5/40 LCK Faking It.

The 77% Weekly

The 40/52-weeks-a-year, quick-reading, thought-lingering, spiritual-religious newsletter.

Religion-Outside-The-Box (oldrotb.wpengine.com) is a donation supported not-for-profit empowering adults to find and be with (the) God (of their understanding).

Torah Link

The Southern California Board of Rabbis asked me (Rabbi Brian) to write about Exodus 13:17-17:16, this week’s Torah portion.

This Is My God To Whom I Will Give Glory

05/40

From the desk of Dr. Laurence C. Keene

Faking it.

He
was faking it, dear God. He acted so confident and self-assured. He
appeared so on top of everything but he wasn’t really on top of
anything at all and he knew it. In fact, most everyone else knew it
too. It was painful watching his self-confident charade. The more
unsure he felt within himself the more he seemed to bolster his outward
appearance with boastful and prideful proclamations of certainty and
assurance. The embarrassment that others around him felt for him was
total but no one said a word to him. The King was indeed very naked and
everyone acted as if he was beautifully clothed. Truth had taken a
holiday. Everyone was faking it. Social lying begat more lying and once
we were all a part of it it was difficult for any of us to stop and
speak up for the truth.

O God, please keep us from being
prisoners of our fears. Clothe us with a clear perception and respect
for the truth about ourselves so that others won’t have to be so
embarrassed by our duplicity. Give us the courage we need to resist the
temptation to fake our living. Give us the tenderness and boldness we
need to speak the truth gently and honestly to the people who feel
unable to resist living a lie about who they really are. We know that
covering up or faking it does not ever free us from our worst fears.
Give us the assurance of knowing that the truth can set us free. Help
us to trust and believe that being on top of some of the little things
in life can eventually lead us to the feeling that we can be on top of
the bigger things too. Help us to understand that telling the truth
about our fears is the best weapon we have in chasing those fears away.
It would be so nice for all the naked people around us to be wearing
clothes again so the rest of us wouldn’t have to lie so much to spruce
up their appearance.

Love,
Larry.

larry@rotb.org

The 77% Weekly

The 77% Weekly: The Religion-Outside-The-Box Newsletter helps people find and be with (the) God (of their understanding) 40 out of 52 weeks a year.

Why 77%?
Two reasons:

1) 40/52 = 0.76923. The newsletter is sent every Monday except the last of each month.
2) In school 77% was a passing grade and ROTB wants to remind you that life isn’t graded, it’s pass/fail.

Religion-Outside-The-Box is a donation-supported,
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5/40 LCK Faking It.

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