FootprintsintheWind.com

Still trying to find the questions to life’s persistent answers, we are.

:- Doug.

The Jesus of the priestly traditions does not stir me. Rituals and guilt, sin and sacrifice to pay for it, symbol-laden water and wine—these are dry and far away. The Jesus of freedom to go, with bed or without guilt, the Jesus of chicks gathered and meals shared, the Jesus of parties and welcoming all—this Jesus stirs my heart. There are many Jesuses, inviting, freeing, calling whole.

:- Doug.

Hosting is about saying You! and not withdrawing to become an It: put yourself out there and stay a Thou to others’ I.

:- Doug.

We see our physicians as sickness doctors. What an absolute difficult thing it would be for us to turn that around and think of them as wellness doctors. Our whole society thinks this way, patients and doctors, insurance people and government people. And yet what good we could do if we changed our focus! We could become healthy. Do we get more of what we continually watch?

Where is there a model for this? Dentists! We see our dentist every 6 months, do preventive maintenance, and mine at least is friendly and seems to have time for me. If we have a problem it can be taken care of, and I would bet while it is still small enough to correct easily.

The same is true of Elder Caring lawyers and Estate Planning lawyers: people see these folks while still healthy or relatively healthy, in order to keep the family’s future healthy. Sure, sometimes there are problems, even crises, but that is not the focus of this aspect of the law. These are wellness lawyers.

:- Doug.

No formulas, no techniques, just: You!

:- Doug.

Do not let go and let God, let go with God.

:- Doug.

You! tells me to let go and be with.

:- Doug.

We can never have God in a box, on a shelf, in a heaven. We can only meet, then meet again. And no two meetings can ever be the same. God changes us, we change God. We are each becoming in the betweens.

:- Doug.

If we have all the prayers and churches and ministers in the world and have not You, we have nothing. If we have none of these and stand before You meaning You, we have no need of any of the rest.

:- Doug.

The point I am trying to understand is that as the eternal Thou we do not have something we can put on a shelf and admire or even pray to in the sense that we pull “his” strings. Buber makes the point that “his” is metaphor, and so are many of our words for God, even often the word God itself: but You/Thou is not metaphor: it is actual being to being address. So our corporate prescribed prayer partakes of this It-making. The only thing that meets is to meet, to say You and mean You.

Further, You is the only thing we have: the betweens, the root fibers, the umbilical. We do not have a calcified, say this and God will do that, do this, don’t do that: we only have the presence to stand within. We only have the voiced or voiceless You.

:- Doug.

God is not here; God is not not here. How can you meet something not there? Because I meet, we meet, not a thing but You. (This is not word-play but substance—meet and see.)

:- Doug.

If we agree that God is eternal You and can never be It, if we agree that God is unbound, unboundable and therefore utterly free, we could never that this or that about God for God can choose otherwise, we can never install handles on God, we can only hope to meet God and meet again. Meetings are unreliable, unpredictable. We cannot have faith in our concept of God, for we can never know all about God. God is You and free as we to meet in different ways. No person is ever wholly known. We must go out not in trust but in knowing we own nothing and control nothing ultimately and for ever and so we too are free to meet You. Free in meeting You. Freed by meeting You. Set loose.

:- Doug.

I catch the glance, for an instant it holds me and I decide to answer or turn away. But for that instant, there was a noticing of the knock on the door. Not conscious willingness, but a primal acceptance, as a babe catches a mother’s or father’s gaze. You! Then comes the flicker, then the decision.

:- Doug.

We do not know all that is possible.

:- Doug.

You!

:- Doug.

God is not the candle and God is not in the candle any more than in any other physical object. God is not the book and God is not in the book any more than in any other physical object.

:- Doug.

The days of the month go no farther than 31, the days of the week are limited to 7. These are not eternal truths, but human convenience. Carefully must we assign meaning to our observation.

:- Doug.

These one-page articles are too long to say what can only be said in a glance, too long to touch the profound.

:- Doug.

Beautiful sunlight
Beautiful day
A-dawning
Wonder is we seldom say
Beautiful cloud-light
Cozy blanket, warming & a-living

:- Doug.

Ahh! So much we miss
when we see someone as other
—strange, unknown, alien—
we miss seeing others
—people like us, full with
mystery, loving, longing to be known

:- Doug.

Our whole work is conversation. Whole, as in rounded, full, complete, healing. Our, as in each person on this globe. Conversation, meaning turning with, a picture of dancing, and a picture of turning over a compost heap to keep it working! The only way we have to love one another is conversation, which may be words, may be silences, may be a touch or a glance.

:- Doug.

We are living reduced lives and under the surface we know it. So we try to fill the empty feeling with food, drugs, abdicating our power to sports or political heroes. No wonder we are troubled. No wonder our politics are bizarre. No wonder we are fat!

:- Doug.

When we could have participated wholly
We are living reduced lives

:- Doug.