Don’t Bother

A sealed envelope was publicly handed to the preacher at the funeral. It was addressed to be read at the beginning of the service. The preacher opened the letter and read it: “Don’t bother coming to visit my grave after I die. If visiting the grave makes you feel better, that is OK, just remember, I am NOT there.” Those were the words of a wonderful lady who had a solid faith and hope of eternal life.

Many people visited her grave to remember her love and grace for living in the presence of God. In contrast to her I have known people who lived in great fear of dying and knew that no one would ever visit their grave. They live in fear of being forgotten by people and God.

How we focus our time and energy in this life is vital to the legacy we leave behind. Here on earth we live in a temporary condition and even the rich and powerful can be forgotten in a few generations. We have a choice strive for an earthly legacy that is fleeting or a heavenly legacy that has lasting significance.

WISDOM

Wisdom is not easily possessed. One can have all kinds of knowledge and be intelligent, and yet not have wisdom. Wisdom is the ability, one could say gift, to ponder a problem and know the best answer. Like Solomon knowing how to discover the correct mother between two women claiming the same child.



Wisdom develops out of intelligence, knowledge and experience. Beyond simply knowing and understanding what options are available, “Wisdom” provides the ability to differentiate between them and choose the one that is best.

From Albert Einstein

I am reading a biography of Albert Einstein and found this interesting thought.



"As most of us are ashamed of shabby clothes and shoddy furniture, let us be more ashamed of shabby ideas and shoddy philosophies."



I guess he lived that idea because his clothes were shabby and his hair uncombed but his ideas were astounding.

Old Jim

Old Jim was an outspoken elder in the church. One Sunday after church he said, “Preacher, if I hear one more sermon on love I’m going to scream.”

The problem Jim had to face is that at the core of the Gospel, that Jesus taught is LOVE according to Mark 12:28-34

^“28One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” ²⁹Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; ³⁰you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” ³²Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; ³³and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” ³⁴When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”.”[NRSV]

From John’s Gospel we find Jesus saying,

^“15:13No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”[NRSV]

Then Jesus himself did just that for all of us on the cross!

So if old Jim needs to scream out loud – I guess he will just have to because the message of Jesus that, “God loves you,” is so simple and so powerful and that’s all that really matters.

“Inclusive Meritocracy”

I attended a Toastmasters speech contest this morning and arrived a bit early at the site of the contest. It is a building owned by a bank and used for training and along one wall was banners that are intended to encourage and inspire employees. Most of them were generic but one stood out as very different. It read – “Inclusive Meritocracy” and that kind of phrase hooked me at once.

One might think that those two words would not work together. Inclusive is just that everyone is included. On the other hand meritocracy indicates a system where the most intelligent or talented rise to the top. So how can they work together? Well that bank believes that all of its employees have the skills and talents needed to rise to the top and if they exhibit loyalty and initiative then the bank will reward them with promotions. It does not matter what their background may be or their gender they can prosper in that bank.

The question is was that particular banner simply a slogan or is it for real. I have just got to check that out.

A Good Reputation

A good reputation is something to cherish and hard to rebuild once damaged.

Some people are like the man who said, “I was converted 40 years ago and I have been a Christian off and on ever since.”

Every day by our actions and our words we either ad to or shred our reputation in the society in which we live. One slight slip can reduce to ashes a life’s image that took so long to build up.

It is not only our own reputation we affect for when you talk about or make judgments about other people your are dealing with their reputations. We need to be vary careful not only about what we do to our personal reputation but be fair toward the reputation of others.

Gossip can tarnish unfairly the reputation of a person and cause a lot of grief. An old saying before speaking about another person is “Is it true, is it fair? If in doubt don’t say it.”

Healt Insurance Ad

I just saw a “Helath Insurance” created ad on TV warrning against the proposed health care bills in congress and using scare tatices showing a government bureaucrat getting between the paient and doctor saying you can give that treatment.

The big problem, and I speak from personal experience, is the my health insurance company is telling my doctor that I can’t have a treatment unless I am willing to pay 100 percent of it. They are already doing what they are trying to scare us with. How dumb do they think we are. They pulled that trick several times before and they think it will work again.

Well it won’t work with me. I am writting my congressman but telling them to give us good health care insurance that covers everyone. The money grubbing insurance comapnies can suffer the consequences of years of abuse of the American public.