Circles of Life

 

How is your New Year going?  Seriously?  Is 2025 off to a fantastic, fabulous, fun-filled start?  Or are you already frustrated or fuming or wondering why you thought you could do Jazzercise at 5:30 a.m. every morning and eat that bran cereal that honestly tastes like cardboard.  No, strike that, you’d rather eat cardboard.  How are you and God doing so far this year?  This first full week, I want to invite you to ponder prayerfully your connections to God, family/friends, and self. 

 

I invite you to get out a piece of paper and draw three circles ~ label one circle, “God”, and another “others” and the third, “self”.  Then, start writing or drawing in those circles.  What emoji would you give your relationship with God right now?  What words have you been saying to yourself recently, are you being kind/gentle/forgiving of your mistakes and miscues or is your inner critic constantly chattering with unwelcome color commentary about all the places you could have/should have done better?  How about others?  Now, in this circle you could use some definition and discretion.  With 8 billion people on the earth, that is a lot of others.  Not to mention trees and raccoons and soil that has billions more species right beneath your feet ~ so be careful where you step!  I suggest in the “other” circle start small ~ family and close friends.  Don’t try to include everyone you interact with, especially that person who gloats when she wins at bridge with humble brags every time!  Start with those you see each day and each week.

 

This invitation takes time.  You may spend five minutes now and a few more moments after lunch or before dinner and a few more minutes before you lay your head down to sleep. 

 

Why are we doing this?  Great question because Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’.  Love is not abstract or obtuse, love is embodied in you, through you, to you and around you.  God is love ~ to infuse and inspire your life.  This love doesn’t reside on a cul-de-sac to get stuck in your soul but continues to flow in life-giving and life-shaping ways.  Slow down today, this first full week of 2025, to let your passion, prayer, and intellect ponder where love is at with God, others, and yourself.  Amen.