PuttingTruthFirst

Its cold again today. It may freeze tonight. This is the official first day of spring. Yesterday, I spent time in the garden putting in plants I ordered. Pink powderpuff muely grass, day lilies, and hibiscus were among those planted. Tonight I will have to cover everything up so that a frost will not kill them. It is hard for me to resist planting. I see a lonely plant stuck in a pot and I feel the need to rescue it. It is the same feeling when I see a cat or dog for sale. I hate to see things held captive by small pots or small cages. The Bible says that "He whom the Son hath freed is free indeed." That is an undeniable truth, yet we have to let people know that there is real freedom, not in political ideology or in belief systems but in the Son, the Christ, we can experience real freedom. In some sense, when I plant something in my garden, I am releasing it to be what it was meant to be. I have to assist it with water and perhaps pruning but as long as I put it in the corr...

PuttingTruthFirst It is Monday, February 15, 2010. This last week I saw a wonderful movie called "Temple Grandin". It starred Claire Danes and was the story of a young woman who struggled with autism. The woman's name was Temple. Temple's idea was that autism for her made her different but not less. I must say the many things that this lady achieved in her lifetime certainly make her as definitely not less. I found the movie to be very inspirational, no only because Temple overcame so many odds but because she viewed her world in a completely different way. She made choices to walk through doors that opened up new rooms of opportunity for her. Many things about this movie I loved but one thing stood out to me, since this blog is about putting truth first. Temple observed death in a very different way. When we lose someone we tend to focus on the house that person lived in. We miss seeing them, talking with them and sharing thoughts and ideas. Temple recogniz...

It was my habit to put the Christmas tree up immediately after Thanksgiving. I love Christmas and all it stands for. The spirit of giving abounds even though motivations of the heart may be compromised. To really give, one must want to give and do so with only the motive of love behind it. Too many give because they want to receive something or feel that there is some obligation to give in order to be acceptable to ones peers, siblings or parents. There is a tremendous pressure that Christian society places on others at the time of Christmas. We are reflecting on what Christ did for us by coming to a lowly manger, laying aside his divinity to take up humanity. My, what a step He took. And yet repeatedly, we see the love He had for all mankind which demonstrates the idea that God felt the world and everyone in it both past, present and future are worth saving. This is really what I perceive Christmas to be about. A gift was given. A gift of unspeakable love and ever since we h...

What is truth? It would seem to be an obvious conclusion. It is honesty, an absence of distortion of facts or feelings, a clear understanding of reality. This is Truth. Truth is absolute. This is what we know to be our reality. Yet for all of us, to some extent truth has been skewed by our own perceptions. It has been interpreted for us by family, friends, national beliefs, religions and environment. So truth, which is absolute, can be reframed or restated to insinuate a different conclusion. It can be distorted. It is hard to peel away the layers of distortion and arrive at what is real. Our minds are bombarded with information intended both to clarify and cloud truth. Truth for you may not hold the same meaning for me. I have different life experiences, different family, friends than you. So we may hear the same thing, or read the same words and come to a very different conclusion. What then can we do to arrive at actual truth? We must begin from the same point. We m...