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A Life of Understanding
Hungry people think about food. When juggling bills and financial worries, payday dawns like the Sabbath. Jesus warns his disciples against the false teachers that ensnare the hungry. Wisdom can be compared to bread. Some loaves puff up from yeast but do not nourish. The unleavened bread used on holy days is simple, but it sustains us. This wisdom keeps its promise and brings life. Jesus looks for understanding in his disciples. Do we perceive the world around us and reflect on past experience? Is my heart hard or merciful? Understanding goes beyond analysis to the spirit that draws intellect, sensing, feeling, desire, and memory together and makes us one. Thought that denies its connection to the world is a menace. Without understanding, we are engulfed by needs or driven by dogmatic stipulations. Abundance is all around, but like lost travelers we miss the signs. Evil is a topic that lures us. Why does God allow children to be abused or people to waste away in the midst of plenty? It is good to think about such questions. Searching for understanding, we might find God present even in troubled times. The cry for help may free me. When we take wrong steps, we are not abandoned. Evil is real but not definitive. It cannot overpower the many forms of goodness in this world. The spirit puts the pieces together. Like fragments of bread, we are far from perfect. We remember the one who was broken and became a source of life for us. |