MRLPJ

O Holy Trinity… THANK YOU for going ahead of me and for surrounding and being with me as I slept last night… THANK YOU for coming for me, at me, and after me in my dreams… THANK YOU for bringing me rest...   And… THANK YOU, too, for waking me up this morning. I’m so very grateful for the gifts of life, light, and love, which You’ve given me and continue to do so—continually and continuously, without end. I’m so very grateful, too, for the gifts of glory, goodness, and gladness, which You’ve manifested within me and continue to do so—also continually and continuously, without end. And, further, I’m so very grateful for the gift of this brand-new day. Enable me, O Living, Illuminating, and Loving God, to rest in You, Your healing Works, Your unfailing love, and Your loving faithfulness; and enable me, too, O Living, Illuminating, and Loving God, to let You love me in all the ways in which YOU want… and in all the ways in which only YOU can. -- Selah [from calah; suspension (of...

Great Leaders... 1/Live congruently (in accordance with their conscious values). 2/Do their work and inspire others to do theirs. 3/Use accountability systems (including positive peer pressure) to help them and those they lead stay on the straight and narrow. 4/Maintain a laudable work-life balance. 5/Own everything in their lives. They take full responsibility for their thoughts, feelings, actions, words, and outcomes; confess their faults; acknowledge their limitations; blame no one or anything; and make no excuses—none/zero. 6/Remain calm and communicative during adversity. 7/Gain influence by building relationships. 8/Take deep, respectful interest in those they work with, teach, and lead. They “see” others as unique individuals who have unique and specific needs, wants, perspectives, interests, passions, callings, and dreams. In many ways (and within reason, of course), they treat others the way those people want to be treated. Nifty Slogan: Do unto others as they would have y...

In the photo heading this blog post, I've provided a photograph of Ted Bundy, who was highly educated and quite the charmer. Prior to his being executed in 1989, he confessed to killing at least 30 women in seven states. It would be good to note that most serial killers are the complete opposite of the reclusive and extremely weird “Buffalo Bill,” whom some of us “encountered” in the horrifying 1990 fictional movie The Silence of the Lambs. For the most part, serial killers and mass murderers seem, paradoxically, to be “extraordinarily ordinary.” -- In this life, malevolent people exist; and, at some point in your life, you’ll most likely cross paths with many such individuals. Some, you may just occasionally interact with. Some, you may see or work with often. Some may be just an acquaintance; and some may be a complete stranger to you. Some may be amongst your closest friends. Some may be in your extended family, and some may even be in your immediate family. Such a one could...

“The Practice of Engineering” Leonardo [da Vinci] took an artist’s vision into science. He understood that science, as much as painting, has to find the design of nature in her detail. He gave science what was (and is!) most needed: The artist’s sense that the detail of nature is significant. —Jacob Bronowski [adapted] Problems can’t be solved at the same level of consciousness that created them. —Albert Einstein [adapted] We’re struggling to draw right conclusions from observation of matter in motion, because we haven’t yet acquired the ability to translate dynamic effect back to true cause. —Jeff Tennant [adapted] The pursuit of beauty and the pursuit of truth are not incompatible. —George Sarton [adapted] It’s been said that an engineer is one who seeks to solve a problem by tinkering with science to produce a functionally efficient solution, be it the harnessing of geothermal energy from thousands of feet below the earth’s surface to the placing of a human being on the moon. A...

Where violence is concerned, I think both men and women want people to give it to them straight. As much fun as I have engaging in and teaching life-preservation techniques, lives are truly changed when people start to gain a better understanding of violence as it could be used as a tool against them, to either dominate or destroy them. Being able to discern between the two—1/Antisocial aggression (that is, dominating violence, which includes “dueling aggression”); and 2/Asocial violence (that is, predation violence)—is critical. Violence intended to destroy is usually asocial and hits you rather silently (like a bee sting or a snake bite) and, seemingly, out of the blue. All rapists (except, say, some date rapists and incest perpetrators) fit this category. Violence intended to dominate is usually antisocial and erosive, and is characterized often by a lot of posturing (like a silverback gorilla beating his chest, or a monkey shrieking and throwing his poop, or a bull rampaging in...

Friend… God loves you. He loves you not because you’re a well-behaved person but because He’s so prodigally extravagant and inexpressively good that He cannot help but love you. At the risk of sounding blasphemous (and I pray you see the spirit behind what I’m about to write), I believe God loves you so much, and I believe He’s driven so much by the desire to give Himself away to you, that, where you and His desires for you are concerned, He almost doesn’t quite know what to do with Himself. Have you ever felt that way about someone? Perhaps for your husband or wife? Or for a newborn child? That’s what God’s love for you stirs within His own Heart! You, my friend, are that dear to Him… that valuable to Him… that loved by Him. YOU move the Heart of God Almighty! Let me write that again (in case you missed it!):  YOU ... move the Heart of God Almighty—The Supreme Master of Forces and The Eternal Lord of War and God of Angel Armies! Sit with that thought for a moment... maybe ev...

  Self-knowledge (the primary form [ see Note below ]), a meditation… Note :   There are, essentially, two kinds of self-knowledge:   1/The Primary Form, which I discuss in this mediation.   And...   2/The Secondary Form, with has to do with how well a person understands his [or her ] unique (as a God-Imager) glory, gifts, calling, personality, life-skills, longings, etc. It’s been said that the highest form of human knowledge is self-knowledge.   I both agree with and disagree with that statement.   My disagreement lies, mostly, with the stopping of the argument at the general (and exquisitely broad) category of “self-knowledge.” T o begin, what is self-knowledge?  Is it knowledge?  Certainly.  Knowledge about oneself?  Most assuredly.  But it’s more— MUCH MORE !!—than just knowledge about oneself.  Self-knowledge is knowledge about oneself that’s truly “lived” and “experienced.”  In a word, self...