Sabbath Messages | Sabbath Message: February 28, 2004

Good Sabbath

February 28 , 2004

My month of February disappears as Fran's month of March arrives. The point is that time flies whether you're having a good time or not. Mortality is Madam Fate's playground, and we are all participants. As age multiplies past birthdays, we lose more friends and relatives. Just a few days ago, my old client was called to heaven; George Pardee, always with smile and integrity, which were his vitamin pills. I hadn't seen him lately, but my brother, Lewis, and I will long remember the Pardee Brothers and our trips together, for our monthly audit of what had been happening in the world of real estate. Now there is rest, George, and you will find the true God who awaits patiently for all of us.

This is an exploding era of "passion", which makes it especially dangerous, yet filled with possibilities for human progress.

"Passion makes the will lord of the reason." (Shakespeare)
"Passion is the drunkenness of the mind.( South)
"The Passions are useful in a thousand ways and dangerous only in one, through their excess." (Bovee)

Passion--"any emotion, as hate, love or fear; intentional emotional excitement, as rage, enthusiasm or lust; the object of any strong desire." (Webster's New World Dictionary)

Passion is very good and very bad, for when the brain and the emotions are disconnected, then we run wild, as wild as any beast we can fear or meet. We feel passion in the name of love and in the name of God; but we also learn that here is a fine line between love and hate, good and bad, life and death--one breath wide.

"Our headstrong passions shut the door of our souls against God." (Confucius)

We are most dangerous when our passions fly out of control, for then we lynch our brains and our neighbors as our wild imaginations and fears subvert all reason.

And unto man He says:
"Behold the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom:
And to depart from evil is understanding."
(Job 28)

O Lord, do You ever get tired of the slaughter done in Thy name?
Is that much "good" the alchemy of evil?
And who, then, is in control--
You or the Devil?

"When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the areas of man's concern, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses." (JFK)

So I remind us of the greatness of mind over passion, that like a great, young, impatient stallion, there must be restraint before it evolves quickly into beast; the brain is our stallion and the ethic towards our benevolent God is the only restraint we have before passion turns into slaughter.

Harness heart, mind and passion this Sabbath and goodness will protect us all.

sandy