WORK

My walk on a rainy day. I love umbrella's but wear water proof pants and jack et instead. I asked if I could take her picture but I do not think she heard me.

I am finding trying to keep this garden in reasonable shape is taking a lot of hard work. I love seeing the flowers blooming and I know that as people walk by they admire and appreciate the beauty. So the good is that the hard work does produce good results. I am quite in favor of a few rainy days to do the watering for me even though I know the weeds will also grow among the roses.

Faith also takes work as I cultivate a new heart and a softer attitude. If I want this world to be a place of peace I have to have a peaceful attitude towards life.
Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God that was peace that would bear good fruit like patience and kindness, compassion and grace; not striving for power and giving in to evil desires.

The truth is that Jesus has affected the beliefs of many religions
"Hindus understood him as avatar
Buddhists as a bodhisattva
Both Muslims and Jews as a prophet of God
Even agnostics find something fascinating and admirable in him."
"The Future of Faith" by Harvey Cox.

Jesus had to face the opposition of corrupt authorities even in his own religion. He spoke words of living hope to those whose lives were crushed by hopelessness. He calls us to believe in the unbelievable. Hearts that ache and long for what cannot be will find strength and courage to cope with daily work of planting seeds of peace among those we live and work with.

The life of Jesus takes us from his birth in a simple place to unmarried peasants who felt their lives threatened; through his years of teaching and preaching what he called good news, to the end of his life where he boldly confronted evil where ever it was destroying the lives of people even finding it in the religious priests and the temple with it's demands and sacrifices. All that he experienced made him who he was. As all that we experience influence who we become.

I am reading more and more about the need for churches to change yet there is so much resistance.

"The Spirit blows where it will" Jesus denied that the spirit is to be contained only in believers. This is the spirit that lives on after the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the spirit that unites instead of dividing. This is the spirit of peace that is blowing upon us all.

As I start out in the morning to walk or to work in the garden I welcome the fresh air into my lungs with renewed energy.