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MONDAY THOUGHT 2/28/11

ROOTS

I have never been a person with physical roots.  I left Massapequa, New York, where I grew up, when I was still 17.  Though I have traveled fairly extensively and set up camp in a number of communities, wondering if this would be the one I would call home, none seemed to ever be, even after years of residing in one area.    

However, I do have deep and strong roots of other kinds.  I have friendships and loved ones across the country and even across the ocean … family and friends with whom I have a powerful, loving bond.  I also have a wondrous church home where I presently live in Northeast Wisconsin.  It is home and they are family.  Finally and best of all, I have those silent, hidden roots of faith that are nourished by grace, and these are the best roots of all.  

My point:  As people of faith, though perhaps flawed and imperfect, we get our inner strength and spiritual nourishment not from wealth and food, but from the very real but unseen connectedness (our roots) to God and his blessings.  Cherish and nurture those roots. – jri 

About those tree roots:  They are unseen and silent.  Similarly, when it comes to our faith, our roots are what keep us alive and growing and bearing fruit.  All we have to do is live in faith and good conscience and let God nourish us.  Have a blessed, joyful day.   

DAILY THOUGHT 2/24/11

TRUST ME?  TRUST ME?

When I was in high school, “Trust Me?” was the name of  silly game of youthful sexual exploration.  In college, the more sophisticated version involved falling backwards and letting a group of people catch you before you hit the ground (though the high school version was still in play, as well).  Dopey games aside, trust is a major issue for all but the most naïve, and few us leave ourselves open and unguarded to all but a few folks, if anyone at all.

For me, it was the same way with God.  In a life filled with challenges and fierce self-reliance, I’d be damned if I’d put my trust in some vague being (and, yes, I do understand the “damned” symbolism).  It took a lot of time and coaxing for me to accept and believe that God’s version of Trust Me? was in fact not just a game.  Actually, it was the toughest thing I ever did … finally believing enough to let go and not suspect that it was only a matter of time before He pulled off my wings and stuck pins in me.  He hasn’t, and I trust that He will not.

My point:  Give it a shot.  Peel back (as slowly as you are comfortable) those layers of guardedness and doubt and see what happens.  It can be pretty awesome. – jri

“If anyone would tell you the shortest, surest way to all happiness they would tell you to make it a rule to thank and praise God for everything that happens to you.  For it is certain that whatever seeming calamity befalls you, if you can thank and praise God for it you will turn it into a blessing.”  — William Law (1686-1761)

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 2/23/11

WHY PRAY? 

I have friends who have voiced the thought that if God knows all and loves us, why do we need to pray?  Is it some game, where He likes to see us beg, or is He just lonely or an egoist and needs the adoration? 

Beats me.  However, I know why I pray:  Part of it is just that I like talking to God, sharing my joys, my complaints and, yes, once in a while my anger.  I pray for faith, forgiveness, strength and guidance.  I also pray for others.  Does it make a difference?  Yes.  Emphatically, yes.  Though I’m still waiting for that pony I asked for years ago, I do know that God hears and answers EVERY prayer … but He answers them in His own way.  Too often, though, we do not pay attention to the answer.  Maybe it’s that we’re too busy bitching and complaining and asking for the next thing on our list. 

My point:  Prayer does make a difference … for others and for ourselves.  At the very least (and this is some wondrous “least”), prayer opens up doors of insight and true knowledge that can transform our hearts, our attitudes, our lives.  – jri 

 Also, when my heart is uncluttered with conflict, I just enjoy talking things over with God, sharing with Him my hopes, thoughts and gratitude.  However, when I’m disappointed in myself, I find it hard to talk to God, mostly because I don’t want Him to be disappointed in me.  Still, as a father accepts his children as they are, even though at times not thrilled with their deeds, God loves us unconditionally. Now, that’s a nice thought to carry around all day, eh?  God bless and have a joyful day, knowing you are loved deeply, totally and always. 

MONDAY THOUGHT 2/21/11

ONE BODACIOUS SINNER

I am reading a terrific biography of John Newton, who is best known for having written one of the most popular hymns ever penned, “Amazing Grace.”  In John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace, author Jonathan Aitken writes of a man who went from devout Christian to ferocious atheist to indifferent wastrel almost cyclically during his early years.  It seems that whatever he did, he did with fervor and passion.  From the book:  “As an antidote to his bouts of melancholy, Newton oscillated between feeding his appetite for sensual sin and satisfying his hunger for religious reading.”

Newton was the son of a prosperous, respected sea captain who was emotionally cold, but who also intervened to help his wayward son whenever he could.  John, however, had a penchant for ignoring and ridiculing authority and a gift for making enemies wherever he went.  (Having taken the opportunity to work for a slave trader in Africa, Newton so infuriated the man that Newton ended up in chains for over a year, “celebrating” his 21^st birthday laboring side by side with his African captives, who actually took care of him.) 

My point:  Partially that I am finding the book and the man fascinating; partially that I understand and appreciate people of unbridled passions.  Maybe the biggest sinners make the best saints, giving hope for all of us!  — jri 

THURSDAY THOUGHT 2/17/11

BABY STEPS IN FAITH

John Newton was an amazing guy, but not just because he wrote my favorite hymn, Amazing Grace.  He was living proof that even the worst of the worst can change.  As a young man, he was a dedicated hell raiser who rose to captain of a ship in the horrible slave trade of the Eighteenth Century.  Eventually, he was  transformed and reformed and became one of England’s most renowned preachers and man of God, instrumental in getting England to ban slave trafficking.   

However, and here’s the best part, he didn’t change overnight.  His transformation was gradual.  After he became a Christian, he continued in the slave trade for several more years, though in a more humane way.  (I know, this is hard to understand, but his voyages were known for having almost no deaths among crew or “cargo,” something unheard of in that time.)  He even wrote one of his more popular hymns while at anchor waiting for his shipment of slaves to arrive.

My point:  Sure, we may see a burning bush on the day we realize our faith.  However, we must nurture that faith and help it grow over time.  We must keep praying, keep seeking a closer relationship with God, and keep learning.  Have a joy-filled, blessed day. – jri

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 2/16/11

A COMMUNITY OF FAITH, FAMILY AND FRIENDS 

Over the years, I’ve grown to cherish a degree of solitude in my life.  From a regular routine, to uninterrupted time for reading and prayer, to walks along the Ahnapee Trail with Rocky the Boxer, these are comfortable, reflective times.  But I also love monthly poker night with friends; dinner out with the Gang of Eight; tackling the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle with Julie on a snowy day; getting covered in sticky-fingered greetings and bombarded by tons of “Hey, Grandpa” interruptions at family gatherings.

I also love spending time in my faith home, The Episcopal Church of Christ the King and Holy Nativity in Door County, Wisconsin.  It is a place where I am accepted and where we come together at least weekly for a spiritual breaking of bread and coffee hour … communion and community.  In my life, and I believe in all our lives, it takes both the contemplative times and the sharing times (some call it “corporate” worship).  Community, it seems to me, defines who we are, helps us grow, and creates powerful relationships.  In terms of faith, I have found that reading, studying and praying in solitude are fine.  But our faith is also very much about people.  It takes both solitude and community. 

My point:  Not explaining it all that well, but I have come to believe that even the beautiful Cathedral of the Woods – complete with birds a chirping and deer a grazing — pales in comparison to a chorus of like-minded men and women of faith raising their voices, their eyes, and their hearts in celebration and supplication to the God of goodness and love.  So, if you have a faith community, cherish it.  If you don’t have one, go out and find one.  – jri 

MONDAY THOUGHT 2/14/11

BAD TO THE BONE?  YEAH, RIGHT! 

I know people who like to think they’re  so bad that they’re far beyond forgiveness … screwed over their friends and loved ones, lived life with foolish and reckless abandon, drunk themselves into the gutter, desperadoes without hope.  What a lot of baloney!    

The God of Christianity is a God of love.  He’s all about forgiveness … not about forgiveness for pulling your sister’s pigtails or stealing your brother’s saved-in-the-back-of-the-frig dessert.  It’s about forgiveness for the real big stuff, too. 

My point:  If you’re holding back from an honest commitment to ask the Lord to join you on your faith journey because you’re beyond forgiveness, find a better excuse than that.  Christ is about forgiveness.  No exceptions. – jri 

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 2/9/11

BREAKING SAD HABITS

I awoke in the middle of the night recently and felt strangely unsettled, filled with worry and a touch of fear.  An old habit, I suspect, based on some tough and traumatic memories of other times. 

So, I counted my blessings, called them by name, and I was amazed at the list:  faith; forgiveness; health; business opportunities; loving children and grandchildren, all healthy and whole; the love of a wonderful and decent woman; special friendships and the love of devoted family members; a warm and comfortable home and more than enough to eat; the blessing of financial stability after years of struggle; the knowledge that I live in this wonderful country; hope for the future; and many, many more.  In short, I have nothing to gripe or worry about.  Still, I awoke waiting for the second shoe to drop, even though my life is filled to overflowing with wondrous blessings.

My point:  My greatest challenge these days is not overcoming adversity, but of breaking sad habits of worry and fear and learning to cherish, trust, accept and believe in the grace of God that comes down on me like warm, refreshing spring rain.  In a world of challenges, we all have blessings.  We should focus on and count them, thanking God for each and every day … without exception.  – jri

“This is the day the Lord has made.

     We will rejoice and be glad in it.”

                                 –  Psalm 118: 24

TUESDAY THOUGHT 2/8/11

FRIDAY THOUGHT 2/4/11

COLUMN “B” VERSUS COLUMN “A” 

I was once hard-driven, hard-headed, hard-living and, by some accounts, hard-hearted.  I was contentious, demanding of myself and others, less than a joy to be around.  I made a lot of money and was very, very full of myself.  I could make puppies pee with a quick glance.  So, when the Good Lord decided that enough was enough, took away everything I valued and slammed me down from the top of my own manmade mountain into the dark pit of despair, I was alone.  

Today, I can barely recognize that old self.  Though far, far from perfect, and still fond of pushing my limits, I have chosen a better, softer way (or perhaps the Way chose me).  I can now make grandchildren giggle with a silly grin.  All I know is that, when I went through another serious challenge recently, I was far from alone, but surrounded by a wealth of loving, caring family, friends and even strangers I’d never met.  Knowing the Lord was with me helped a lot, too. 

My point:  One is that if I can change, anyone can. Two is that, as you read St. Paul’s verse below, I’m pleased to say that I have chosen the second half (aka Column B), seeking the fruit of the Spirit, and I cherish the “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,” and more that has flowed into, through, and from my life.  No, I’m not a saint, not even close, but my greater wealth today is the grace (aka, undeserved blessings) I’ve been given by the Lord.  Pretty cool.  – jri

THURSDAY THOUGHT 2/3/11

ALIGNED WITH GOD

I know I spend a lot of time “kicking against the goads,” as Christ told Saul/Paul (in other words, fighting against an irresistible force), torn between personal passions and spiritual desires, between basking in the Lord’s love and wanting to go out and kick some butt.  (My favorite example of this was seen in the mass exodus from the parking lot at the large church where I grew up:  people praying and receiving Communion one minute and cursing each other amid the traffic bottleneck the next.) 

Then there are those times of sweet surrender, when I understand that I did not just show up on this planet by mistake, but that I was sent for a specific purpose, and that purpose makes total sense.  These times feel sweet and gentle, wondrous and peace-filled, free of inner conflict … in fact, freer than I could ever have imagined.  Most of all, they feel right, filled with a knowledge that comes not from any textbook or philosophy.     

My point:  Again muddled, but I think that’s because I’m in some new territory here (at least new to me, and pondering all that it means and offers), sensing that my life and God’s plan for me are in alignment, at least for the moment.  It’s a surrender into freedom, a journey into some exciting territory.  Keep me in your prayers.  – jri

I feel very exposed writing these things.  I’m not a Pentecostal kind of guy.  But no risk, no glory … or something like that.  The biggest thing I’ve noticed is that most of us spend most of our lives in conflict with others, with life, and, most of all, with ourselves.  We worry, we fret, we angst about what will happen tomorrow or what our purpose is for the future.  I am no different.  As  result, I cherish those times of meditative peace and clear understanding.  God bless.    

John Ingrisano

209 Church Street

Algoma, WI 54201

(920) 559-3722

www.dailyconnections.net

February 3, 2011

WEDNESDAY THOUGHT 2/2/11

AN ALMOST PAINFUL JOY 

Much of the time I pretty much slog along in my dull-headed faith, complete with bouts of doubts.  (Or, as a friend pointed out, all believers are agnostics part of the time.)  I read, pray, pretty much take my faith on faith. 

But now and then, Wow!  I am blessed and besieged with a feeling of closeness to God that is almost frightening – filled with a ferocious sense of peace, a deafening inner calm and silence, a joy that is almost terrifying and painful in its crystal clarity.

My point:  A bit muddled, I fear.  (So much for clarity.)  I think this is the Awe Factor, why God’s chosen were never allowed to actually see His face, lest they would die.  However, it’s not about the feeling of awe, but the knowledge of faith, knowledge beyond proof that this is an incredible God.  – jri 

As I read over what I’ve just written, it makes me feel a tad uncomfortable.  I in no way mean to imply that I am one of God’s chosen, at least more so than anyone else.  I am clay-footed and stiff-necked, and I am counting on getting into heaven more on the mercy clause than the justice clause.  I share the above because at times I have been blessed in my quest for the fruit of faith and knowledge.  God bless you and may this day be filled with deep peace and simple joy. 

John Ingrisano

Daily Connections

209 Church Street

Algoma, WI 54201

(920) 559-3722

February 2, 2011