frankly speaking: THE GOOD LIFE

Dear All of Us,

Some of us are

pretty subtle about it.

Some of us are

blatantly obvious about it.

All of us are full time at it.

All of us seek

The Good Life

Our pursuits take us in

decidedly different directions.

We fixate on everything

from wealth, health,

status, station,

safety and security,

spirituality,

salvation, significance,

popularity, possessions,

peacefulness, comfort,

sensuality, amusement,

wisdom, leisure,

sports binging, and endlessly on.

So, what way, if any, works?

The Harvard Study of

Adult Development

was launched in 1938

to find the answer.

A large group of

well off Harvard students

and a large group of

low-income, minimally educated

young men from Boston

were studied over their lifetimes.

Others from both categories

have been added

to this ongoing study

over the past eighty-five years.

In his new book,

The Good Life: Lessons from

the World's Longest Scientific Study

psychiatrist, Robert Waldinger, MD,

a lead member of the Harvard study,

updates it and its findings.

Grinding poverty

and debilitating illness

frustrate and prevent

a life of balance and well being.

It's not at all

The Good Life

Position, power, privilege,

possessions, pleasure

completely fail to provide it.

This in the face of enormous

cultural persuasion and pressure

to the contrary.

The hands down, heads up,

hearts open, consistent finding

is that

The Good Life

a life of balance and well being,

comes exclusively, fully, only

from healthy, consistent

Relationships

They are of all sorts,

types and depths -

friendships, romance,,

partnerships, families,

co-workers, tennis partners,

church small groups,

book clubs,

close in to casual.

Being single, married, partnered

is not requisite nor determinative.

Such do not cause happiness.

They can be

the setting for happiness

dependent on the clarity,

healthiness and realness

of the relationships

in those settings.

How about that?

What does it say to us

and what do we say to it?

Relationships

The essence of

The Good Life

The Harvard study

was preceded

centuries before

with exactly

the same findings.

GOOD

RELATIONSHIPS

are the basis and substance of

THE GOOD LIFE

One of the religion scholars

came up. Hearing the

lively exchanges of

question and answer

and seeing how sharp

Jesus was in his answers,

he put in his question:

"Which is the most important

of all the commandments?"

Jesus said,

"The first in importance is,

'Listen Israel:

The Lord your God is one;

so love the Lord God

with all your passion

and prayer and intelligence

and energy.'

And here is the second:

'Love others as well as

you love yourself.

There is no other

commandment

that ranks with these."

Mark 12: 28-31

The Message

Dear Ones, there is a

serious danger here.

If familiarity doesn't

necessarily breed contempt,

it surely, sadly does too often

breed deep disengagement

and dismissal.

Let's be exquisitely honest

about what Jesus shares here

and our response.

We've heard this many, many times.

But then, have we head?

What has been the timber

of our actual, lived response?

Is our primary and overriding

passion loving God?

That means all day, every day,

always and in everything,

mixing it up with God

in God's Good Creation.

Just how passionate are we

as God lovers?

Does

ALL

of our prayer,

ALL

of our intelligence,

ALL

of our energy

go into loving God?

No "sort of,"

no "sometimes,"

will energize into

The Oneness

with God

Jesus offers.

All in

is the only way to

ALL IN

We are invited

to passionate

lovemaking

with God.

There's nothing

"Ho Hummy"

that qualifies,

indeed intensifies,

as does red hot passion.

Passionate love

enfolds us into

an all inclusive

relationship

in/with

God Goodness.

It is the Good that is

base and fullness of

The GOOD Life

It is so inclusive

it means God Love

incorporates,

unites us,

in love of

other and self.

Do we really love

Other

all other

all creatures

great and small,

all the elements

united in our dinner,

all the vistas

of creation manifest

in The Rockies,

in art and invention,

in The Beloved Community,

in airplanes,

in farms?

Do we love God

vigorously living as

One

in the diversity of

God Good Creation?

Just how grateful are we

for ourselves?

What kind of relationship

do we have with our true self

our God Centered self?

Are we just plain,

flat out, exuberantly

in love with

who we are?

God is.

Do we join there?

When we are

in the embrace

of God, other, self,

a no holes barred,

a for real,

a wholesome

Relationship,

it will show up

in nods and smiles

on the street

all the way to a life style

of simply having enough

so others will simply have

enough as well,

and lots of God Good

living/loving

throughout.

This life of

balance and well being

doesn't take out

the hards and hurts of life.

It does give us

a firm footing

to wrestle with them.

When we get past

religion and spirituality

as hobbies,

as comfort stations,

as fire insurance for hereafter,

we get swept up in the

Trinity of One

right relationships with

God

other

self

It sure as heaven

makes for

THE GOOD LIFE

John Frank

******

Thanks for the chance

to be together here at

frankly speaking

spirituality for the street

johnfranshares.blogspot.com

BEST DELIVERY

Friday delivery

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

THE GOOD LIFE