Tag: politics

I often wonder if I am the only person who is tired of only hearing bad news on the all day news programs. The cable channels are obsessed with what the latest Administration tragedy is, and the local stations are obsessed with how many people have killed others in DC.

I am convinced that we, as a people, are ready for some good news. We have to remember that our lives and the fullness of them is by keeping our eternal union with God. We want to wake up in the morning and see all people as human beings; we are not of different races; God does not care what religion we practice; She also doesn’t care what gender we are; She sees us only as her children, equal in all respects. I also think that God wants us to see each other the same way. In the Good Samaritan story, Jesus asks who proves to be the better neighbor. I try to be that neighbor, as we all should.

There is a lot of pressure in the news for us to turn back the clock and view people as Black, as alien, as queer (and I hate that word). These horrible memories and terms are meant to separate us, where God’s words unite us. God wants us to look toward the future and join hands in praise of Her and in praise of us. We are Her legacy: let’s not disappoint Her. Let’s look at each other as brothers… and sisters.

I received an email with a statement by Wangari Maathai, in which he wrote that the challenge (in our lifetime) is to restore the home to the tadpoles, giving the beauty of the world back to our children. We owe this to them. This means that we must control our waste, preserving natural beauty, and be respectful of those who live at the lower edges of our society. And, by respect, we cannot, must not, force them to do what they have rejected or been rejected by. Some have been forced from society by those who think they do not conform, or experiences such as war have left them empty, psychologically. Others have selected to reject society because they cannot stomach what society is today.

In either case, we must respect their feelings, their experiences, and their desires: we must invite them to join, or rejoin, our renewed society. We cannot offer them a Garden of Eden (even if we could), but we can offer them the chance to be part of the greater family of humanity, of peace, of understanding, just as God wants us to do. This, I feel, is the message of the Good Samaritan. The parable may be 2000+ years old, but its relevance is everlasting.

I pray that we join together, accept the word of God, and open a better world for the future. Have a good day, my brothers and sisters – those I know and those I have yet to meet.

God bless!

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.

Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!

Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

How great thou art
allowing us the chance
to meet others and befriend;
to earn and accept them
just by being… how they seek true beauty,
whether they love plays or visiting museums,
love traveling the world,
or love sitting on a park bench reading,
good friends seek friendship together.

P.S. I love you. And I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. D.Litt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

How much of your ego is wrapped up in material stuff? We often count our successes by material possessions, but it is our spiritual enrichment and inheritance that leave a true everlasting dream-like promise of a future that we can work for, or at best stumble to.

Consider this reflection by Saint Augustine:

God of our life,
There are days when our burdens weigh heavy.
Shine light on our path and lift our gaze to the hopeful skies;
Inspire us with courage;
Help us feel connected with the heroes and saints throughout time;
and awaken our spirits
so we can uplift all who travel with us
on life’s journey, to honor and glorify You.

We have to give ourselves permission to make mistakes as we learn to live with others and understand that we are not perfect. We must remember that God is always in control; we are made in Her image, right from the very first step we made on this earth.

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. D.Litt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99!

There is no joy in our society today. Our leaders suppress us in all that we do. The government takes all riches from the poor… and then hands back very little. Our leader takes and takes and takes like the kings of old. And our political leaders bow low to his bombast. And why is it that only one of our high religious leaders stands up and speaks out against him?

That crumb, however received, tastes good; because it does not come from the deceitful government but from the sweetness of God. God’s untainted fields of plenty. We go to our churches and mosques and synagogues. And we give thanks to God for what little we have. Because we know that what we get from God is what is true and honest; and is not the meager allowance permitted by our deceitful, vengeful, selfish, egotistic, self-praising government.

So I say to you: Joy is not made to be a crumb. Joy is something that comes from inside of us, where God lives. And that one very soft voice, coming from the only religious leader to speak out against our government, roars about the cruelty and selfishness, reminding us that God is always with us. That God always loves us.

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!

Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

We open our newspapers each morning to unwanted violence new every day, Sundays included. There is no peace. Somebody is shooting a gun at someone else every night in my local community every night of the week, making it difficult to show up in our world risking love, showing of truest, God-given selves to our neighbors and the world. This means it is very difficult to follow what John says: ” While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. (12:36)”
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus implored his followers to use nonviolence in their lives. Above all, Jesus preached nonviolence. Jesus was a man of nonviolence; He even cautions his male counterparts to search their own souls for their own sins before casting stones against a woman accused of sin. And in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus says, “but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. {Matt. 5:39)”
So, from one humble brother to all my brothers and sisters, be aware of the violence, but choose Love, God’s Love.

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

From the time we are separated from our formal education and dropped into the real world, most of us are assaulted by hordes of real demons that we’ve never faced before. These come in many forms. They are temptations that are dangling in the halls and offices in the world of business and the world of finance. In the world of intimate contact with the people we are forced to work with on a daily basis in the businesses where we are employed. And if we go out into the marketplace and the businesses that we visit on a day-to-day basis. Each person we meet is surrounded by angels and surrounded by demons. And we have to learn to recognize and discard the demons. It’s not always easy to sort the angels from the demons; the smiles and greetings are so sweet.

I know a sure way to be positive in any business or social situation or meeting; enter with a smile and be firm, showing caring love in all that you say and do. Show compassion for others. Those with demons will fall away because they can never win. Love and compassion are the only tools needed in building social and business relations. And demons cannot exist in the same rooms.

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.

love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!

Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. D.Litt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99.

Lament is one of those old-fashioned words that we really don’t use anymore. But it means to feel sorrow or to feel a loss of something close to us. In times past, we might say that we lament the loss of someone dear to us and then go into a period of mourning for that loss. And people would understand what we meant and take that into account in dealing with us. For the near future, it could be that business dealings be suspended or scaled back, at least until the person is interred or when the funeral is held.

So now we don’t use lament; we just use sorrow or sadness. We don’t have the ease or closeness in relationships that a word such as lament may give us. Hell, we don’t have the variety and usage of vocabulary anymore to use words. Which is why the poet remains the one to use it.

Poets cry lament. It is the cry that is directed more towards God than it is towards man. It’s a cry that expresses the deepest wounds that only God can heal. It’s nothing that individuals can either see or heal. It’s a loss that is going to be forever felt. It is for the closeness of God so She can cover the wounds, and those left behind can heal.

As an example, we read the five letters of Lamentations in the Bible. Written by Jeremiah, these letters of loss are prayers of loss, written to God after the destruction of Jerusalem in the 6th century BC.

So I prayed to you, friends, that you have nothing to lament. And if you do, take them to speak to God. For She is the only one that can truly help you.

P.S. I love you, and I pray you love others.
Love is God’s symphony, the perfect beauty!
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.

If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

Earth! A mere rock hurtling through space
At a speed we know not how to measure
Though we pretend to understand how
We amass knowledge at the speed of sound
And pretend to know the why and the how
And prove to others how great we are

But alas with every turn we find change
Our paths change as quickly as our emotions
When in our sacred spaces can we pray
And remember those forgotten by others
Forgotten by ourselves in our rush for riches
May God forgive us for our egotism

May we remember that although Earth is a mere rock
It is our sacred rock upon which we were placed
And made shepherds of Your great creation
There are those deniers who protest saying it is too late
But certainly not; for You alone are eternal
And You alone will determine the future of Earth our Rock

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99

Life Itself Becomes the Path

I remember the times that people would tell me that it’s too bad that life sometimes gets in the way of having a good time. Is that mismanagement of time or trying to stuff too much into an otherwise productive day? Every moment of life is a dress rehearsal for true life. And our life is a play that doesn’t quite make it to Broadway. “Hamnet” we are not! (Although the book IS better than the movie).

Our blessed God, however we name Her, placed us on this rock in space to nurture it as caretakers. And we have done a terrible job! We pray to Her daily asking for forgiveness and then leave our churches and continue to destroy our planet with no remorse. We fear flushing the toilet in which we live.

But we do have one saving: “Grace.” “Love.” Love abides in God, and since God abides in us, Love thusly abides in us. This has been true since time immemorial! When we accept that God lives within us, God becomes our life and it comes down from God and embraces spirit, soul, and body, and LIFE THEN BECOMES OUR PATH.

P.S. I Love You. And I pray you love others.
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99.