Bear > Recent Status Updates

Persistence in forgiveness, service, prayer, and humility has to be undertaken consciously and cultivated intentionally if we are to run the race like the apostle Paul… Our persistent efforts to forgive freely, serve wholeheartedly, pray unceasingly, and humbly regard others as better than ourselves with childlike abandon will most certainly increase our faith in, confidence in, snd dependence on God. P. 237

“Persistence is the prerequisite for a fruitful life in the kingdom of God.” P. 220

Dark and intense…but a very interesting concept…

“In our actions toward those who wrong us, we no longer hold them responsible or base our behavior toward them on what they’ve done... The inward side of forgiving means we no longer brood, dwelling on the hurt… We have come to some degree of liberty …because we have chosen to look to the future… the mark of forgiveness is not that you no longer hurt…you are no longer preoccupied with the hurt.” P.182

“At the very heart of all we profess as Christians stands the cross. The cross is the merciful heart of God. We cannot comprehend the cross, if we don’t understand that God‘s mercy and his justice are not opposed; they are expressions of the same love…He was kind to us who were unthankful and evil. And that kindness is the key to understanding God’s mercy.” P.158

”Our children were given to us to love, not to sit on. And while we often feel responsible for their behavior, there comes a moment when we have to turn them loose and say, ‘I’ll help you.’ We need to have confidence in them because we have confidence in God.” P.152-153

It’s been slow going but I’m more invested now!

Chugging along!

“People who profess the name of Christ often do not comprehend the greatness of the invitation to life in the kingdom of God.” P.83

So many good recommendations!

I have thoughts but it’s gotten better for me!

Still really good! Making slow progress but it’s full of good wisdom

Intriguing! Especially if you like Vikings 😬

These stories allowed people time and space to think, circumventing their pride or fear. A story invites reflection, not argument. That’s why we need to meditate on the parables. The lessons… are absolutely vital and fundamental, and meditating on them will allow our understanding to grow, blossom, and bear fruit. - p.33

“The kingdom of God constantly renews us; it comes to us where we are. It is always “at hand,” present with us. When the Bible speaks of heaven, it means God acting in this world – right here, right now. This is real life.“ p. 15

Intense subject matter… but I’m very intrigued 😍

“Arendt is describing a private realm that is insulated from the seduction of the social. It requires us to remember that our appearances in the world, regardless of how significant or laudatory they may be, are merely that – appearances and not who we truly are. Keeping that distinction is essential if we are to maintain our consciences and morality.“ p. 154

Good, practical ideas in this one!

Really enjoying this one! Didn’t even realize the excellent timing of reading a book about Cupid on Valentine’s Day 🙌

“What the church needs is to practice anti-ideology. It needs to reject the premises of comprehensibility and certainty and display a healthy skepticism of “world-changing” ambition. This posture resists cynicism on one hand, believing that there is always reason to hope, and resists grandiosity on the other, believing that we are always at the mercy of God, uncertainty, and complexity.” P. 131-132

Filled with reminders that positivity makes an enormous difference in not only our personal lives but our work environments as well!

Classic CS Lewis - he is such a good storyteller!

“To be a moral actor in dark times, then, one doesn’t need superior intellect or superhuman strength; one simply needs to protect their capacity to think. This means resisting the seductive logic of ideology, being skeptical of a movement’s meaning-making stories, and above all rejecting the idea that the consensus of others should compel us to suspend our capacity to judge.” P. 123

3 Ego States:
- Parent Ego State (directing, correcting- aim to spend no more than 30% here each day)
- Adult Ego State (you at work or with your friends)
- Child Ego State (where your kids enjoy you most)

Aim for Mind-Body-Soul time, 2xs per day, 10 mins minimum per day
- turn daily tasks into connection time
- be consistent

It’s not enough to say that ordinary men and women can do terrible things…these terrible things are actually transformed in the moral universe of the Nazis into a positive good. The wholesale murder of an entire race was an act of liberation, and as such, murder became part of the state’s everyday operations. Eichmann [had been] recruited… because of his rootlessness, mediocrity, and lack of purpose. P. 115

“Job’s friends… took a single idea (justice) and distorted the rest of their moral universe to conform to it. Their version of God was a tyrant… like every ideology, this provides an explanation and a pattern with which one can make sense of the chaos and unpredictability of life. Embracing it allowed them to create a psychological distance between themselves and Job’s suffering.” p. 81