The Poetry of Scott Cairns

I am currently working my way through Compass of Affection, a book of poetry by Scott Cairns. a professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at the University of Missouri, he is the author of a number of books of poetry and nonfiction. Annie Dillard says that she thinks that Cairns is "one of the best poets alive."

His poetry is powerful, I think, and his Christian faith is a backdrop against which his poetry shines. To give you a taste of his work, I will share a section from his rather lengthy poem, "Disciplinary Treatises." The following verses come from the section entitled, "4. The Communion of the Body."

Scattered, petulant, argumentative,
the diverse members generally find
little, nothing of their own, to offer

one another. Like us all, the saved
need saving mostly from themselves, and so
they make progress, if at all, by dying

to what they can, acquiescing to this
new pressure, new wind, new breath that would fill
them with something better than their own

good intentions. Or schemes of community.
Or their few articulate innovations
in dogma. What the Ghost expects of them

is a purer than customary will
to speak together, a mere willingness
to hear expressed in the fragmentary

figures of one another's speech the mute
and palpable identity they share,
scoured clear of impediment and glare,

the uncanny evidence that here
in the stillest air between them the One
we call the Ghost insinuates his care... (69,70)

Compass of Affection: Poems New and Selected was published in 2006 by Paraclete Press.

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Thought for the Day

Beauty without virtue is a flower without perfume.
--French Proverb

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One More Picture of Woodlands

Mary Ellen has been trying to increase my technical ability in terms of blogging. On Wednesday she showed me how to insert pictures, so I am practicing posting pictures so that I can become proficient. To this end, I will be posting a picture of the day for a while so that I can embed the process into long-term memory. The picture on the right is of the outside of the Woodland's church building.

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Thought for the Day

Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.
--Benjamin Franklin

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More Pictures from Woodlands

Jan and Ruthann sent several pictures taken from their visit at Woodlands last Sunday. I thought that I would post a couple of more pictures to give you a better flavor of our sister church in South Africa.

The picture on the left is the beginning of worship with the worship choir which consists of the youth and their leaders. The picture on the top is several women involved in the life of the Woodlands church. Glenys, the woman in the center is in charge of Sunday School

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Thought for the Day

The best way out is always through.
--Robert Frost

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News from Woodlands United Congregational Church

Jan and Ruthann worshipped with our sister church in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa last Sunday and read letters that Susan Holbrook and I had written to the church. The picture is of their pastor, Reverend Edward Pieterson, who is praying during the service in this photo.

On Monday Rev. Pieterson called me and let me know that they appreciated Jan's and Ruthann's visit and the letters that they read. He informed me that the church is doing well, and that they have instituted their own praise service. He said that they would appreciate prayers concerning what to build on the plot of land next to the church building. Apparently the city has told them that they have to do something with the land within the next year, so they would appreciate our prayers concerning God's leading. He is pleased with the Junior High Youth Fellowship which has grown considerably over the last year.

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Thought for the Day

You've got to do your own growing, no matter how tall your grandfather was.
--Irish Proverb

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Thought for the Day

The bird of paradise alights only upon the hand that does not grasp.
--John Berry

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Reunion Reflections

I returned home from my reunion last night. I have to say that I am very impressed with Midwest Airlines. I had a direct flight, the seats were comfortable and afforded enough space to feel comfortable. On the flight last evening they served warm chocolate chip cookies which were good.

The reunion was not well attended, unfortunately, but enough people whom I knew were there that I was satisfied with my having gone. My physics teacher (and his wife) who was also an assistant football coach and track coach showed up, and that was frosting on the cake. I thoroughly enjoyed reconnecting with him after all of these years.

The only thing that I couldn't understand was how so many of my classmates aged and I haven't aged a bit. Oh well....

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Thought for the Day

It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching. While you are proclaiming peace with your lips, be careful to have it even more fully in your heart. Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.
--St. Francis of Assisi

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Prayer for the Day

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.
--Book of Common Prayer

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SHF Mission Trip

Tomorrow the Senior High Fellowship mission trip to Queens, NY begins. Twenty-three youth and five adult leaders, including college student Brent Aigler will head out around noon after being commissioned during the morning worship service. Brent is a junior and the first time we have an alumnus of SHF help out as one of the adult leaders.

I would ask that you keep them in your prayers as they work with elderly and poor in Queens through the ministry of Youth Works. Wendy will send me updates about what is happening if she can have access to a computer at the church at which they will be staying. I will post them on this blog if she is successful, so that you can stay informed about what is happening and that you can pray more specifically for them.

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Thought for the Day

Christian spirituality...is God's passionate embrace of us; our passionate embrace of God. These two aspects of Christian spirituality are like the two sides of a coin--inextricably linked together, unable to exist apart.
--Robert E. Webber

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Memory Lane

After arising at 0 dark 30 hours (that's Air Force lingo for saying "way too early"), I had an early flight out of Logan on Midwest Airlines. It is the first time that I have flown on Midwest and I must say that I really enjoyed it. The seats are leather and they give you a lot of room so that you don't feel as though you are jammed in and need to use a shoehorn to get out of your seat. It was a direct flight to Milwaukee, as well, so there was no transferring to another flight.

I am staying with a classmate with whom I have stayed in touch all of these years, and attending reunions is the only way that we actually get to see one another. Bill and his wife, Kathy, are great hosts, and we have already taken a spin around Brookfield.

You have to have moved around the country a lot to appreciate it, but it is fun to go by the old schools and the old homes. When we moved to Brookfield in 1965, we moved into a brand new house, and my family did most of the landscaping. All I remember are the spindlely trees that we planted and to return 42 years later and see these huge trees in the front lawn is amazing.

The high school looks about the same, although several additions were added and the football field is a lot better than when I played on it. I am looking forward to the reunion which occurs this evening and am concerned that I won't recognize anyone nor will I be able to remember names. Unlike my wife who seems to remember a great deal from her past, I remember very little about high school.

One of my former football coaches will attend the reunion and the former track coach will also be there.

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Thought for the Day

The glorious being of God is not just a truth we had better believe. It is an inexhaustible wonder and a delight.
--Dallas Willard

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Milwaukee Bound

Tomorrow I am flying to Milwaukee for my (gulp) 40th High School reunion. I graduated from a school in the Milwaukee suburbs, Brookfield East High School, in 1967 and rarely have the chance to go back. We have no relatives in the Milwaukee area, so the only times that I go back are for reunions. I attended the 20th, 30th, and now the 40th.

Perhaps it is because I moved a lot growing up, but I enjoy reunions and try to attend them. I went to my 35th reunion at the Air Force Academy last October. I like reconnecting with old friends and seeing how people have aged and what they are doing in life. It's funny how some people I don't recognize because they have changed so much, and others look almost exactly as they did except for some gray hair and wrinkles.

I'm not sure how much I will be able to blog while I'm gone, but I hope to blog each day and perhaps post a picture or two. We'll see...

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Thought for the Day

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
--Eleanor Roosevelt

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Advances in Biology: RNA

So much has changed in biology since I took biology in college it is like comparing the Model T Ford with a 2007 model. While left behind in the advances in biology, I am, nevertheless, interested in the research that is going on and attempting to understand as well as I can with what little I know. I took a course on CD a year or so ago on biology through The Teaching Company in an attempt to understand DNA and intracellular processes better. I didn't retain a lot of specific knowledge, but it was very helpful in gaining perspective that I hadn't had before listening to the CD.

In any case, the latest issue of The Economist has as its feature article new advances in understanding RNA, an important nucleic acid that previously had been thought to mainly a message carrier from DNA and a transport to collect the building materials to make proteins. But according to the article, "Really New Advances," molecular biology is going through a major shake-up with regard to its understanding of the function of RNA.

Far from the limited functions biologists supposed it to have, they are discovering that they are everywhere in the cell and that they have a multitude of functions, many that have not even been discovered according to researchers. In fact new discoveries of new RNAs and their functions are occurring so rapidly that "a group called the RNA Ontology Consortium has been promised half a million dollars to prune and tend the growing thicket" of new RNA discoveries (87).

The implications are profound. According to the article,

In the light of this abundance, perceptions about what a gene is need to change. Genes were once thought of almost exclusively as repositories of information about how to build proteins. Now, they need to be seen for what they really are: RNA factories. Genes for proteins may even be in the minority (87).

I find the greater the intracellular complexity the more fascinating the cell and life become, and it only increases my awe of God and God's handiwork.

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Thought for the Day

In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
--Albert Camus

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Thought for the Day

What is to give light must endure burning.
--Victor Frankl

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The Monday Morning Quarterback

I preached on discipleship in yesterday's service. I am currently reading The Great Omission by Dallas Willard as I have mentioned in previous blogs, and it dovetails in many ways with several other books by Eugene Peterson and Darryl Tippens that I have read recently as well as with another book that I just started, The Divine Embrace, by Robert E. Webber.

I am continuing to try to understand what discipleship means and incorporate it more fully in my own life. On the one hand it is so simple, on the other hand it is so elusive and hard. At its root, discipleship is about desiring and intending to be and live like Jesus. It is about having his life formed in us, no matter what our vocation is. As Willard notes in his book, "the disciple of Christ desires above all else to be like him" (7). This is a very simple sentence, but, oh, to truly put it into practice is the difficulty. The nondisciple, according to Willard, "has something 'more important' to do or undertake than to become like Jesus Christ" (7).

One of the things that I want to do periodically is to ask myself, "Do you have something more important to do than to become like Jesus?" It is a great question to ask if we are willing to answer truthfully.

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Thought for the Day

Life is a long lesson in humility.
--J. M. Barrie

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Prayer for the Day

Most merciful Father, you have called us to be a caring Church, reflecting in our lives your infinite care for us your children. Help us to fulfil our calling and to care for one another in an unselfish fellowship of love; and to care for the world around us in sharing with it the good news of your love and serving those who suffer from poverty, hunger and disease. We ask it in the name of Christ our Lord.
--Michael Ramsey

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Dad's Day

Research over the last decade has shown how important fathers are for their children's development and health (which should be a no-brainer). I find it interesting in a society that argues that all families are equal, the sociological data shows that in intact heterosexual marriages where fathers are involved with their offspring, children do far better than in any other configurations.

In today's Boston Globe, there is an interesting article about the importance of fathers in their children's development in the Living/Arts section with the title, "Dawn of the Dad". Researcher Lynne Vernon-Feagans, a University of North Carolina professor whose speciality is language acquisition of children, found in a study of 90 couples "fathers' conversations with their 2-year-olds are a more important predictor of language learning that are the mothers'." The reason for this is not that mothers' speech is not important, but that fathers' speech "is so different from a mother's, it stretches a child's language development."

There are many more reasons for the importance of fathers' involvement of their children's lives and the article touches on only a couple. Happy Father's Day to you fathers!

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Thought for the Day

It takes two to speak the truth--one to speak, and another to hear.
--Henry David Thoreau

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Designer Kids

David Brooks had an interesting editorial in the New York Times Op-Ed pages. With the title, "The National Pastime," the article focuses on genetic engineering and what may not be far off.

He reports that in a recent Harris poll, 40 percent of parents responded that they would enhance their children's physical and mental characteristics if they had access to genetic engineering. Currently there is a sperm bank located between Harvard and MIT and another one next to Stanford. He recently read an advertisement in the Harvard Crimson of someone offering $50,000 for the purchase of an egg from a Harvard woman. In a University of Chicago campus paper he read advertisement in which the person was offering $35,000 for a woman's egg from the university with the further requirements that "You must be very health7, very intelligent and very attractive, and most of all, very happy. Liberal political views and athletic ability are pluses."

As the study by the President's Council on Bioethics noted in their report, Beyond Therapy: Biotechnology and the Pursuit of Happiness, this kind of involvement in the reproductive process fundamentally changes the nature of parent and child. The child increasingly becomes "a product" rather than the "gift" that they are.

As Brooks notes in his article, if you lived in a world where this kind of genetic engineering were available and legal, if 40 percent of people were engaged in this practice, it would put incredible pressure on others to engage in it as well, for who wants their child left behind? I find this possibility (probability?) pretty scary. How about you?

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Thought for the Day

"Hope" is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul--
And sings the tune without
And never stops--at all.
--Emily Dickinson

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Flash Forward

This Sunday's sermon will focus on discipleship. The scripture texts are Psalm 119:9-16, Acts 11:19-26, and John 15:7-11 and the title is "The Freedom of Obedience."

I have found Dallas Willard's new book, The Great Omission, thought provoking and it has given me some new perspectives on discipleship that I want to share with the congregation. I also want to remind people of the six marks of discipleship: daily prayer, weekly worship, daily bible reading, works of service, spiritual friendships, and giving generously.

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god Is Not Great

In the recent series of books by fundamentalist atheists, Christopher Hitchen's book by the name of this blog is the latest. Like Dawkin's book, The God Delusion, the author's grasp of the theological/religious issues is sophomoric at best. Mark D. Roberts, a pastor, author and a New Testament scholar, has been blogging on the book for over a week, and has what I consider to be a very interesting analysis. I would encourage you to check out his blog.

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Thought for the Day

You cannot drive straight on a twisting lane.
--Russian Proverb

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Alzheimer's and You

I just received the latest Newsweek in the mail, the June 18, 2007 issue, and the feature article is "Caregiving & Alzheimer's." I have only had a chance to skim it briefly, but it looks like an excellent series of articles on Alzheimer's disease that any of you who have parents afflicted with it might well want to read.

The authors of the article note that at present Alzheimer's afflicts over 5 million Americans with approximately 70 percent living at home, and that experts estimate that by the year 2050 over 16 million Americans will have this disease: in a little over 40 years the number triples! Wow. As the authors note not only does the baby boomer generation get to care for their parents who suffer with Alzheimer's, they also have to face the possibility that they, too, will be afflicted with it.

Any of you that have taken care of deceased parents who had it, or are now responsible for parents who have it know what a burden, physically, emotionally and financially it can be. This issue also includes an article on caregiving: "a Guide for Caregivers" that you might find helpful. There are support groups for caregivers of Alzheimer's disease and these groups can help make the difference in keeping your sanity.

If anyone who has experience with a loved one with Alzheimer's and wants to weigh in on this, please feel free.

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Thought for the Day

There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them.
--Phyllis Bottome

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Alternative Therapies

In Yesterday's Boston Globe I read an interesting article in the "Health/Science" section with the title of this blog. The author discussed some of the progress that is being made in determining which alternative therapies actually work and which don't, especially concerning their efficacy in treating cancer.

Clearly, there is a lot of research to be done, but they are making progress. I think this is an encouraging development given the fact that not so many years ago western medicine was contemptuous for the most part concerning alternative medicine. Among some of the tentative findings to date, it looks as though ginseng root, and flaxseed are "potentially effective" in certain cancers, vitamin D is "possibly effective," their is "mixed evidence" that soybeans and vitamin E are effective, and shark cartilage and vitamin C are considered "not effective." Acupuncture is "effective" and massage is "probably effective" in addressing pain issues.

I have been open to alternative medicines for many years so long as it seems as though their is some rationale and empirical basis for it. More than 20 years ago I was sitting in the pediatricians office waiting with one of my daughters to see the pediatrician and read an article in a small magazine that discussed the potential of zinc for either preventing or shortening the duration of colds. I had had enough colds and the article sounded credible enough that I went hunting for zinc to take at the onset of a cold. It wasn't easy to find, but eventually I found some at a health food store.

The results were encouraging to me. Whenever I began to feel a cold coming on, I would immediately start sucking on a lozenge (they tasted terrible). But it radically reduced the number of colds that I caught. I still take zinc at the first sign of a cold, and at this time while it generally doesn't prevent me from getting a cold (I think I have developed tolerance to zinc) it always prevents the very sore throat the first few days of the cold and I get over them in about half the time. It was gratifying to see that zinc went mainstream several years ago, and now you can get zinc in your local drugstore in a variety of delivery systems. The one thing about zinc, though, is it is hard to cover up the awful taste. I can only take the oral lozenges for about 3 days.

I have also found that vitamin E and betacarotene help boost my immune system and reduce the number of colds I catch. As the studies have shown, vitamin C does not work. It tried it a number of times and I concluded it didn't work. I guess I'm my own guinea pig.

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Thought for the Day

As he that fears God fears nothing else, so, he that sees God sees everything else.
--John Donne

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Endings

Don Aucoin (a member of UCC Medfield) has an interesting article in the Living/Arts section of the Boston Globe today. Entitled, "The End," this article addresses the last show for the Sopranos and the last Harry Potter book that will be released in July. He notes that we tend not to do endings very well, and this is not only true for us individually, but it is also true for the last TV show, or the last book.

One of self-observations and observations of others as a pastor and a psychologist is that we tend not to like endings--we don't like to say "good-bye," because as Don says, "The words 'The End' are so pregnant with portent..." When I was growing up, my father's company transferred him about every three years. I actually liked moving to new places around the country, but I didn't say good-bye to my friends very well. I liked to sneak out without saying it, in fact. I have encountered many others who act similarly.

When you think of it, saying "good-bye" is a kind of death. With rare exceptions, most of my friends in those places I have never seen again. One of the things that we often say is, "see you later," or something to that effect, even when we are well aware that the likelihood of that is remote at best.

Don highlights an important aspect of endings. He writes,

If narratives are constructed around a beginning, a middle, and an end, the special function of The End is to give shape and definition to what came before, to cast a backward light that illuminates the whole, while remaining true to the characters, to the spirit of the saga, and to us, the readers and viewers...to control the end is to control the story..."

He is referring explicitly to the TV show or the book, but I think it applies to the stories of our own lives, as well. from a theological point of view, if the gospel of Jesus is true, then, in a way, we know the end of the story. If Jesus is truly resurrected and the first fruit of what will happen to us, we know that we will be resurrected as well, that God's kingdom will be established completely one day. We already, then, know the end of the story, and can live our lives in the light of that ending. It frees us to live our lives in the here and now, in spite of the fog of not knowing many things, of the "mystery of iniquity" as Paul writes. Nevertheless, knowing the ending gives us the courage and trust to follow Jesus.

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Thought for the Day

Where there is room in the heart, there is room in the house.
--Danish Proverb

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Prayer for the Day

Arise, O sun of righteousness, upon us, with healing in thy wings; make us children of the light and of the day. Show us the way in which we should walk, for unto thee, O Lord, do we lift up our souls. Dispel all mists of ignorance which cloud our understandings. Let no false suggestion either withdraw our hearts from the love of thy truth, or from the practice of it in all the actions of our lives; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.
--Thomas Sherlock

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Unusual Sighting

Yesterday afternoon Rachael called Beth and me and said that there was a fawn who had just been born in the front of the house (We have woods in the front of our house). She said that it was a newborn, and could barely stand. I don't think that it was more than 30 feet from the front door. There was no mother in the vicinity.

When we arrived home a couple of hours later, there it was, lying in the bushes, only the top of its head and its two large ears visible. We didn't go near, for fear of scaring it. We were curious, though, about the mother leaving it alone. We went out for a short time last evening, and when we arrived home it was not completely dark, but as near as we could tell it was no longer there. We confirmed this in the morning.

What we think happened was that the mother gave birth so near to the house--perhaps one of us walked by--that it was frightened and fled. Then it risked coming back to collect her offspring under the cover of the darkness and take her further into the woods.

Does anyone have knowledge about this and if our hypothesis is accurate?

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Thought for the Day

Patience is the companion of wisdom.
--St. Autustine

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Thought for the Day

Great understanding is broad and unhurried; little understanding is cramped and busy.
--Chuang-Tzu

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Spirit and Spirituality

I'm currently reading Dallas Willard's recent book, The Great Omission. The title of the book is a take-off of "The Great Commission" based on Matthew 28:19-20, "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations..." The Great Omission is the churches not making disciples.

In Chapter six Willard addresses the issues of spirit, and spirituality. He defines spirit as "unbodily personal reality and power" (47). He writes, "Spirit can enter into and act with body (as is also the case with the human spirit), but it is not from body, even in the human case. It does not derive from the physical" (48).

Concerning spirituality, Willard writes that it "usually refers to a human dimension, not to the power of God...as that term has now come to be used, [it] simply refers to a way of conducting religious life. A spirituality may then be no more than an exercise of human abilities" (49). He then says that our spirituality which all humans have is like a vessel, and "the treasure is the life and power of Jesus Christ" (50).

Whatever our spirituality, the focus needs to be on Jesus and our desire and will to obey Jesus is crucial. Otherwise, we end up with a very impoverished faith life. He writes a strong critique of what he sees that passes for a lot of Christian spirituality:

But spirituality in many Christian circles has simply become another dimension of Christian consumerism. We
generated a body of people who consume Christian services and think that that is
Christian faith. Consumption of Christian services replaces obedience to Christ.
And spirituality is one more thing to consume (52).

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Thought for the Day

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
--John Wesley

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Thought for the Day

Wisdom and virtue are like the two wheels of a cart.
--Japanese Proverb

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Thought for the Day

We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.
--Martin Luther King Jr.

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The Monday Morning Quarterback

Sunday's sermon was "Pursuing Wisdom." I noted how the social sciences do not use the word "wisdom" because of the difficulty defining it. I defined wisdom as "knowledge in the service of love," and explained that the problem social scientists have with the definition is that it is not "value-free" like knowledge, intelligence, or information. As past American Psychological Association president, Robert Sternberg, noted in an article on wisdom in a New York Times article last month, intelligence and wisdom are not the same thing. Wisdom connotes reciprocity, concern for others, and living the golden rule.

I received an email from someone who heard the sermon yesterday and shared thoughts the sermon provoked about wisdom:

While I see the connection with Virtue, I think the real reason it's gone out of style is the dynamic shift in thinking that occurred in the mid '60s to early '70s in the Social Sciences. There was a quite noticeable shift to metric defined discussions and away from the intangible and unquantifiable. Excluding folks like Milton Friedman and others at the University of Chicago, there was an almost seismic shift to defining behaviors with measurements. This, perhaps, came out of the post WWII generations hard belief that science and technology would be the defining force in their lives. Ironic, considering the sacrifices they made based mostly on ideas of patriotism, love of country, and love of family. Considering this, it's not surprising that the concept of "wisdom" has fallen out of favor.

At a deeper level, I really think this explains why faith seems to get a hard knock. If you think about it, fundamentally, wisdom and faith are the same thing. Neither can be measured, conveniently defined, nor described by a complex metric. You either have them or you don't, and almost anyone can point out others who DO have these characteristics. To most in the Social Sciences this boarders on heresy. If you can't measure it or define it it's not worth study and is relegated to the realm of Philosophy and Religion.

I don't think wisdom and faith are the same thing (although related), but I think he is correct in pointing out that they can't be measured, conveniently defined, or described by a complex metric.

I would be interested to have others join the conversation about wisdom. What do you think?

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Thought for the Day

Do not give, as many rich men do, like a hen that lays her egg and then cackles.
--Henry Ward Beecher

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Prayer for the Day

Lord God, the God of all goodness and grace, you are worthy of a greater love than we can give or understand: fill our hearts with such love towards you which overcomes laziness and fear, that nothing may seem too hard for us to do or to suffer as we obey you; and grant that in loving you we may become daily more like you, and may finally obtain the crown of life which you have promised to those who love you, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
--Author Unknown

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Thought for the Day

Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.
--Thomas Jefferson

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Journeying with God

The last chapter of Pilgrim Heart is about the ongoing journey. Tippens wants to make sure that we understand the meaning of heart, because it is used so frequently in the bible, and faith has everything to do with the heart. He writes, "Indeed, for Jesus as for all the prophets, the heart of religion is religion of the heart" (199). What he points out is that our current understanding of heart as the source of emotion, and frequently heart is juxtaposed with head which we believe is the seat of thought and reason.

In the biblical world, heart involves both thinking and feeling. I want to share part of one paragraph that I found particularly helpful in understanding the biblical meaning of heart:

But heart, biblically understood, does not separate intellect from feeling. The term includes multiple faculties, including the capacities to plan, think, judge, and choose. It is the zone of "emotion-fused thought," which includes intelligence, mind, wisdom, intention, will, love, sadness, and joy. In this light, if we love the Lord with all our heart, we are doing more than feeling generous thoughts about our Maker. We are committing our will, purposes, inclinations, thoughts, and desires to him (200).

I like very much the term "emotion-fused thought" which he borrowed from Bruce Malina. I read an article recently in either the Globe or the New York Times about how researchers are discovering that emotions are intricately involved in thought.

The journey of the heart is ultimately about love. He writes, "What is required is not perfection but a willingness to love. Without love, there is no healing or life. Loving others is the supreme spiritual practice" (203).

I can't say enough good things about this book. I used it as a devotional book and read half a chapter each morning. It's one of the best that I have used. If you're looking for a book that will help you grow as a disciple, I highly recommend it.

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Thought for the Day

Some people handle the truth carelessly;
Others never touch it at all.
--Anonymous

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