How Do We Overcome Racism?

No matter how we look at it, racism hurts us all. In this country, racism stems from slavery and its aftermath. While slavery has been abolished here for many years, the pain, the shame, and the blame of it haven’t. The feelings linger, and we don’t know what to do with them, except inflict them on each other and ourselves—at times.

People of both races—black and white—have tried talking about these feelings among themselves and with people of another race, but these discussions too often still lead to even more unresolved feelings and increased frustration and hostility.

The fact of the matter is there are no intellectual words that can express the pain of slavery, and there is no apology that can take that pain away. As awful as it was, nothing can change the fact that slavery is a part of our history. The question now is what do we do today?

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Take Five to Instantly Lower Your Stress Level

I know you’re busy. You’ve got work commitments, family commitments, other commitments…so much to do throughout your day. Who has time to relax? You do—even if it’s only for five minutes here and there. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it will make in your day and in your life.

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Who Said What About Peace?

One thing I like more than a good peace quote is being able to see who said it. This really cool slide show from the Universal Peace Federation offers both. Enjoy!

(Touch image to advance quotes.)

Happy Is the Way to Be

Want to be truly happy? The Beatitudes point the way. This is a lesson I learned some months ago after hearing my pastor preach a series of sermons about the Beatitudes found at the beginning of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in the Book of Matthew of the New Testament. It was such an eye-and-heart-opening series of sermons that the messages are still fresh in my mind. One thing I noticed in particular was the way in which he used the words "blessed" and "happy" interchangeably as he so beautifully dissected each Beatitude.

This prompted me to look up the word "blessed" to see if, in fact, it means happy. To my delight, I found this definition in Webster's online dictionary for blessed: "of or enjoying happiness." And in some versions of the Bible, such as The Good News Translation, the word "happy" is substituted for the word "blessed" in each of the Beatitudes.

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Stand Still to Get Ahead

(An excerpt from my book, "I Know How You Feel.")

Come a little closer. Do you want to know the secret to getting ahead in life? Stand still. That’s it. That’s the secret. You look surprised. I was, too, when I discovered it. Then I realized that the reason I had missed this secret for so long was because I was so busy trying to rush head. I was too busy for this insight to come through.

But that all changed today.

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God Is Greater

I'm thinking a lot today about the bombings in Boston, and all the lives that were affected by them directly and indirectly. It would be very easy to let my mind slip into a mood of despair and fear if I let it. But despite this horrific act against human life, I'm reminded that God is greater. He is greater than anyone who planned and implemented this bombing, He's greater than any fear, pain and loss we may be experiencing as a result.

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