Happy Feet

Tuesday: 9.3 miles.

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Goes Without Saying (Bill Mallonee)

GOES WITHOUT SAYING
(Bill Mallonee)

Failure!
She’s a new found friend
You let her sleep on the floor

When you rise to check out
She follows to the door

If you listen real close
there’s the audible sigh

If you look real hard
you don’t question why

+ Bill Mallonee, “Goes Without Saying” (2000)

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Is God Helpless?

Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady.

+ Bono/U2, “Stand Up Comedy” (No Line on the Horizon – 2009)

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Cartoonists & Lawyers

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Today’s Weather in Minneapolis

BEAUTIFUL AND COMFORTABLE DAY

Yet again, a cooler weather pattern is developing over the upper mid-west. Highs today will remain in the 70s and humidity values will be much lower than yesterday. As a result today will be a beautiful and comfortable day. (kstp.com)

Current Temp: 73 (23c)

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Today’s Reading from the Rule of Benedict

TODAY’S READING FROM THE RULE OF BENEDICT

Chapter 48: On the Daily Manual Labor

Idleness is the enemy of the soul.
Therefore the sisters should be occupied
at certain times in manual labor,
and again at fixed hours in sacred reading.
To that end
we think that the times for each may be prescribed as follows.

From Easter until the Calends of October,
when they come out from Prime in the morning
let them labor at whatever is necessary
until about the fourth hour,
and from the fourth hour until about the sixth
let them apply themselves to reading.
After the sixth hour,
having left the table,
let them rest on their beds in perfect silence;
or if anyone may perhaps want to read,
let her read to herself
in such a way as not to disturb anyone else.
Let None be said rather early,
at the middle of the eighth hour,
and let them again do what work has to be done until Vespers.

And if the circumstances of the place or their poverty
should require that they themselves
do the work of gathering the harvest,
let them not be discontented;
for then are they truly monastics
when they live by the labor of their hands,
as did our Fathers and the Apostles.
Let all things be done with moderation, however,
for the sake of the faint-hearted.

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True Intimacy with God

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

+ Exodus 20:2-3

One of the ideas we have been examining in our Purity Platoon is intimacy with God. True intimacy with God leads to serenity, joy, and purity. False intimacy leads to acting out, sexual sin, and addiction.

My life has been filled with false intimacy. Rather than turning to God for my deepest needs, I turn to and rely on myself. I don’t trust God, I trust me.

Because of this reliance on self, I use behaviors and substances to meet my needs – needs that can only truly be met by God. I don’t have a true sense of self worth, so I continually try to prove to myself and others how valuable and/or significant I am. And to find acceptance, I will do what others want me to do.

That is false intimacy.

True intimacy begins with the understanding that God is God – He is the only source for meeting all of my needs and He has commanded me to have no other gods besides Him.

True intimacy with God means that I trust God alone to meet my deepest needs for the following:

• Identity

• Security & Protection

• Significance & Value

• Intimacy & Love

• Provision

• Direction

• Acceptance

As I have noted before, there is a god-shaped hole in my heart and there is only one source for filling that hole – God Himself.  True intimacy with God is the way to fill the hole.

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Wake Up!

You must wake up now: the night is almost over, it will be daylight soon. Let us give up all the things we prefer to do under cover of the dark; let us arm ourselves and appear in the light. Let us live decently as people do in the daytime.

+ Romans 13:11, 12-13

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Gratefulness Journal

Today I am grateful for:

1. Cool morning
2. The incredible gifts of my beloved
3. Enjoyable projects at work

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