I was in the midst of my evening prayers last night when I was interrupted by an errant thought about my morning blog. I immediately made a pencil note and got back to my prayers. So here I am this morning and thinking about the very first prayerful blog I posted back in 2016. I thought I might expand on it this morning, but when I read it, I stopped and said, how about just reprinting it, for it is more powerful today than 8 ½ years ago.
A Failure of Love (November 1, 2016)
How pleasant it would be if every moment of life were an expression of God’s Love, an opportunity to experience the truthfulness of the Divine. All of us are aware of God’s presence as we watch a magnificent sunrise, or sunset, hear beautiful music, or watch baby birds growing in a nest outside our kitchen window. How fortunate we are to be able to experience this magnificent godly love.
Our thoughts need to be deeper than just a magnificent sunrise. As Marie Howe expresses in her poem The Map, “The failure of love might account for most of the suffering in the world.” This must include all suffering that we, as children of God, must address, or we do not deserve to call ourselves Christians, or Muslims, or Jews. In all our holy books, the call for love from God is strong; the call to welcome the stranger is the commandment.
Instead, we reject the stranger! Lindsay Hardin Freeman says the following in her novel Bible Women: “Fleeing one’s home in time of war is a heartbreaking last resort. Victims don’t leave for trivial reasons—because the price of food is too high. They run for their lives, in poverty, often alone, always in the shadows of death and destruction.”
These are truly victims of war; they are running for their lives. Can we honestly reject these people because they look different from us, call God by a different name, or speak a different language? If we are truly people of faith, we must reach out our hands to provide homes and comfort for these fellow sojourners. To do less is to violate Jesus’ second commandment: to love our neighbors as ourselves.
So now as 2026 comes rushing towards us, I again lift this up to our accepted standards of faith to convince ourselves to follow the teachings of Jesus and not the interpretations of some errant leaders.
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99
I ascend my staircase to be to closer to God when I really want to meditate and pray. But when I think about it¸ I feel foolish because God is within me as he is with all of us. But for somehow up in my loft I just feel closer all the way up there. But the truth is, like all human beings, I fool myself into believing that if I ascend to a lofty place, such as going to church into the chapel and get on my knees and light a candle, God will hear me better. He’ll listen to me. Because I’ve done an act of penance. What a line of bull!!!!
And having a doctorate in literature, I really know how to sling the bull. What we have to do Is open our mind to the truth. And the truth is that we’ve really screwed things up. We don’t look at each other ss God wants us to. We look at each other with fear, not with love. Are you going to hurt me? Are you going to take something from me? Are you richer than me? Or how about this one? Are you better looking than I am? How prissy?
That poor woman on the street corner with no legs and no teeth. Her Game? Waiting for a quarter, so that by the end of the day she can wheel herself to the local McDonald’s and buy a Happy Meal. I look at her and I wonder where Jesus is today. But in her mind, he’s sitting right in her lap as she eats her Happy meal. Because she triumphed. She was hungry and we have helped her. Can it be that simple? Yes. Jesus saved her for today.
Read the Bible closely. In between the miracles Jesus does very little. Except giving the people hope. And that’s a hell of a lot. Believe in them. Hope. He pulls them out of their dread of life. He brings them closer to God. The one true God. The one that works within them every day. The one that overlooks the destitute that they live in. And enriches their lives. I may be 82 and use a Walker. And may not be able to walk across the room without spinning like a carnival ride. But when I stop and think about the beauty of my life. And I wake up every morning. To God’s wonderful world. I couldn’t pray for anything better.
Russell Kendall Carter, BA. MAT. Dlitt.
If you are inspired, read my latest book. Kindle eBook $3.99
“Yahweh Tsuri-The Lord Is My Rock!” is one of the ancient Hebrew names of God. I recently wrote a reflection on whether I was worthy enough to refer to God as “ABBA,” the name Jesus used for God. I am not strong enough, or pure enough in my own mind, to call God Abba, but from my earliest religious Sunday school education, I am sure, no, I know that God, you are my way, my truth, and my life. No one has the power to change that. My relationship with my Father is too strong.
I know that life throws us many problems to face; I have stumbled over many, and with the help of a strong family, a super-loving wife, and my faith in a loving God, I have been able to surpass these problems and journey on the path to spiritual enlightenment.
I’m a practical person, so I do not believe in a return to Eden, but I do believe in a path to return to earth, God’s creation, to some semblance of rightful peace. Yet I fear that humankind is too enamored by its toys of warfare! I feel that I am blessed to believe that I can luxuriate on the final lines of Maya Angelou’s Poem, “On the Pulse of Morning”:
Violence rules our world. If we don’t like something, we burn it down; if we don’t like someone, we shoot him. See? Problem solved in one easy step. Suspicious boat heading to our shores, shoot it out of the waters; politician we don’t like, kill him; high school kid playing a prank on my lawn, shoot him dead. It’s OK, our guns rule the world; ask our President.
Isaiah 24
They shall beat their swords into plowshares
Our politicians agree, because they dare not make any laws against the gun money being passed around the halls of Congress. (Sshh! we’re not supposed to know or talk about that.) We just visit the families of all the children and kneel and pray with them when their children are killed in the mass shootings at their schools or their church schools. This shows we really truly care!
I truly believe that mankind is not a feebleminded as we appear. Sometime in the distant future we will come to our senses snap judgements, not hate make offerings more important than weapons, where lovingly kindness is our first response to hardships and not violence.
If I read the Bible correctly, and accept the mythology as written, exactly, about, 2000 years ago, in the aught twenties, a vagabond man named Jesus wandered around the lands east of Jerusalem causing an awful lot of problems for the religious leaders of the times. He healed the sick and the lame, raised at least two from death, and forgave many from their sins. We call Him the Son of God; and He called God, Abba. And my question is: do we as sinners have the right to call God, Abba, as Jesus did? Jesus being the official Son of God, or Son of Man as He called himself.
I was raised in the mystic faith of Christian Science where we all we created as people who could heal as Jesus did, therefore, I deduced that we were all children of God, so I being a son of God could legitimately call God, Abba. When I moved to Virginia, my wife and I joined an Episcopal church, and I very quickly learned how much of a sinner I was to assume being an equal of Jesus. I was not allowed to take this liberty. I was not pure enough.
Being completely lost, I began a life-long study of Jesus and Christianity and have been turned around several times, led down blind allies, turned around, started over, questioned Jesus, questioned myself, never truly questioned God. My faith remained with me. There are two truths we can pull from history. Jesus preached and told many stories and parables promising that we are all children of God.
At the Council of Nicaea, to end all the bickering and arguing, Constantine finally called an end to it and demanded it be as it stood st that time; all agreed. And the structure of the church they created was similar to that of the military Constantine led. The exception being in names, instead of Lieutenants, Captains, and Majors led by the General, the church would be led by priests, bishops, cardinals, and the Pope. Just as strict a hierarchy.
I call God, Abba, because I believe I am a child of
God: because for the past dozen years, even though I have an undeniable strong Christian history, I have called myself a man of faith, faith in God, faith in Jesus. Faith in Abba!
I have come to the conclusion that joyful living is always when we are moving toward the light of God’s Love and our love of life. All is love and everything I understand is Love because it comes from God through the goodness of people. I always imagine the threshold of God’s heart shining through us, teaching us to love our enemies, again and again, and again. What a wonderful world it would be!
I am blessed to have taught for approximately 25 years. I guided my high school students for 15 years through European history and basic economics in New Jersey and for approximately 10 years teaching history and literature to freshmen and sophomores, Actually, first and 2nd year students in a Virginia community college. My only regret is that I did not start to do this as a younger man. Whereas, then at age 50, after a lifetime of studying and then teaching history and then evolving into a literature professor using the great literature of the world to help explain human history there were a few things that I learned.
Mankind was given an absolutely marvelous brain by God; but refuses to use it. Man seems to indeed live by impulse rather than wisdom. For example, and please don’t get me wrong for they do some great deeds, and I’m not condemning them, but many of the great religions of the world are built on select groups, led by consciousness, and resolutely, mythology. And these groups are destroying the beautiful creation that God made in which he put mankind in charge. I say this, for many, many people are left behind to suffer, needlessly. And the cause of this suffering is withholding the necessities of life, food, clothing, housing, and proper medical aid.
Although I now teach not in a classroom, but through my writing I try to awaken the hearts and minds of a greater audience, or let’s say a greater classroom. When I first entered the world of teaching, I tried not to go into it with clouds over my eyes. Realizing that we do not teach people, you open their minds to other new and different ideas. I look at mankind and its institutes of religion although I have condemned them earlier, I am optimistic. We aren’t always perfect. But eventually we do catch on to the realities of the world. We can’t really blame ourselves because we are inculcated by the great moneyed institutes, but if we open up our hearts and minds to see that poor person lying on the side of the road, beaten down by society, to the one that only the Samaritan stopped to assist. I read in the Old Testament, and maybe you can call me an Old Testament Christian, but there are 10 basic commandments that God asks us to follow. There is also an ancient Hebrew custom that says do not turn away the stranger. When he comes to your house for help, invite him in. It may be God calling.
On a local level, I see many churches, many different faiths getting together, helping those in the community who are in trouble. Which in the long run can possibly save us as a species. But this has to grow upwards, it has to grow up to the ultimate stage, into the country. We cannot allow the homeless to suffer. Our country is too wealthy. We must convince the politicians, the churches, the wealthy, and then we’ll see. To realize that the building that you dwell in is not the important thing. Outward appearance seems to rule all facets of government and church. . . and family. The simple Hut will do the same thing; has the $20 million building or home made a better family, or government, or church? No, it is the works done inside that matter.
I think upon my relationship with God. And realize that I am one very small peanut. Or better yet, I am one grain of sand. On the eastern beaches of Virginia. Insignificant. As an individual grain of sand. But I also know that when the when all of us grains of sand get together we can do great things. I look at the beautiful sand-filled beaches, of New Jersey, Virginia, North Carolina, and the people who love. . . that’s Love! Turning their toes into the warm sand. The children who loved to build sandcastles. What a wonderful thing for all of us grains of sand to do. We protect the shores. From the violent oceans. So, it’s grains of sand joining together. We’re not only protected. Active. But we’re productive. As grains of sand, we also do something much more important.
Everywhere together we could feed and house the poor. As people living in the world. On Earth today. Economists say that there are between 6:00 and 7:00. Billion people. That’s a hell of a lot of grains of sand. Think of the good that we could do if we emulated the sand on the shores. I live for the day. We understand that one grain of sand is no different than another grain of sand. One person is no different than another person. One group of people is no different than another group of people. We share one common goal. And that is to survive. On this rock where we live, this rock called Earth, I pray that we all can in our individual faiths and beliefs recognize the divine mystery that man’s relation with God is for all of us. Not just the select few. Our intimate relationship with God calls all of us to love the outsider and care for those forgotten by society—the ones who are rejected and tossed away by our ignorance and selfishness. Can we truly live on an Earth that struggles to be alive? God willing, we can.
I watch the very morally weak leaders of our country parading in and out of the public’s view as if they have just celebrated the Eucharist at their church of choice. They want us to follow their lead and respond in like ways to their every move. But we know better; we have a much better way!
We know that God’s way silently flows through us and spreads to others, from heart to heart, group to group, and ultimately all around the globe. All people regardless of race, origin, sexual orientation, are worthy and deserve equal rights to have the chance to pursue their personal desires.
These are certain things I think about daily. Our souls define us; they are our true essence. However, we shall not forget that these leaders are also children born in the image of God and cannot be all bad. We must afford to give them the respect we would show to any other human on this planet. The wounds caused by the greed of this government and the lasting scars can be and will be healed by our love toward each other. With hard and considerate work, the churches of all faiths will step up to supply what is needed to live for all those who have been stripped of the necessities of life.
This is God’s way and what Jesus and prophets of other faiths mean when they say to love thy neighbor or welcome the stranger into your home as a friend.
Sometimes I wonder whether or not what I’m thinking is rational. Christianity worships the Triune God. I find that to be repulsive at times. It’s more mythological than real. Do I believe in God? Absolutely! Yes! But there is only one God. God is the master of our creation, all creation. Why is it that we have to take something as important as God and bring Her (Him) down to our level of unimportance? If we believe what’s written in the Bible, and I understand that Bible was written by mankind for the purpose of mankind. It says in the Bible that God created man in his image. I am created in God’s image. Now if I think about that. I look in the mirror. Can I see an image of God? I don’t see God. I see an image of myself. A reflection. An imperfection. But not myself. Seeing myself is impossible. Because it’s not me. So, therefore. If I’m an image of God, I’m not seeing myself.
I have trained myself to see God in the faces of all whom I meet. This has changed my life. I am a happier and more sedate person, for I am not seeing evil; I am seeing contentment; I am seeing God’s perfection. Even when the person I meet is not a perfect human, I see God; I take her hand, or place my hand on his shoulder, while we are talking. We join together into each other’s sphere of friends or even families of love and understanding. We joke, se talk, we share! When we part, we part as friends; I always part with a simple blessing because we both have changed and become different people.
I grew up and matured in the life of the church. Two different denominations shaped my life, along with other factors that tried to influence how I should look at what life in the 20th century was supposed to mean; education, war, then the rush to earn money. And tucked in between all that, marriage, children, family, and the celebration of life in church. This was the life of the successful 20th century man. Life, family, and church, all incorporated by the struggles to earn money. Because . . . . . Church and money ruled our world!
My mid-life struggle began in violence after a near-fatal auto accident, a pool full of teenagers, and a love of reading history. God spoke to me and led me into the world of education, and I became a high school teacher, where I began to learn what was really important in life. Let me rephrase that; I learned really was not important I life; it has taken me many years of searching to approach the fact that I still do not truly know the answer. But I did learn during my first year of teaching that it is impossible to teach anything to young minds anxious and begging to learn. As a high school history teacher, I tried to open their minds to allow them to think for themselves and not be shy about sharing their thoughts. I was a guide, a mentor, never a teacher. And oh! How they succeeded!!!!
Over my twenty-five years of being a mentor to students of all ages, (I returned to college to get a doctorate in literate and taught in a local community college, where my oldest student was 72)and all backgrounds, and all religions, I opened my minded to all cultures and learned more from them than they could possible have learned from me. To this day, I believe that we all were blessed by being together.
I have been blessed with a variety of students who have made me a better person. From valedictorian to football star to a boy with severe cerebral palsy, or an Iran war veteran with PTSD, or an immigrant who has difficulty with the English language. All have blessed me by making me a better person and allowing me to be called aa mentor in their lives.
I am honored with the knowledge all of my students have shared with me, and at age 82, I do not know how much more time God will give me to learn more about life and what is important.
What I have learned is that we are all made in God’s image.
Meditating to Heal 
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