Mind and Spirit Blogger

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most of the world. We mark appointments, plan our weeks, and count our days on this calendar. On the gregorian calendar, we also keep track of holidays and birthdays of family and friends. We use this calendar to measure the seasons of Spring, summer, fall, and winter as the earth circles the sun. In addition to the Gregorian calendar, there is another essential calendar, and just like our Gregorian calendar, this second has seasons also. I am talking about the Liturgical calendar of the Christian church.  The Christian calendar  to has seasons. Each season marks important events in the Christian year.   In addition, the seasons of the liturgical year are represented by a specific color. which are listed in a  Color guide  that can be found on the Webb. So it is how I found myself thinking about the significance of what it means to be ordinary on a Good Friday which is not an ordinary day on the Christian year...

Psalm 20: 12 Teach us to number our days,  so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. NIV   Amid life’s uncertainty, the limited time that I have been given to fulfill God’s purpose for my life has felt inconsistent, Confusing, and unpredictable. “Time” regularly proves itself to be deceitful. I hear people say, “Time is flying by too quickly.” People, on occasion, express the opposite and declare their frustration with time by saying, “Time is standing still.” I hear people express feelings about time in music. A Google search will reveal numerous songs In almost every genre with the word “time” in the lyrics or titles. One example is Jim Croce’s “Time in a bottle,” In this song, Croce is expressing feelings about “time.” When we read or listen to the lyrics, we see that Croce sings about his desire to have more time to spend with someone he loves. This sentiment can be seen in the following words,  “If I could save time in a bottle The first thing that ...

    March of 2009 my world was rocked.   I experienced a cryptogenic stroke which is a stroke caused by a blood clot from an unknown cause.  The clot was located in the right frontal occipital lobe of my brain. As a result, I suffer from Hemianopsia. What this means is that a portion of my visual field is missing in both my eyes.  Hemianopsia is classified by the part of your visual field that’s missing. These are the parts of my visual fields that are no longer there.   left homonymous: left half  superior: upper half  inferior: or lower half  In other words, I can only see in the right side visual field.  Another way to illustrate this is to ask you to imagine a dinner plate divided evenly in four quarters.  I can only see portions of the right side quarters of the plate. If we run into each other either at the church or on the street please know, it is very hard for me to recognize anyone.  I only...

I belong to an online Bible Study.  The reading this morning prompted me to write the following.  These are useful thoughts about sin, forgiveness, confession, and God's love for all of us To consider.      The study focused on Psalm 32:1-5. “ the psalmist wrote, “ day and night your hand of discipline is heavy on me.  my strength evaporated like water in the summer heat.   finally, I confessed my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt.  I said to myself I will confess my Rebellion to the Lord.’ and you forgave me.  All my guilt is gone!”    (message)     I want to say several things this morning in response to the reading. the first thing is that I will confess every morning I read the post and the comments.   I spend time contemplating the word.   I often have thoughts About the readings that I would like to contribute to the discussion.  It is ofte...

sometimes when I read My Bible in the morning I like to take what I read and transform it or think of it In a way that seems to fit in my everyday life.  This morning I was reading from Psalm 66 verses 8 through 12 “He trained us first, passed us like silver through refining fires, he brought us into Hardscrabble country, he pushed us to our very limit, Road tested as inside it out, he took us to hell and back and finally brought us to this well-watered place. I have never refined any metal so I'm not very sure what that experience is like. I can only imagine it. I was making my breakfast as I do every morning.  Scrambled eggs  and tea.  as I Aimlessly stirred the eggs my mind started to wander.  I begin to think about this morning's reading. What if God is the Cook and we are the eggs?   We, the eggs are all nice and cozy in a hard but delicate  shells. We, the eggs living a life Always separated from others in our Shell.  As I th...

In part one of my post on dealing with depression I wrote about some of the things that one can/ should  do when you feel that you may have depression. By depression I don't mean that occasional sadness that comes with some life events such as the loss of a pet , breaking up with a boy or girl friend. These events may indeed be extremely sad but most people will bounce back from these events with support from friends and family.Recovery takes place over the course of a few days, or weeks and then People resume their normal daily activities. What I am referring to is depression that interferes with one's daily life. You may have trouble getting to sleep at night. Your sleep patterns are disrupted by bad dreams or nightmares. You May find that you wake several times during the night or you may find yourself sleeping to much.  or you may be oversleeping and missing time at work or school. Like I wrote in part one that depression can take many forms.  To review I wrote that s...

Maybe you are not sure that you are depressed. Yet, you feel that things are not quite right. You might be feeling anxious, tired, restless, or overwhelmed by your life situation.Maybe you are crying to much, sleeping to much or not sleeping enough. At times you feel like you don't have the energy to move through your day? This might be signs that you are suffering from depression. Here are a few things  that you can do to help minimize the effects of depression in your life,  First and foremost on the list is , get help!   If you believe that you are experiencing depression  Do not try to deal with depression alone. Enlist the help of a qualified professional. A Pastoral counselor,psychiatrist,  Therapist or Pastor trained in counseling  can all help you deal with your symptoms. I have made this first on the list because depression has many faces and it is important that you be diagnosed correctly. For example are you having symptoms of Bipolar Disord...