions and to open the heart and spirit to God; yet He is always insistent that religion must be related to life. It is only by contact with God that a better quality of living can be achieved -- and Jesus Himself, as the records show, spent many hours in communion with God -- yet that new quality of life has to be both demonstrated and tested in the ordinary rough-and-tumble of plain living. It is in ordinary human relationships that the validity of a man's communion with God is to be proved.
~J. B. Phillips (1906-1982) [from CQOD]

We had our bi-weekly meeting (bi-weekly for the summer, that is) last night. It was an extremely good discussion time. We did the evening office, then talked about impressions recieved from the contents of that. The Bible reading was striking for me, since it basically directly answered a situation I've been going through at work. The verse is 1 Peter 5:5b-7: "In your relations with one another, clothe yourselves with humility, because God 'is stern with the arrogant but to the humble He shows kindness.' Bow humbly under God's mighty hand, so that in due time He may lift you high. Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you." I have been struggling at work with a co-worker who acts as though she thinks that even the most casual contact with me will give her leprosy or something, to the point of not entering a room if she sees I'm in it, or moving away if I approach (like, 10' away). I'm mystified by this behavior, and have even asked her if she's mad at me or if I've done something wrong. She says no, and I have to accept that answer until she's ready to discuss it, I guess. It's just that, until or unless she tells me what the deal is, I can't "fix it", and I am definitely a "fixer" type of person. That makes for a very good legalist, I know, and I'm working on that in me (well, God is).

In other news, it looks like I have acquired a workout partner. Rachel knows what she's doing, since she used to be a personal trainer. We are getting together Saturday for our first "session"--pray for me that I survive! :^)

posted by #Debi at 6:42 AM | permalink | 0 comments

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