Marriage Improvement

Check out this link:


http://timlane.org/blog/the-most-important-ingredient-to-improve-your-marriage


Hint: It's friendship.

Multi-Culturalism and Boundaries

The Civil War is one of many examples of the difficulty of maintaining unity in a nation, especially as large as the U.S.  Division is always fertile ground for strife, whether in the color of the skin or the ideologies men live by. There has to be an undergirding ideological foundation that unifies any culture in order for it to survive and flourish. There is much emphasis currently in our nation on the concept of multi-culturalism.  We have evolved from the "melting pot" to the "salad bowl".  There seems to be a light and shadow side to the concept. Our physical bodies present a good example. The body is unified. Every single cell in the body works to keep the it alive; to nourish and protect it. The body has a boundary [the skin] as does every cell [the cell wall and membranes]. These boundaries allow certain matter to enter and they repel other forms of matter--that which is detrimental to the unity and function of the body. We know that it is destructive to the body to allow any substance/matter to enter randomly. There is a form of biological wisdom evident in the "choices" being made at the cellular level in terms of what passes through boundaries. The repelling of certain matter by the boundaries of any organism does not constitute intolerance, at least not in an unhealthy sense. Contrarily, it is for the good of the organism that it repels that which works against the life-maintaining functions of the systems and subsystems of that organism. Likewise, it is the duty of any culture to discover and adhere to all that is good for the human family, and to prevent any viral, Trojan Horse invasions of its boundaries; or to eliminate them before they destroy the life-enhancing functions of that culture. This process must be characterized by humility and compassion: never hatred or fear. A boundary can be too rigid or it can be too porous to serve the organism well.
Mark Graham

Tyranny

Those who rule by fear, intimidation and force are tyrants; whether in a family, business or nation. And all tyranny must end. The God of this universe is not a tyrant [He has set us free!] and He does not ordain tyranny.
Freedom from tyranny is founded upon a responsible populace that is not lazy or entitled. Sociopathy requires forceful control. The greater the sociopathy in any culture, the riper the ground for tyranny.

Human Growth

Peyton Manning was recently implicated in the use of Human Growth Hormone [HGH]. This is a synthetic version of a hormone that, among other things, enhances cell production, and has been used to enhance athletic performance. It's been banned by the regulators of professional sports, but, until 2000 was impossible to detect since the body produces a form of it.
Anyway, it got me thinking about human growth--not the physical type, but the psycho-spiritual type. Human maturity. One of the great revelations of my life is that human maturity does not  happen naturally or automatically, as does normal physical growth.  If there were a hormone that would induce psycho-spiritual maturity, I would spend all I have for it. But I suspect there will never be such a substance. Human maturity is forged in the crucible of life experiences faced with proactively chosen faith, hope and love. We see that those who use mind-altering or mind-numbing drugs to face the painful difficulties of life retard or halt their growth toward maturity.
This indicates that there are certain ways-of-being, behaviors, etc., that facilitate human maturity; and certain ways-of-being that do not. Not only drugs but absorption in entertainment, sexual fantasies, materialistic pursuits, or just plain laziness will keep us from developing our potential. And, as was stated on an educational commercial, "a human mind is a terrible thing to waste". Human potential is vast and valuable beyond all measure.  How sad for it to be wasted sitting in front of a TV or glued to an electronic device. How sad to waste our lives living in an imaginary world created in the venue of social media.  This is not to say that imagination and social media are evil or counter to growth, in fact they can and are used very responsibly to foster maturity.  But we see very clearly that they can also be an escape from the responsibilities that foster maturity. 
Perhaps the main point here is that maturity does not happen naturally. This calls us into mindfulness of our way-of-being in the world, and whether or not it is facilitative of growth. For me personally, Jesus has awakened me to the deeper, more profound and truly meaningful aspects of humanity. He has caused me to examine myself in the light of His love for the human family, and called me into what Chuck Colson described as the "enduring revolution"--the ongoing increase of the Love of God in the hearts of humans--the progressive overcoming of all that is oppressive to life, peace, and joy. I came to believe in Him as the Messiah almost forty years ago, and His Spirit is still as fresh as this morning's sunrise in my heart. I would say unreservedly that anyone who has not read the New Testament with an open mind is a fool, and cares nothing for the truth. How could you claim to be a truth-seeker and ignore the one who said "I am the truth"? The one to Whom we testify each time we write or speak the date: January 5, 2016 AD [anno Domini, in the year of our Lord]? I encourage everyone that I love [and, in Christ, I love everyone] to be very serious about his/her personal psycho-spiritual maturity. And to look deeply into the teachings and life of Jesus to foster that process. If His words are true, the fullness of maturity is impossible without His Spirit. I know for sure that my capacity for love, peace and joy has been awakened and greatly increased because of my devotion to Jesus. I celebrate with everything within me every step I have taken in response to His loving invitations. I see in Him the solution to the problems that we humans create for ourselves. I challenge you to look deeply into the teachings of Jesus. Only fools and cowards ignore Him.