Nothing I say today will be nearly as eloquent or interesting as Angela's post on good religion. She writes:
“The difference between bad religion and good religion,” Richard Rohr suggested, “is that bad religion feeds the ego and good religion transcends it.”
Were truer words ever spoken?
Our ego gets in the way of everything that we do. It gets in the way of good parenting. It gets in the way of good teaching. It gets in the way of good work, good relationships, good times…..good living. Transcending that ego is our life’s work, and in my opinion, that is what good religion enables and supports in all of us.
See? Go read it. She has much more interesting thoughts for you today than I do.
By the way, a couple of you called to ask how I was holding up after my sleepless night. Thanks for thinking of me. I did surprisingly well today. It was kind of an intense day, but I felt like God was with me. That's kind of a hokey answer, and I can't explain it any better than that. But that's how my day went.
3 comments:
This is SO TRUE. I once read a great book about the impact of spirituality and religion in counseling - and one of the points made was that some people are religious "intrinsically" - meaning that they truly seek after submission to God. Others are religious "extrinsically" where there are external benefits that are motivating them primarily. Those who are intrinsically religious are much healthier; those who are extrinsically test as being much less healthy (emotionally and socially speaking). I thought this was fascinating and so true...
Of course, figuring out how much of each of these are at work in our own hearts is the tough part...
Another great piece of wisdom from Angela's blog:
"Stephanie once helped me to understand something about forgiveness, and I passed this along to my husband last night. When you forgive someone, it does not mean that they will ever change. It doesn’t mean that a wrong has been made right. It doesn’t mean that you will never have to forgive the person again. Forgiveness is not something that necessarily changes the person who has hurt us. It might, and when that happens, it is amazing. But the real transformation occurs inside ourselves. We’re strengthened by it. We’re also made more compassionate. Stephanie suggested that sometimes, we find ourselves confronted with the need to forgive over and over and over again."
Something we all need to remember. Thanks!
Aw, thanks! Any wisdom I get comes from all the thinking you people inspire ; )
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