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THE whole chebang IN A NUTSHELL

"‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

JESUS the CHRIST

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news."

Nuggets in a Nutshell

Sunrise - The Fields are Lit 

Look there: pastures. Nothing lacking. Over there! Look. Flowing waters. Ah, never mind enemies - the sun has risen; they cannot hide. Be refreshed. See the path? Lit. Even through valleys shadowed there is nothing-nothing-nothing to fear. You do know why, don't you? Oooh! Goose-bumps. There! A table prepared - luscious - full of flavors - oh, the aroma. Luxurious. Nutritious. All yours. Ours. Never mind enemies! Enjoy. And here! Here where flowers condition their colors to the eye of the bee, your head is being oiled. Rejoice.

Can you see your cup? It is full - so full - it's overflowing - none of it wasted. Isn't that awesome? There! Goodness! Do you see this goodness? Precious. Can you feel Goodness? Wholesome. And there - Love. Do you experience love? Exuberant. Goodness and love go all the way - everywhere - wherever you may go, for all these fields are yours. Ours. Never mind your enemies. The sun shines on all - for the sun has risen. The air is fresh. Can you feel it? Inhale. Exhale. Rejoice.

Surround yourself with visionaries. Eschew gossip. Eschew back-biting. Eschew heckling. Surround yourself with visionaries. Rejoice. Do you not find it to be like this: a life overjoyed exudes thanks. It exudes it; it is not mandated. Thanks demanded, given, is no thanks at all. Thanks is always authentic. Give thanks if you will, it needs neither place nor time nor spot; it is a joy. Rejoice; we're going places. For reasons!!!

Here we go. There. Nuts!

Let's CRACK nuts on the way; they've got nuggets.

did you Crack a Nut?

Here's a nugget: sparkling. Look who made us whole. Look who creates in us a pure heart. Look who renews a steadfast spirit in us. Notice who! Ha-hahhh-oooh-la-la. Rejoice. Isn't who awesome? Goose-bumps. Let's look again: see who does such marvelous things. Ha-ha-hahhh. Not us. Wow. Sparkling. Let's keep this nugget. It will come in handy along our journey as we thrive joyfully in style with passion and compassion. We're in brilliant company.

As it is written in scripture:
Of those whom YOU gave me, I have not lost one.

Nicolette Sowder

"Give me the wild children with their bare feet and sparkling eyes. The restless, churning climbers. The wild ones using their outside voices, singing all the way home. Give me the wonder-filled, glorious mess makers dreaming of mountains and mud, aching to run through a field of stars."

Isaiah, the Prophet

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners."

Bishop Gene Robinson

"It's funny isn't it? That you can preach a judgmental and vengeful and angry God and nobody will mind. But you start preaching a God that is too accepting, too loving, too forgiving, too merciful, too kind . . . and you are in trouble."

Desmond Tutu

"You may be surprised at the people we find in heaven. God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.."

- Sunflowers -

Time flew through a wind. Planets shifted. Eyes opened. Cleansed, we see. There is a stark difference you know - self-hood, self-ish, self-less - these are not the same. Unrelated. If they blurred in the dark, if they got mixed in the wind - shuffled - petals lost; new blooms are blossoming as this sun lifts. A refreshed palette. See?

Cleansed.

Lacking a wholesome relationship with one's self, there is no wholesome relationship with anyone else or anything else; all relationships are thereby impoverished: human or divine. Blurred. Cleansing and wholeness reveal in this sunshine the actual nature of this cleansing and wholeness, who cleans who, who makes whole, how, why, and what happens then. Oooh! Sweet wonder. Fresh aroma. Ah!

Such love. You shine. Yep. That's what cleansing and wholeness are all about where we are: Loved. That's it. Pure. And simple. Isn't that awesome?

Dear God, grant me victory today over all that assails. Help me square up to even the greatest challenges and claim authority over them, unafraid. Amen.

_ Joshua Dubois

"It was not enough to come and listen to a great sermon or message every Sunday morning and be confined to those four walls and those four corners. You had to get out and do something."

- John Lewis