United Church of Two Harbors

So, what are you having for lunch?

Doesn't sound like an earth shattering question, but the people at the PB&J Campaign think differently. They are encouraging people to eat more peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to help slow global warming, save water, and save land from deforestation, overgrazing, and pesticides. This is over other lunch alternatives such as burgers or ham sandwiches or even cheese sandwiches. This is all based on eating lower on the food chain and, thus, having a smaller environmental impact. They run the numbers and it's pretty astounding. And, if you are sick of peanut butter and jelly, they suggest some tasty alternatives.

Also, I have to say, their website layout and design is very tasteful and fun.

So, what are you having for lunch?

Fear can be an excellent motivator. A couple years ago a member of my family was suffering from some heart problems. Knowing that heart problems run in my family, I took a cold hard look at myself and realized that I needed to lose weight, and sooner rather than later.

My motivator? Fear. Mortal fear.

As I got into an exercise regimen I realized other benefits, positive benefits. I felt better, had more energy, it was meditative, and all of the comments about my losing weight were a boost to my ego. Fear was eclipsed as a motivator by more positive motivations.

Likewise, while fear may be why some people initially get involved in improving their spiritual health, I don't believe that in the long run it is a good sustaining motivator.

In 2 Timothy 1:7 it says "God did not give us a spirit of fear, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline."

Bernard of Clairvaux, a monk of the 12th century, wrote of the "four degrees of love," which, succinctly, are:

1. We love ourselves for our own sake. We are born selfish and we look to our own needs first. But we begin to realize that the world is bigger than just ourselves and, further, that we are mortal, and so we turn to God and...

2. We love God for our own sake. We know that we are not sufficient and we must turn to God, motivated primarily by fear. But in our relationship with God we come to know God not as a tyrannical judge, but as loving and merciful, and so...

3. We love God for God's sake. We move beyond fear into mature love, where we are no long self centered, but other centered. And in this loving relationship we awaken to the knowledge that...

4. We love ourselves for God's sake. We move around full circle and see ourselves as beloved children of God.

We need to respect the fact that we all need to move through these stages at our own particular pace. And while we can encourage each other in God's spirit of love, we also need to be patient with each other and with ourselves.

Blessings in your journey.

For those of you who haven't yet read the seventh Harry Potter book, some mild spoilers follow.

For those of you who haven't read any Harry Potter books, this essay will still make some sense. It revolves around Draco Malfoy, a bully and sometimes antagonist to Harry. Draco spends the seven books either bullying the weak with his posse of dim-witted heavies or kissing up to those he estimates are powerful.

In the the Deathly Hallows, the last book in the series, Draco, in spite of his worst intentions and best efforts to reclaim favor with Voldemort (the chief bad guy), is spared his life many times through the actions of others, often at great peril to themselves. He is often oblivious to this or, if he has some inkling of sacrifices that have been made for him, he is ungrateful.

In short, he is a sycophantic, self-centered, power-hungry brat who has an overdeveloped sense of his own entitlement. I shake my head at Draco and wonder if he has any idea what people have sacrificed for him, and yet he shows no gratitude, no remorse.

And, wondering this, I realize that I have more in common with Draco than I'd like to think. Oh, I wouldn't describe myself as a bully, but am I really aware of the sacrifices that have been made for me through the years, directly or indirectly? Am I grateful enough for the happy circumstances that surround my existence? Do I treat those around me according to the grace I have been given?

Some may be disturbed that Malfoy doesn't get more of a comeuppance at the end of Deathly Hallows, that he has received unmerited grace over and over again. And yet we live too in that grace. Over and over again we have received benefits which we do not deserve, forgiveness that we do not merit, sustenance for which we did not toil.

So I end the series with some chagrin, recognizing the Draco within, and vowing to be more grateful, more humble, and more joyful for the life I have.