tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326041191684355559.post4282668190671200719..comments2024-03-09T07:12:24.366-06:00Comments on Emily is Smiling: Unveiled: KatieEmilyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16946530657503312068noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6326041191684355559.post-26782507610730532642013-09-11T03:42:45.327-05:002013-09-11T03:42:45.327-05:00Emily and Katie, together you've helped God fi...Emily and Katie, together you've helped God fill my cup to overflowing today! I'm trying to break my Internet addiction, but you're making it very hard for me! :) Emily, I'm so glad you sent me to say hello over at Katie's place! The latest post was very relevant and timely for me.<br /><br />Katie, your story is exactly the kind of story I was dreaming of, to help dispel modern superstitions about love, marriage, romance and sex. Your taste for cookie dough flavor, Dr. Seuss, and The Princess Bride, is frosting on the cake!<br /><br />Your quote above, about the gift of faith (Ezekiel 36:26-27), is equally timely. Just now I was practicing bringing myself to account each day, and I was reviewing my progress in learning to cherish and nourish the gift of faith, in myself and in others. A thought/feeling came to me that I don't know how to put into words, something like, the kinds of evangelism that repel people from Christianity, and turn them away from God, are the kinds that trivialize, reduce and depreciate the gift of faith, even while appearing to promote it. Then I felt moved to share that here, and what wonderful suprises were waiting for me here!<br /><br />For many months I've felt urgently impelled to learn to help nourish and cherish the gift of faith, and the love of God, in myself and in others, and to promote other people doing the same. The gift of faith is not ours to give, but in my understanding we can participate in its spread and growth. If that gift comes through God's grace, maybe we can be more part of it by learning to help surround people with His grace. That might include praying and practicing to grow fruits of the spirit. That might be a good way for me to look at my current efforts to learn to be a better friend to each person in my life. It might also include learning not to depreciate anyone, and to free myself from all ill will, which might also be a good way for me to approach my efforts to learn meekness and kindness.<br /><br />Your words: "Without faith, everything we do, think, or say is against God," are full of meaning for me. In the last few years I've begun to understand what Abdu'l-Baha could have meant when he said "All things are beneficial if joined with the love of God; and without His love all things are harmful, and act as a veil between man and the Lord of the Kingdom."<br /><br />I like what your mom said: "Above all, we are friends first. We laugh together and don't take each other too seriously. We make sure to spend time together, just us, so we go on dates and trips together." That's funny, because in the last year, more of our times together have felt to me like it used to feel when we were out on a date, before we married. Patty and I have also learned that it's very good for each of us, and for our marriage and for our family, for us to each have time away from each other, besides our time at work, including time alone at home.<br /><br />A word of warning: Marriage can be a test of patience and perseverance. Patty and I went through some discouraging periods of years that were often agonizing and sometimes nightmarish for both of us, especially for Patty, and during some of that time our marriage hung by a thread (fortunately a strong one though, a thread of commitment to permanent marriage for the love of God), before we began to see the promised land. We began to taste the best fruits only after fifteen years or more of marriage.<br /><br />Another word of warning: I agree with what you wrote about being part of a community of believers. At the same time, our community and our companions can sometimes be instruments of satan's worst deceptions, even more than other people can. Again and again the worst things I've seen people do have been when they turned their backs on God to follow one bandwagon or another of their companions and communities. That applies just as much to any faith community as to any other.Jim Habeggerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09320817826382769445noreply@blogger.com