Status Updates From Here and Now: Living in the...

Moments of true compassion remain engraved in our hearts for a lifetime. One of the most beautiful characteristics of a compassionate life is the mutuality of giving and receiving - “I have received as much as I have given.”

How to not judge others - to the degree that we embrace the truth that our identity is not rooted in our success, power, or popularity, but in God's infinite love, to that degree can we let go of our need to judge. Only when we claim the love of God, the love that transcends all judgement, can we overcome all fear of judgement.

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Jesus shows us, both in His teachings and in His life, that true joy is often found in the midst of our sorrow, and that the dance of life finds its beginning in grief. Pain can be embraced - not out of a desire to suffer, but in the knowledge that something new can be birthed from it. The cross is the symbol of death and life, of suffering and joy, of defeat and victory.

The challenge of faith is to be surprised by joy. Hope frees us from the need to predict the future and allows us to live in the present, with the deep trust that God will never leave us alone but will fulfill the deepest desires of our hearts. When we profoundly trust that today is the day of the Lord and that tomorrow is safely hidden in God's love, we can relax and smile back at the One who smiles at us.