COMPASSION—NOT CONDEMNATION

ODB: Habits Of A Healthy Mind

There is much said today about improving our health by developing habits of optimism, whether facing a difficult medical diagnosis or a pile of dirty laundry. Barbara Fredrickson, PhD, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina, says we should try activities that build joy, gratitude, love, and other positive feelings. We know, however, that more is required than a general wish for
COMPASSION—NOT CONDEMNATION

ODJ: name above all names

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Using Google Instant Search, I decided to do an experiment to determine how many letters it would take for their algorithm to recognise that I was searching for references to deity—not pop culture. After starting from scratch, by clearing my browser and search histories, I started typing, and here’s what happened: One letter “J” yielded Justin Bieber, Jetblue. “JE” yielded Jennifer Law
COMPASSION—NOT CONDEMNATION

ODB: What Money Can’t Buy

“There are some things money can’t buy—but these days, not many” according to Michael Sandel, author of What Money Can’t Buy. A person can buy a prison-cell upgrade for $90 a night, the right to shoot an endangered black rhino for $250,000, and your doctor’s cell phone number for $1,500. It seems that “almost everything is up for sale.”But one thing money can’t buy i
COMPASSION—NOT CONDEMNATION

ODJ: compassion—not condemnation

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An episode of the BBC show Call the Midwife, set years ago in London, tells the story of a mother who reluctantly prepared to have her unborn baby adopted as soon as she was born. She did so because the child hadn’t been fathered by her husband. And it was probably going to be obvious, for the skin color of the baby’s biological father was black while the woman and her husband were wh
COMPASSION—NOT CONDEMNATION

ODB: Chinese Proverbs

Chinese proverbs are common and often have stories behind them. The proverb “pulling up a crop to help it grow” is about an impatient man in the Song Dynasty. He was eager to see his rice seedlings grow quickly. So he thought of a solution. He would pull up each plant a few inches. After a day of tedious work, the man surveyed his paddy field. He was happy that his crop seemed to have “grown
COMPASSION—NOT CONDEMNATION

ODJ: gateway to grace

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When my oldest daughter was very young, it was always difficult to get her to admit when she had done something wrong. She was skillfully evasive and seemed to have a knack for explaining away a bad situation. Her indiscretions were usually very minor—she was essentially a ‘good girl’. But her habit of never admitting her mistakes was a source of concern to us. One day, she decided—without
COMPASSION—NOT CONDEMNATION

ODB: For Our Health

According to a prominent Duke University Medical Center researcher, “If thankfulness were a drug, it would be the world’s best-selling product with [health benefits] for every major organ system.”For some, being thankful means simply living with a sense of gratitude—taking time to recognize and focus on the things we have, instead of the things we wish we had. The Bible takes the idea of t
COMPASSION—NOT CONDEMNATION

ODJ: but God . . .

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A man dealing with despair confessed to a Bible teacher, “My life is really in bad shape.” “How bad?” asked the teacher. Burying his head in his hands, the man moaned, “I’ll tell you how bad—I’ve got nothing left but God.” The man thought that life had dealt him a bad hand. He didn’t understand that “but God” is an frequently repeated comforting expression found in the Bibl
COMPASSION—NOT CONDEMNATION

ODB: Blended Together

My wife, Janet, bought me a new Dreadnought D-35 guitar for my 65th birthday. Originally developed in the early 1900s, the Dreadnought style is larger than most guitars designed during that time, and it’s known for its bold and loud tone. It was named after the large World War I British battleship the HMS Dreadnought. The back of the D-35 is unique. Because of the shortage of wide piec