Jim Palmer's Blog, page 48

Every day I find…

Living with your heart flung wide open

“Jesus came to awaken our heart. Religion too often makes God about rules and rituals, duties and doctrines. It defines our holiness by our allegiance and compliance to the organization, tradition, and system. Over and against religion, Jesus showed up and calls for an awakening of the heart. Jesus invited all people to allow themselves to be loved by God – to open our hearts and know that we are lovable… ever last single one of us. Jesus said look at me and see what God is like, and then he knelt in the dirt to rescue a woman who had been written off by religion. Jesus taught us that love is not an idea. It’s something you feel in your heart, and then you bring expression to it through your humanity. The truth is not a sterile and indifferent philosophy, or a theological creed. Jesus said, “I am the truth,” and then he lived a life of love. He flung his heart wide open to God and the world.”

- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge: Unmasking the Truth to End Your Suffering

We are one human family

These evening I am reminded of my brothers and sisters that I know from my travels and endeavors around the world in Kenya, Thailand, India, and Middle East. In many cases, the circumstances involved confronting horrific human rights tragedies such as forced child prostitution, and child slave labor. This afternoon I had a Skype call with a friend in Germany who heads an NGO that provides emergency and disaster relief alongside long-term integrated development programs in some of the world’s most desperate communities. He was so far away, and yet I felt very close to him, and I feel that same solidarity with all those around the world that I have met along the way. I see their faces in my mind’s eye. This is such a big world, and my human family is stretched out near and far, and I am mindful of these tonight. I carry them in my heart. نحن أسرة بشرية واحدة.

Tap on the shoulder

From time to time we all need a tap on the shoulder to remind us that we are Jesus. You are the one who makes love real in the flesh. You are the face of God to others.

Look deeper

There is a sweetness and goodness to this life and world. Perhaps you say, “I can only see the sadness and sorrow.” Look deeper. First look inside yourself, and then be an expression of goodness as your life unfolds today.

I once dreamed of changing the masses

I once dreamed of launching revolutions, sparking movements, mobilizing the masses, and changing everything. Now I’ve learned the beauty and profound significance of simply loving my neighbor.

Your heart

Don’t abandon your heart; it’s one of the best things about you.

Compassion is…

Compassion – the deep affection that we feel for everything because we’re all in this together.

You are human, and it’s okay to act like one

“Jesus never taught that freedom was an escape from the volatility of the human experience. He embraced the human journey the way it was, just as it was. Sometimes life hurts. This is life. This is our life. And our relation to life involves losing it too. You don’t get beyond these things, and enlightenment is not being unaffected by them. You are human, and it’s okay to act life one… feel like one.”

- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge: Unmasking the Truth to End Your suffering

Truth is non-conformity