God Talk and Tea

Entering the fall season with reflection, gratitude and a quiet spirit

It’s funny how often we come across insights that resonate profoundly with our circumstances at different times in our lives.

Today, I found one in my in-box, in the form of a newsletter, “Living in Season,” by Waverly Fitzgerald:

“I feel that urge that so many of us feel in September to begin a new year. I’m eager to get on with new projects, yet still struggling to finish up the old ones. It’s been a difficult summer. Too hot, too scattered, too busy. I look forward to the coolness, the darkness, the quiet, the inward focus of autumn. …

"I know I want to use this turning point to contemplate what I've accomplished during the past year. Certainly not all the things I anticipated. Am I taking on too much? Do I have good balance in my life? Am I spending as much time nurturing myself as nurturing others? It might also be a time to compare my budget (which represents my wishes) with my actual income and expenses (not always pleasurable, but always informative).”

I realized that the tug on my spirit brought on by the first crisp scent of fall was a call to reflect on the very questions Waverly asks in her essay, My Season: Assessing the Harvest.

Fall, the season of gathering the harvest and expressing gratitude for God’s abundant blessings, reminds me of the human spirit’s need for rituals. Surely, this is the reason celebrating Thanksgiving has so much meaning for me, but I’m feeling there should be more reasons to light up our homes than the deeply commercialized versions of Halloween and Christmas.

Perhaps it is time to add a new ritual and celebration in my life. I am intrigued by Michaelmas, the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, Sept. 29. It has been celebrated in various ways over the ages, and is still a time to gather family and friends for a simple harvest meal, offered with prayer and graced by the beauty of fall foliage, including the lovely Michaelmas Daisies.

As you enter into the spirit of fall, may your celebrations recall all you have gathered, begun or accomplished, during the summer season, and be moments of restoring balance in your life.

Lovely photo by Daiga Ellaby on Unsplash.

Irresponsible saucing creates worlds of pain

On a recent fast food run, my son brought home a bag of tacos and more than a few packages of
spicy condiments.  As I tore open a package I noticed the words: Sauce responsibly.

I have to admit, I chuckled, having on more than one occasion been irresponsible with the jalapeno pepper sauce. Wow.

Soon, a flurry of other “responsibly” options were running through my head, like “walk responsibly,” as in look up from your cell phone before you step in front of my car in the supermarket parking lot. There have been way too many close calls on shopping trips.

Or “Facebook responsibly,” with more reasons than could ever be addressed in this brief column.

But related to this is an option that holds the most meaning for me: “Use words responsibly.”

I never bought into the “sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me,” adage.

It has been my experience that poorly, thoughtlessly or maliciously used words can be as damaging to the human spirit as a bruised body or broken bones.

Four hundred years ago, William Shakespeare wrote:  “Words without thoughts never to heaven go.”

Considered by many to be the greatest writer, and most certainly the greatest dramatist, in the English language, Shakespeare understood the power of words as well as he understood the intricate workings of the human spirit.

However, compared to Scripture, Shakespeare’s prediction for words without thoughts is very generous. In the Gospel of Matthew we are warned, “I tell you, on the day of judgment people will render an account for every careless word they speak.”

Scripture is clear that words, through us, have the ability to create or destroy, to heal, to injure or to bless.

As such, our ability to create with words and to influence others through our creation comes with a serious responsibility for meaning and truth, presented in a way that reflects our dignity as children of God.

One of the problems with today’s social media is the temptation for an immediate response, a problem warned of in Proverbs some 3,000 years ago: “Do you see someone hasty in speech? There is more hope for a fool!”

Throwing caution and good sense to the wind, and often feeling empowered by the digital distance afforded by the medium, we spout words, emotions and ideas better suited for the recycle bin than the eyes, hearts and minds of family, friends or strangers around the globe.

The Psalmist reminds us often that God created the world with words. God spoke and all that exists came into being.

As God’s children we have been gifted with a similar ability to create, but as human beings we need to prayerfully ask ourselves the question: What kind of worlds are we creating with our words?

Are we creating worlds in which relationships are strengthened, where bridges of understanding are being built, where healing has a chance, where people come to recognize their own ability for holiness?

If our honest answer is no, then we have another choice which has as much power as any word – silence.

 “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you know how you should respond to each one.” Colossians 4:6

Googles   images - original source unknown.  Information welcomed.

Think before you speak is divine wisdom

“Thoughtlessness – I try not to think about it.”                                                                                                           

Actually, it’s been on my mind a lot lately, and since I read this quote from young contemporary author Jarod Kintz, I’ve been thinking that he might have stumbled upon the mantra of the 21st century.

Thoughtlessness, it seems, has become not only an acceptable state of affairs, but an expected one as well. Just open up many a Facebook page, read any comment thread, or listen to the conversations of store clerks and managers the next time you’re shopping. It won’t be hard to hear them as they stand among a mass of customers, talking about people and problems as if they were behind closed doors – where they should be.

While social media has the potential for accomplishing great things, it also has the potential to become a repository for careless words, perhaps not of the same magnitude as malice, but hurtful none-the-less. The human penchant for expression, unencumbered by limits or good sense, can damage a heart or a reputation, and, yet,  it’s so easy to be drawn into the opportunity of letting the world know what we think when we are angry, hurt or just full of ourselves.

I frequently hear from bewildered readers, friends or family members asking some variant of, “How could they have said that? Didn’t they stop and think about how much that might hurt me?”

The answer is usually, “They didn’t.”  That’s the meaning of thoughtlessness – a careless indifference to consequences.

I have often wondered why we feel we should be able to say or write or do whatever we want, regardless of who it may hurt.   Perhaps we have embraced it as our right because we have been led to believe that the “I” is more important than the “thou” – a premise that would be challenged by all of the world’s religions that value reciprocity and the relationship of humanity to God. It is in our relationship with God, and God with us, that we discover our relationship with others.

In a society that glorifies the self, that feeds the ego with an unbalanced emphasis on the importance of personal satisfaction, achievement, and awareness, we are blessed still with the beauty of God’s wisdom, commanding us to “do nothing out of selfishness or out of vainglory; rather, humbly regard others as more important than yourselves,each looking out not for his own interests, but [also] everyone for those of others” (Philippians 2:3-4).

The Book of Proverbs also teaches us to “forsake all thoughtlessness, and live; and walk in the way of understanding.”

We are challenged by our faith to be more than what our society and our culture tell us we should be. It is not an easy challenge to take up. But as Christians we are graced with something powerful that I think we often forget about – the Gifts of the Holy Spirit: Wisdom, Knowledge, Understanding, Fortitude, Counsel, Piety, and Awe.  

We may remember those gifts as a list we needed to memorize as we prepared for Confirmation, but in reality they are tools of God’s grace, of God’s life within us, making it possible for us to take up the challenge and live with the mind of Christ – who never spoke a thoughtless word.

“Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you know how you should respond to each one.”  Colossians 4:6

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'A perfect dose of grace' for all seasons

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