February 24-A, 2023

**Deer Isle Shoreline 02 10/12/2-19 — Oil Paint Rendered — Penobscot** **Bay, Maine**

Jesus is a metaphor 
for a fully grown human being--
for who we all are built to be.

Eden is not about sin,
it is about seeing.
Gethsemane
is about dying.

We live between Eden and Gethsemane.

Seeing is a metaphor
in that we see with 
"the eyes of the heart."

Dying is a metaphor
for living aligned 
with what our heart sees--
it is like dying to do that
because the heart knows
that living aligned with
liberty/justice/equality/truth
asks us to die to what we want
in order that we might live
in the service of what needs to be done.

Having the clarity,
confidence
and courage
to see and do what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises
is to be who Jesus was.

The world comes after those
who live like that,
and not to make them kings and queens.

Jesus is not about religion,
not about believing,
not about being saved and going to heaven.

Jesus is about seeing,
knowing and doing
what needs to be done
in each situation as it arises.

Not for what we will get if we do.
For who we are as we do it!
Being alive is about living
the way Jesus lived,
seeing/knowing/doing.

There is nothing more than that
to have or to be.

It doesn't matter what our theology is,
of it we subscribe to any at all.
All that matters is seeing/knowing/doing
what needs to be done
moment by moment
all our life long.

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Published by jimwdollar

I'm retired, and still finding my way--but now, I don't have to pretend that I know what I'm doing. I retired after 40.5 years as a minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, serving churches in Louisiana, Mississippi and North Carolina. I graduated from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, in Austin, Texas, and Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Louisiana. My wife, Judy, and I have three daughters and five granddaughters within about twenty minutes from where we live--and are enjoying our retirement as much as we have ever enjoyed anything. View more posts