4 Levels Of Love

Dr. Martin E. P. Seligman sent an email regarding the role of optimism in cardiovascular health. The email was advertising his book, but he generously included some remarkable research. I pass it on to you because I love you and I want the best for your life. Jennifer and I were talking about our concern for some of our friends who have such a negative approach to life. We were wondering how we might help them. Then, by some strange coincidence, this email showed up.  The studies are very revealing.

In the mid-1980s, 120 men from San Francisco had their first heart attacks, and they served as the untreated control group in the massive Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (acronymic MR FIT) study. This study disappointed many psychologists and cardiologists by ultimately finding no effect on CVD by training to change these men’s personalities from type A (aggressive, time urgent, and hostile) to type B (easygoing). The 120 untreated controls, however, were of great interest to Gregory Buchanan, then a graduate student at Penn, and to me because so much was known about their first heart attacks: extent of damage to the heart, blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass, and lifestyle—all the traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease. In addition, the men were all interviewed about their lives: family, job, and hobbies. We took every single “because” statement from each of their videotaped interviews and coded it for optimism and pessimism.
Within eight and a half years, half the men had died of a second heart attack, and we opened the sealed envelope. Could we predict who would have a second heart attack? None of the usual risk factors predicted death: not blood pressure, not cholesterol, not even how extensive the damage from the first heart attack. Only optimism, eight and a half years earlier, predicted a second heart attack [i] : of the sixteen most pessimistic men, fifteen died. Of the sixteen most optimistic men, only five died.
This finding has been repeatedly confirmed in larger studies of cardiovascular disease, using varied measures of optimism:

Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study. In 1986, 1,306 veterans took the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and were tracked for ten years. During that time, 162 cases of cardiovascular disease occurred. The MMPI has an optimism-pessimism scale that reliably predicts mortality in other studies. Smoking, alcohol use, blood pressure, cholesterol, body mass, family history of CVD, and education were measured, as was anxiety, depression, and hostility, and all of these were controlled for statistically. Men with the most optimistic style (one standard deviation above average) had 25 percent less CVD than average, [ii] and men with the least optimism (one standard deviation below the mean) had 25 percent more CVD than average. This trend was strong and continuous, indicating that greater optimism protected the men, whereas less optimism weakened them.

European Prospective Investigation. More than 20,000 healthy British adults were followed from 1996-2002 during which 994 of them died, 365 of them from CVD. Many physical and psychological variables were measured at the outset of the study: smoking, social class, hostility, and neuroticism, for example. Sense of mastery was also measured by seven questions:

1. I have little control over the things that happen to me.
2. There is really no way I can solve some of the problems I have.
3. There is little I can do to change many of the important things in my life.
4. I often feel helpless in dealing with the problems of life.
5. Sometimes I feel that I am being pushed around in life.
6. What happens to me in the future mostly depends on me.
7. I can do just about anything I really set my mind to do.

These questions capture the continuum from helplessness to mastery. Death from cardiovascular disease was strongly influenced by a sense of mastery, [iii] holding smoking, social class, and the other psychological variables constant. People high (one standard deviation above the mean) in mastery had 20 percent fewer CVD deaths than those with an average sense of mastery, and people high in a sense of helplessness (one standard deviation below the mean in a sense of mastery) had 20 percent more CVD deaths than average. This was also true of deaths due to all causes and—to a lesser extent but still significant statistically—of deaths from cancer.

Dutch Men and Women. Beginning in 1991, 999 sixty-five to eighty-five–year-olds were followed for nine years. In that time, 397 of them died. At the outset, researchers measured health, education, smoking, alcohol, history of cardiovascular disease, marriage, body mass, blood pressure, and cholesterol were measured, along with optimism, which was measured by four items answered on a 1-to-3 scale of agreement:

1. I still expect much from life.
2. I do not look forward to what lies ahead for me in the years to come.
3. I am still full of plans.
4. I often feel that life is full of promises.

Pessimism was very strongly associated with mortality, [iv] particularly when holding all the other risk factors constant. Optimists had only 23 percent the rate of CVD deaths of the pessimists, and only 55 percent the overall death rate compared to the pessimists. Interestingly this protection was specific to optimism, a future-oriented cognition, and present-oriented mood items such as “Happy laughter often occurs” (this must read better in Dutch) and the items such as “Most of the time, I am in good spirits,” did not predict mortality.
In contrast, in the 1995 Nova Scotia Health Survey, a team of nurses rated the positive emotion (joy, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, contentment) of 1,739 healthy adults. Over the next ten years, participants with high positive emotion experienced less heart disease, with 22 percent less heart disease for each point on a five-point scale of positive emotion. Optimism was not measured, so we cannot determine if positive emotion worked through optimism. [v]
The influence of Dutch optimism was a continuous trend, with more optimism associated with fewer deaths along the entire dimension. These findings show that the effect is bipolar: high optimists die at a lower rate than average, and high pessimists die at a higher rate than average. Recall here the thrust of Paul Tarini’s question Are there health assets that protect, and not just risk factors that weaken, the body? Optimism, in this study, strengthened people against Cardiovascular Disease when compared to the average person, just as pessimism weakened them compared to average.
Is depression the real culprit? Pessimism, in general, correlates pretty highly with depression, and depression, in many studies, also correlates with cardiovascular disease. So you might wonder if the lethal effect of pessimism works by increasing depression. The answer seems to be no, since optimism and pessimism exerted their effects even when depression was held constant statistically.

Women’s Health Initiative. In the largest study of the relationship between optimism and cardiovascular disease to date, ninety-seven thousand women, healthy at the outset of the study in 1994, were followed for eight years. As usual in careful epidemiological studies, age, race, education, religious attendance, health, body mass, alcohol, smoking, blood pressure, and cholesterol were recorded at the start. Epidemiological studies investigate patterns of health in large populations. Optimism was measured in yet another way by the well-validated Life Orientation Test (LOT), which poses ten statements such as: “In unclear times, I usually expect the best,” and “If something can go wrong for me, it will.” Importantly, depressive symptoms were also measured and their impact assessed separately. The optimists (the top quarter) had 30 percent fewer coronary deaths than the pessimists [vi] (bottom quarter). The trend of fewer deaths, both cardiac and deaths from all causes, held across the entire distribution of optimism, indicating again that optimism protected women and pessimism hurt them relative to the average. This was true holding constant all the other risk factors—including depressive symptoms.

Something worth living for. [vii] There is one trait similar to optimism that seems to protect against cardiovascular disease: ikigai. This Japanese concept means having something worth living for, and ikigai is intimately related to the meaning element of flourishing (M in PERMA) as well as to optimism. There are three prospective Japanese studies of ikigai, and all point to high levels of ikigai reducing the risk of death from cardiovascular disease, even when controlling for traditional risk factors and perceived stress. In one study, the mortality rate among men and women without ikigai was 160 percent higher than for increased CVD mortality as compared to men and women with ikigai. In a second study, men with ikigai had only 86 percent of the risk of mortality from CVD compared to men withoutikigai; this was also true of women, but less robustly so. And in a third study, men with highikigai had only 28 percent of the risk for death from stroke relative to their low-ikigai counterparts, but there was no association with heart disease.

Summary of Cardiovascular Disease

All studies of optimism and CVD converge on the conclusion that optimism is strongly related to protection from cardiovascular disease. This holds even correcting for all the traditional risk factors such as obesity, smoking, excessive alcohol use, high cholesterol, and hypertension. It even holds correcting for depression, correcting for perceived stress, and correcting for momentary positive emotions. It holds over different ways of measuring optimism. Most importantly, the effect is bipolar, with high optimism protecting people compared to the average level of optimism and pessimism, and pessimism hurting people compared to the average.

Why optimists are less vulnerable to disease. How might optimism work to make people less vulnerable and pessimism to make people more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease? The possibilities divide into three large categories:

1.      Optimists take action and have healthier lifestyles. Optimists believe that their actions matter, whereas pessimists believe they are helpless and nothing they do will matter. Optimists try, while pessimists lapse into passive helplessness. Optimists therefore act on medical advice readily, as George Vaillant found when the surgeon general’s report on smoking and health came out in 1964; it was the optimists who gave up smoking, [viii] not the pessimists. Optimists may take better care of themselves.
   Even more generally, people with high life satisfaction (which correlates highly with optimism) are much more likely to diet, not to smoke, and to exercise regularly than people with lower life satisfaction. According to one study, happy people also sleep better than unhappy people [ix] .
   Optimists not only follow medical advice readily, they also take action to avoid bad events, whereas pessimists are passive: optimists are more likely to seek safety in tornado shelters when there is a tornado warning than pessimists, who may believe the tornado is God’s will. The more bad events that befall you, the more illness.
2.      Social support. The more friends and the more love in your life, the less illness. George Vaillant found that people who have one person whom they would be comfortable calling at three in the morning [x] to tell their troubles were healthier. John Cacioppo found that lonely people are markedly less healthy than sociable people. [xi] In an experiment, participants read a script over the phone to strangers—reading in either a depressed voice or a cheerful voice. The strangers hang up on the pessimist sooner than on the optimist. Happy people have richer social networks than unhappy people, and social connectedness contributes to a lack of disability as we age. Misery may love company, but company does not love misery, and the ensuing loneliness of pessimists may be a path to illness.
3.      Biological mechanisms. There are a variety of plausible biological paths. One is the immune system. Judy Rodin (whom I mentioned in the opening of the book), Leslie Kamen, Charles Dwyer, and I collaborated together in 1991 and took blood from elderly optimists and pessimists and tested the immune response. The blood of optimists had a feistier response to threat [xii] —more infection-fighting white blood cells called T lymphocytes produced—than the pessimists. We ruled out depression and health as confounds.
   Another possibility is common genetics: optimistic and happy people might have genes that ward off cardiovascular disease or cancer.
   Another potential biological path is a pathological circulatory response to repeated stress. Pessimists give up and suffer more stress, whereas optimists cope better with stress. Repeated episodes of stress, particularly when one is helpless, likely mobilize the stress hormone cortisol and other circulatory responses that induce or exacerbate damage to the walls of blood vessels and promote atherosclerosis. [xiii] Sheldon Cohen, you will recall, found that sad people secrete more of the inflammatory substance interleukin-6, and that this results in more colds. Repeated episodes of stress and helplessness might set off a cascade of processes involving higher cortisol and lower levels of the neurotransmitters known as catecholamines, leading to long lasting inflammation. Greater inflammation is implicated in atherosclerosis, and women who score low in feelings of mastery and high in depression have been shown to have worse calcification of the major artery, the trunk-like aorta. [xiv] Helpless rats, in the triadic design, develop atherosclerosis at a faster rate than rats that mastery. [xv]
   Excessive production by the liver offibrinogen, a substance used in clotting the blood.is another possible mechanism. More fibrinogen leads to more blood clots in the circulatory system by making the blood sludgy. People with high positive emotion show less of a fibrinogen response [xvi] to stress than unhappy people.
   Heart rate variability (HRV), surprisingly, is another candidate for protection against cardiovascular disease. HRV is the short-term variation in beat-to-beat intervals, which is partly controlled by the parasympathetic (vagal) system of the central nervous system. This is the system that produces relaxation and relief. Accumulating evidence suggests that people with high heart rate variability are healthier, have less CVD, less depression, and better cognitive abilities. [xvii]

The mechanisms proposed above have not been well tested. They are simply reasonable hypotheses, but each can be bi-directional, with optimism adding to protection compared to the average, and pessimism weakening people compared to the average. The gold standard for finding out if optimism is causal and how it works is the optimism intervention experiment. There is an obvious and expensive experiment very much worth doing: we take a large group of people vulnerable to CVD, randomly assign half to optimism training and half to a placebo, monitor their action, social, and biological variables, and see if optimism training is lifesaving.

end

I love you- Bryan Martin

Seligman’s book can be found at http://www.amazon.com/Flourish-Visionary-Understanding-Happiness-Well-being/dp/1439190755/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1295120222&sr=1-1

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 Acts of Love Daily. Yesterday I stopped by to check on a lady whose family is in distress. I empathized with a man struggling with a life situation. I was kind and caring with a woman coping with a medical situation. I helped a woman prepare for her mother’s memorial service.  I chose not to make critical comments about someone when I was irritated. What 2 Acts of Love Daily did you do?

Why is it important that you share your 2 Acts of Love Daily? Because your acts encourage others to act. Thanks for sharing here or on my Facebook page.

I love you – Bryan Lee Martin

June 2011 – 2AOLD

Dearly Beloved,

Today (May 26, 2011) I did one act of love intentionally; I played my guitar and sang hymns and songs for residents of Twilight Haven and led a Bible study for them.  I could tell, instantaneously, that they liked it by their reaction. I liked it, too. I made me feel good knowing that I did something meaningful that made a difference to other people.

I would like to ask you join me for a summer long project of intentionally doing 2 Acts Of Love Daily (See my May 23, 2011 blog at www.BryanLeeMartin.com for background information).  Can you imagine what good things we could do? My goal is for us to complete 10,000 acts of love by summer’s end! I envision a thermometer like chart where we can add our acts of love weekly and watch it grow. You have seen some organization measure their money goals using a thermometer. Instead of money we will measure acts of love.

You will record your 2 Acts Of Love (you can do more than 2!) daily and report them on Sunday and we will total them every week.  You can bring them to church on Sunday, report them on my Facebook page, or call them in to me.  You don’t have to belong to our church to play; the only requirement is that you are still breathing. Just remember to record and share them.  I will remind you every day to write them down.

You might wonder what an Act Of Love is. It could be a big as building a house for a family or as small as a smile. It only takes one person in need and you to help. No act of love is too small; a pat on the back, a word of encouragement, a good deed. And no act is too big; going to Joplin to rebuild, giving a kidney. The trick is to BE DELIBERATE record and share it.

Why record and share it? Your act of love has a ripple effect. You help someone. It makes you feel good. God is honored.  Another one is inspired to act because of your example, and another one is helped and so one. Like compounding interest your single act of love, when shared, can become ten, or a hundred.

Kids need to get into the action, too. Parents, tell our kids to play along with us. Help them to record their acts of love and add them to our total. Think about the lessons they will learn. Shoot… invite the whole world to join you!

Come on! Let’s make the summer of acts of love! Let’s see just how far we can make this go. Let’s get a jump on it and start RIGHT NOW! Pick up the phone and call someone and do your first act of love right now. Don’t for get to write it down and share it with us. You will be glad, we will be glad, the world will be glad, God will be glad.

Come on! Come on! Let’s have some fun and make a difference!

I love you—Bryan Martin.

On May 22, 2011 I announced and introduced “2 Acts of Love Daily” (2AOLD) a new lifestyle program for the summer season.

Here is how it came about. Our business, Keller Williams Realty, is part of one the largest real estate firms in North America. Every year we celebrate “Red Day,” a day of public service and giving back started a few years ago in honor of Mo Anderson, the Co-Chairman of the Board of Director for Keller Williams Realty International.  On Red Day every office virtually shuts down and helps in food distribution, building homes, caring for the elderly, helping veterans, and so on.  This year over 275,000 man hours were given in one day. Jana Aleman calculated that number is equal to over 31 years of help in one day!

On Tuesday May 17 I saw Mo Anderson at a Keller Williams event in Las Vegas where she gave a report on the good that was done. The litany of good things done was simply amazing and deeply touched me.

At the same meeting we were giving updates and encouragement about a new program, 2-10-24, for recruiting new agents. Briefly, managers, call Team Leaders, are mandated to have 2 recruiting appointments every day. This effort will yield 10 appointments a week and 40 appointments a month. Dramatic growth!

I immediately had a stirring in my mind. “What if we had a program in our church where every member deliberately engaged in 2 acts of love daily?” I started to do the math in my head and the numbers of actual acts of love is astounding. Then I started to think about all the people who would be helped by such a program. The effects will be incredible.

But how can 2AOLD be effective over the long haul? At Keller Williams the Team Leaders in the 2-10-40 program are subject to strict accountability and reward. Can St. Pat’s church have some kind of system to help members be effective in doing 2AOLD? There are several ways that I will announce in church.

I will encourage your participation in the 2AOLD program by keeping count of and totaling the actual number of acts of love every Sunday. I will announce the actual goals on Sunday May 29, 2011 and keep count all summer long. Can we do 10,000 acts of kindness this summer?

Acts of love can be simple as a pat on the back or a kind word and it can be as complicated as building a house. There are a million ways to help and a million people to help.

While all this is inspired by the good work at Keller Williams Realty it is a God thing inspired by Holy Spirit. In fact 2AOLD is a natural outcome of our prayer, “May the love of God flow through our hearts to our world.”

While the official start of 2AOLD will be next Sunday you can begin today. Keep count of your deliberate acts of love and we will add them to the beginning of our program.

This could be the most exciting and rewarding part of our church experience ever. Here is what I know; when you help others the quality of your own life grows exponentially. Yes, you will help hundreds of people this summer but the impact on your own life will be staggering.

God bless you as you begin today to deliberately engage in 2 Acts Of Love Daily!

I love you, Bryan Martin.

Business planning emphasizes your personal value proposition, mission statements, articulated values, measurable goals; in a nut shell knowing who you are, why you exist, what is unique about you, and where you are going. One of the best “business” plans, or personal plan, I know of is one attributed to a monk about seven hundred years ago, Francis of Assisi. I know you have read it, recited it, believed it, and admired it for years now. You may even have it posted on your desk, wall, or refrigerator, but let’s have a refresher look at it.  Let’s let the words sink in and mix around with everything else that is whirling around among your one trillion brain cells. I would be willing to bet that you will get clearer focus, better direction, accomplish more, and feel better about your life and your contribution as you let the words of this little prayer do their magic.

Do this; read it silently through once or twice, then read it out loud a couple of times. Next, print it out and put it some place where you can see it and review it often. Finally, take a stab at memorizing it. Like a great business plan, its value is priceless. Enjoy!

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

 

O Divine Master,

grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.

Amen,

I love you, YOU are magnificent – Bryan Martin 

The Mississippi is not the only thing that is flooded. These last few weeks have been so flooded with events, news, and activities, at least in my life, that I need an ark to keep from drowning. More than that is the fact that there is so much emotion surrounding the deluge. I have been a virtual waterfall of tears of joy and sadness. I don’t remember being so moved by so many things, often very little things.

Like Mother’s day; our church service was fantastic and as I looked out over our congregation I could see the joy and sorrow of life in the faces of many of my beloved ones and it moved me. I realized what I already knew, that I really love these people; those who are struggling in their marriage, those beautiful dancing little girls, the one who just last week lost the love of her life. Prize winning novels could be written of their lives.

I drove the 90 minute drive to Three Rivers to see my mom Sunday after church. I didn’t tell her I was coming and surprised her. She was delighted and so was I. Mom is getting ready for the Strong family picnic next Saturday (She was born a Strong.) and she is preparing for Peggy Alessandri to come at the end of the month to start writing a book about her family. She is excited about it. She pulled out a cassette tape recording of my grandmother, her sister Jesse and my cousin Louise from 1978. They are all gone now. Hearing their voices triggered another flood of joy and remembrance. In the tape my grandmother actually mentions me and my “three” children (Sorry Justus, this was b.j.). Listening to her acknowledgement of me 33 years ago made me feel special today.

I have probably lost you by now, with all this personal stuff. But if you have hung it there this long, give me a few more seconds.

After I got home from visiting my mother Sunday evening, Jennifer’s sister, Kelly, her mom, dad and I were talking about how when people die that it is always God’s timing. “Isn’t that right, Bryan?” they asked looking for theological validation. I said, “No. The truth is some people die before their time and some die beyond their time. The dying part is not what is important. God is much more concerned about the living part.”

Right now I am flooded with life, it frequently leaks out of my eyes. I am so excited about it that I want to jump out of the Ark and swim in it.

What about you? Dear beloved friend of  mine, we are resurrection people. Live today to the fullest extent possible… even in the midst of your sorrow and loss! Let living and loving rule your heart and mind. By God’s creative love we have the gift of life… swim in it.

I love you, YOU are magnificent – Bryan Martin

Below is one of the most poignant pieces I have ever experienced. It not only touched me, but it changed me. I have the great fortune of being in love to this degree, also with my High School sweetheart. If you love someone I pray that you will deeply appreciate the blessings of that relationship and cherish it. And, furthermore, live your life to the fullest extent with the love of your life. Grab a tissue, be brave, and listen.

http://www.npr.org/2011/05/05/135995930/he-wanted-me-to-live-a-full-life?ps=cprs

I love you, you are magnificent — Bryan Martin

The big question after the death of Osama Bin Laden is, “Should Christians celebrate the death of their enemy?” I have seen quotes from MLK to Gandhi to Jesus to the Vatican and Baptists. By all accounts it is deemed appropriate to be relieved but inappropriate to rejoice.

But there is a razor thin line between relieved and rejoicing. In fact both are positive emotions of the same family. The only difference between the two is a matter of degree, or intensity. They are, essentially, the same. It cannot be wrong to be relieved that the murderer of innocent men, women and children is dead and the he, himself, is no longer a threat. It cannot be wrong to have positive feelings of safety, well-being, thanksgiving and happiness that the threat is removed. You can expect that some people will be more expressive about it than others, depending on a variety of factors. And while there is a qualitative difference, it is interesting to note that at the fall of Babylon, in the book of Revelations, there are shouts of Hallelujah, rejoicing and worship giving glory to God.

A greater question is, “Should Christians hunt down and kill a murdering enemy?” What would Jesus do? We will never know because Jesus was never in a position to do so. It may be argued that he could have called down an elite squad of angels to descend upon his compound and kill the despicable murderer Herod, but he did not. That was never part of his earthly agenda. There was, indeed, relief, when Herod died. The Judge of “the quick and the dead” has delayed justice until the end, when, the final enemy will be thrown in to a lake of burning sulfur to be tormented day and night forever; mere death is not a severe enough judgment for such an enemy. For the Jesus of Revelations it is not a question of would he carry out the destruction of a murdering enemy, it is just a matter of when.

There are a lot of moral and ethical issues about war, national sovereignty, and accountability. These seem to be more important than whether or not people should have positive feelings about the death of a murderous enemy. And while some will want to argue about whether or not the murderous enemy should be hunted down and killed, the truth is that his personal potential to plan and murder more innocents has been eliminated and we are relieved and thankful he is gone.

And so, what about love? Love longs deeply for reconciliation and peace, sacrificing incredible sacrifice for it, even personal ultimate sacrifice, as many righteous people have done. And love always protects the innocent from harm, which in extreme situations, may result in the killing the extremely evil murderous enemy. The only question is who will decide when love protects to such unthinkable extremes? Could you? Could I? Pray it never happens again, yet we know it will. Love has more than enough to do in healing and reconciliation for billions of life times. Pray, pray, pray that the healing reconciling aspect of love will always accomplish the goal. May all our good feelings and rejoicing be at the victory of LOVE.

I love you- Bryan Martin

When justice is delayed people begin to wonder if it will ever come. Delayed justice is like a wound that never heals. In the ten years since 9/11 the nation has had an open wound. Now, with the death of the perpetrator at the hands of our warriors, justice has been served and a healing has come to the land. The archetype of evil has been vanquished and the burden has been lifted. I can feel it, the nation can feel it.

This, of course, is not the end of it. The main head has been severed, but this beast has multiple heads. Nevertheless, though still vigilant, we are free. Now we can focus, with greater freedom and attention, on those things which still seriously burden the country; the economy, jobs, health care, the role of government in all our issues, and getting all of our service men and women home safely.

The events of the last few hours gives hope to those who still long for justice. Many had given up, thinking that our enemy would die a natural death without justice. Now hope is restored; even though justice may take a long time in coming we see that it is more than just a possibility. Justice comes to those who seek it, even after years.

I found this Psalm helpful and encouraging, particularly verses 6, 9, and 14-16. Tell me what you think.

Psalm 7 (NIV) 

¹ LORD my God, I take refuge in you; 
   save and deliver me from all who pursue me, 
² or they will tear me apart like a lion 
   and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

 ³ LORD my God, if I have done this 
   and there is guilt on my hands— 
⁴ if I have repaid my ally with evil 
   or without cause have robbed my foe— 
⁵ then let my enemy pursue and overtake me; 
   let him trample my life to the ground 
   and make me sleep in the dust.

 ⁶ Arise, LORD, in your anger; 
   rise up against the rage of my enemies. 
   Awake, my God; decree justice. 
⁷ Let the assembled peoples gather around you, 
   while you sit enthroned over them on high. 
 ⁸ Let the LORD judge the peoples. 
Vindicate me, LORD, according to my righteousness, 
   according to my integrity, O Most High. 
⁹ Bring to an end the violence of the wicked 
   and make the righteous secure— 
you, the righteous God 
   who probes minds and hearts.

 ¹⁰ My shield is God Most High, 
   who saves the upright in heart. 
¹¹ God is a righteous judge, 
   a God who displays his wrath every day. 
¹² If he does not relent, 
   he will sharpen his sword; 
   he will bend and string his bow. 
¹³ He has prepared his deadly weapons; 
   he makes ready his flaming arrows.

 ¹⁴ Whoever is pregnant with evil 
   conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. 
¹⁵ Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out 
   falls into the pit they have made. 
¹⁶ The trouble they cause recoils on them; 
   their violence comes down on their own heads.

 ¹⁷ I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness; 
   I will sing the praises of the name of the LORD Most High.

How does all this make you feel?

I love you, you are magnificent – Bryan Martin

I saw this tonight on Dan Clendenin’s website. I have read it, prayed it hundreds of time. Reading it tonight was like reading it new for the first time. I just had to share it with you. It is what I believe.

Prayer of Saint Francis

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is error, truth;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in self-forgetting that we find;
And it is in dying to ourselves that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.