St. John of Damaskos says: “Without attentiveness and watchfulness of the intellect we cannot be saved and rescued from the devil, who walks about ālike a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devourā” Sounds pretty serious. And yet, the virtue of attentiveness is so very difficult and elusive. I guess it’s so difficult because it is exhausting to think about having to stay attentive all the time. I get it. It’s discouraging.ā¦
In pagan Greek mythology, Hypnos is the god of sleep and his brother is Thanos, the god of death. They both live in Hades and Hypnos lives in a cave that is the mouth of the River Lethe and that means “forgetfulness.” I’m sensing a symbolic opportunity here! And the symbolic opportunity revolves around the persistent imagery of most all religions in teaching that we have to “wake up” to this orā¦
When I was growing up in the Pentecostal church of my youth, a regular theme of sermons I heard was about being “spirit-filled.” Our emphasis on the Holy Spirit had everything to do with “living a holy life” and experiencing an intimate relationship with God. By the way, both of those are really important! Of course, the problem came from being disconnected from the continuity of wisdom from the centuries. That meantā¦
When I was growing up in the Pentecostal church of my youth, a regular theme of sermons I heard was about being “spirit-filled.” Our emphasis on the Holy Spirit had everything to do with “living a holy life” and experiencing an intimate relationship with God. By the way, both of those are really important! Of course, the problem came from being disconnected from the continuity of wisdom from the centuries. That meantā¦
“Wake up, sleepy head!” Boy, I REALLY didn’t want to get out of bed! You know how you feel when someone wakes you up from a deep sleep? I felt disoriented, and groggy. It felt like my eyelids weighed a ton! But, staying in the bed wasn’t an option if I wanted to go with the rest of the family on the trip we’d planned for months! I HAD TO get upā¦
Hey, we were kids! And it was Christmas morning AND our parents were still asleep AND it was a snow cone maker AND there were sugary syrup packets! What did you expect was going to happen? Well, letās just say that after THAT Christmas morning a general rule was firmly established: No opening presents UNTIL the adults are awake! What a sticky morning that was. But kids will be kids. They areā¦
Hey, we were kids! And it was Christmas morning AND our parents were still asleep AND it was a snow cone maker AND there was sugary syrup packets! What did you expect was going to happen? Well, let’s just say that after THAT Christmas morning a general rule was firmly established: No opening presents UNTIL the adults are awake! What a sticky morning that was. But kids will be kids. They areā¦
When we were very young, my brother and I got up one early Christmas morning to see what we got for Christmas. Now, mind you, our parents were still sound asleep. But did that stop us? Did we go and wake them up first? No! And boy we had a blast, I remember one toy in particular. It was a snow cone maker. It was shaped in the form of a snowā¦
