Something About The Joy

We sat by the fire in the lodge, the place where members of the university community often gathered to socialize, and talked of spiritual things.   My heart was full of God's love for this man, my friend and a colleague of my husband's at the research station where we lived and worked.   He was speaking (it was his turn).   I was letting him talk, making eye contact, nodding occasionally to encourage him, waiting for my chance to reply.   He was a follower of Zen, and eager to share what he believed with me.   At the moment, he was saying something about the Oneness of the Universe.    I was just as eager to share about Jesus, but I waited, praying, thinking about what I could say next.   Something that might reach into his spirit and open his eyes to the Truth of the Gospel. Then a third party joined the conversation.   The Still, Small Voice said to me, "Are you listening to him?" "Well, yes, Lord. ...

I follow a blog called Conversion Diary , the musings of an atheist-turned-Catholic-mother-of-six-with-a-great-sense-of-humor. Every Friday she does a post of seven "Quick Picks," somewhat random thoughts she's collected through the week. I'm going to experimentally borrow her idea here today.  The aim is to give you at least one link, or quick idea, that adds to the richness of your life in some way or another. Let me know if you like this kind of thing or not, okay? Here are 7 links to thoughts that have stretched me, comforted me, or made me laugh this week. This post provides my comments and/or an excerpt from the links.  For full benefit, click on the highlighted hyperlink and go directly to the article. 1)   Some  Clear Thinking On an Emotionally Charged Issue:   From the Blog, Living on Tilt , posted by Katherine Harms in Religion and Politics : "To Dissent Is Not the Same as to Hate."   Christ taught us to love our enemies and...