Christmas, 2025

Today is Christmas, 2025. It is a day just like all the other days and it is a day unlike all the other days. God continues to reveal Godself in the sun, moon, stars and the unfolding galaxies. God continues to show Godself in the mountains, plains, deserts, and valleys. God has always been showing us the I AM with the birds of the air, the fish of the waters and the animals on the land. God must especially like to show us God’s self through the trees, bushes, plants and flowers. God wanted to show us that God likes humanity because God chose to show us God’s self as God revealed God’s self in flesh with growth hormones, feelings, thoughts, emotions from joy to frustration and anger. Christmas 2025, a day just like every other of our days and a day unlike any of our other days. Lord, in your mercy.

Learning Patience from Cooking and Baking

I have discovered that I like to cook, even bake. I have never been one who has been comfortable in the kitchen. Recipes seemed too confined. I now think of them more as guidelines for creativity. Yes, I have had many laughs when I’ve placed some unsatisfying food outside for the birds, squirrels and chipmunks who inhabit our yard. I also enjoy feeding the animals. What I especially like about cooking is the slow cooker. Slow cookers take most of the day to do their work. Slow cookers teach me patience, patience with myself as well as food. I’m also learning to bake bread. Baking bread helps me to learn patience as I wait for the yeast to do its slow work. Another reason for my cooking and baking is there are results that myself as well as others can taste and see. There is a reward, if I am patient and wait. During several days each week, I am a psychotherapist and spiritual companion. There are many situations in which I do not have a clear reward as I wonder if I have been a help for the person who has left the consulting room. When I wonder if I have been a help, I go home to cook or bake.

Speaking truth to power

As we get further into this federal administration, I become more anxious and fearful. I fear the Republicans have sold their soul to Donald Trump. I fear the Democrats have become overwhelmed by fear and have lost their voice. This leaves the control of our government to a man who, in my professional opinion is mentally unstable. He continually demonstrates the symptoms of a narcissist who is possessed by the demons of vain glory and pride. He uses the Justice Department to persecute any who resists him and his ideas. He uses our Homeland Security to be his police and remove those with whom he is uncomfortable which are those who do not look or talk like him. Ministers and churches appear fearful of saying anything about morality and values, as Jesus described them, for fear someone in the congregation might be upset or offended. I am fearfully concerned, not only about the direction of America’s values, but also our churches. I hear few prophets who speak truth to power.

Stay In the Present

It is difficult to stay in the present. Too often we spend our time and energy fretting about something in the past that has already happened and/or worrying about something that might happen in the future. I am a college football fan, specifically the OU “Sooners.” During this 2025 season, my respect for Lane Kiffin, the coach at Ole Miss, has gone up significantly. He seems focused on coaching his team during the season and not to be distracted by all the questins and guesses about his future at Ole Miss or any of the other SEC schools seeking a new coach. He will decide when it is time for him to decide. He seems focused on his team and this season’s games which seem to have wonderful results as Ole Miss is ranked #7. I wish they had not defeated the "Sooners" but that is another story. Coach Kiffin is a good model about staying present and focused.

Owe My Soul to the Company Store?

In my growing up years at home, the record which was most played was Tennessee Earnie Ford’s, Sixteen Tons. The phrase I related to was “you load sixteen tons and what do you get, another day older and deeper in debt. I owe my soul to the company store.” I loved that song even though it is a sad concept to owe your soul to the ‘company store’. Perhaps that phrase had some influence on me and my sense of independence. I have always wanted to be free to leave a place where I wasn’t wanted or where I did not want to be. I wanted to be free to follow my dreams and where I believed God was leading. I did not want to be so dependent that I felt trapped by an organization, business, group, church, etc. I recognize there can be too much independence which can lead to narcissism. I desire to have a healthy balance of dependency, commitment, loyalty, etc. as well as independence. I want my soul to be free as I believe God created our souls to be free.

That "Retirement" Question

In two months, I will have reached my 84th birthday. It is not surprising that many folks ask me about my possible retirement. I have no plans to retire, nor do I have any plans for retirement. I would like to continue being a psychotherapist and spiritual director as God continues to grant me sufficient physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. I may want to decrease my days and hours but that’s not the same as retiring. I recently read the following quote from Yalom’s book, BECOMING MYSELF. His quote says well what I am hoping for in my not-retiring work/ministry. “…we humans, all of us, crave a wise, all-knowing, white haired elder. If I’ve been chosen to fit that slot, well, I happily accept the position. Someone has to do it. “(page 333, kindle).

Returning Violence for Violence Multiplies Violence

“While it may be a primal human impulse, responding to violence with violence does not resolve conflicts but rather escalates them, creating a cycle of deeper harm, as famously stated by Martin Luther King Jr.: ‘Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars’". (Google’s AI). Today we’ve heard of another shooting in Dallas by someone who is frustrated with the federal government’s ICE presence and actions. Violence is certainly done with a gun. Violence can also be done with other instruments, such as a fist, slap, car, etc. What the leaders of this country seem not to know is that violence is also done with words. When someone with whom you disagree is described with “put down” or belittling words as well as sterotyped prejudices along with threats of arrest, deportation and/or legal action, that is violence. I pray there will be someone who has the courage and wisdom who can turn our country toward the light rather than take us deeper into the darkness.