Welcome to the Infinitely Precious podcast produced by Infinitely Precious LLC. Your host is James Henry. Remember, you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.

Hello, beloved. It's another opportunity for us to talk together. It's me, James, and for me to share some thoughts. Didn't get any more, particular questions from any of my listeners. So I I was sitting in my chair earlier this week.

One of the things I I'm doing for myself sort of as an aside in the midst of the other things in my life is I am learning Aramaic. That's a language from the first century that is most likely the language of Jesus. It is the language that he spoke commonly, and most people language for the most part. As I was studying the Aramaic, one of the things that comes up, is there is in, up it's it's true in Hebrew as well. There is a single letter they attach to the beginning of words that make something an and.

And, so, you know, it it you just attach that single letter, sometimes with the vowels, sometimes without the vowels, and it indicates a connection to what has gone before and, set you up. It it sounds connective. Even the sound that the letter makes, sounds connective. And as I was thinking about connections in life, it's often translated by the way and much as our conjunction and is. I was thinking about my life from the perspective of the ands that I make in life and the ors.

Sometimes I get caught up on the either ors and sometimes get caught up in the both ands. And I think the healthier of the two is trying to find an inclusive way, the both and way, as opposed to the either or. So often, I I I think that we get very dualistic in the way we look at the world when we divide things into either right or wrong, light or dark, good or evil, because almost everything has some blend or nuance to it. It's rarely as simple as the choice may seem. So as I thought about it, it occurred to me that, to ask this question.

What if embracing and could transform the way we see the world and one another? If it was less either or, and it was more both and, could that transform the way I engage the world itself and the world in which I live? Now when I think about it from a perspective of, even my own faith coming from, the path of following Jesus, we often talk about, divinity and humanity together, as embodied in the person of Jesus. And then, sort of, through his example, learning to see that each of us bears both, both our humanity and divinity as well. Jesus sort of set us up to see ourselves that way in the way that he lived and taught.

So as I thought about that, I thought about all the paradoxes of life that sometimes, need to be held together. And when they're held together, without leaning necessarily in either direction, although sometimes we're pulled one way and sometimes pulled the other. For instance, strength and vulnerability. Is it possible to be strong and vulnerable, or are we strong or vulnerable? But you can't be both.

Is there strength in vulnerability? And, see, the funny thing is about that paradox is the faith that I have come to receive, in following the path of Jesus shows that the greatest strength Jesus had was in giving his life away, ultimately. That's what we say theologically from that perspective is great strength came in his great vulnerability. God said something about what is strong in the person of Jesus, and it's not what we always thought it was. It's not strength.

It it's not strength in the sense of power or force or control. It's a willingness to be vulnerable, to risk, and to take that risk. But we have to be able to see that there is both strength and vulnerability and that they can be held together, though they seem paradoxical, much in the same way as we would see that humanity and divinity could be held, together. Another and could be seen in, in faith communities. I have to be honest with you.

You know, I've led faith communities for about forty years of my life or I've I've had a leadership position in various faith communities throughout those years. And there are lots of ways where members, individuals within the within the faith community can see the world differently and yet remain community. Don't have to can we disagree and remain together? I've been married for thirty three years, and I would say that in those years, there have been, not the major things, but in many of the minor things, Linda and I, have disagreed and still found a way past our disagreement to be together and to find, you know, actually to be strengthened by, by disagreeing agreeably, by, challenging one another and still loving. It's easy to love someone who agrees with you all the time, I suppose.

But when they don't, then you really find how deep love really is. And that's what and does. To me, that's what and does for us. If we can find a way to reframe our lives in such a way, to, to look for the ands, because we are interdependent. We're interconnected with one another.

We, we belong to one another. And it's not just amongst humanity, but the planet itself, the universe. We're a part of all of that. One of the upcoming topics I'm gonna talk about because, several people have questioned me about it, not in relationship to, the podcast necessarily. But how is it that I can hold evolution and my faith together in a way that doesn't, that doesn't pull them apart?

How can I do that? Because evolution some of what evolution says, some of the idea that the universe is, say, 22,000,000,000 years old, flies in the face of a sense that the world was all created at once and that it's only, several thousand years old for some folks if they just follow a biblical a literal timeline. How can you bring those pieces together, hold both of them intention, and yet find something meaningful in that? So that's one of the things I'm gonna be talking about as an and in in an upcoming episode of the podcast. You know, evolution and faith and how they dance together, enhance one another, encourage one another, and can grow together with one another.

That's one of the future pieces. But so when we hold, the paradoxes, the struggles, and hold them in tension with each other and can keep the both and in front of us, oftentimes, we find yet another way through that can embrace all of what's in front of us. And I can tell just, looking back on my life and particularly recently that when my life is caught up with a lot of either ors, I am in a less healthy place for myself, that my attitude about life is less healthy, that my attitude about the people with whom I share this world and the universe, is less healthy because I'm seeing it in an either or kind of way, and it's my way or the highway. Maybe it can be my way and the highway, and we can do it together. But recently, a lot of or, a lot of, a lot of dualistic butting against rather than holding intention the ands the ands.

So I would say, since I'm seeing that so much in my, own life, And and, heck, today, I got caught up in the oars, just by reading my Facebook feed and responding in some places, that it felt like a lot of oars in my life. And I want to reembrace the ands and find the ands. So my challenge to you, my challenge to us going forward is what would it look like is if if we reframe, Every time that you want to say this or that, whatever it may be, is there a way you can reframe all the ors? Kind of look at the times that or rises up in front inside of you. The desire to split into two pieces, and ask yourself, is there a way to be inclusive, to draw together, to find a way to use and instead of or?

I know they're just pieces of the English language, conjunctions, if you will. But is it possible that those conjunctions can lead us to a deeper sense of of connectedness, can invite us in the way that we use language to ask ourself how we are connected, and can we hold intention the things that seem disparate from one another? Just my thought for the week. I'm trying to work on it myself. I encourage you to work on it.

Look in your life in the coming week for those ands where you want to put an or and see if that doesn't help you. In any case, in any case, if if you find that helpful, great. If you don't, you know, maybe next time. And I encourage you, if you have questions, again, to write me at infinitelypreciousllc@gmail.com. Remember, whether you write or not, whether you listen or not, you are infinitely precious and unconditionally loved for the gift you already are.

Until our next time together.