sb 38/40

77% Weekly Newsletter
Logo for 77% Weekly


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).  

38/40
From the desk of Dr. Laurence C. Keene

Timely Thankfulness.

Dear God,

I remember when my grandmother bought me an expensive book for my high school graduation gift. She spent her entire month’s small retirement salary for that book. I was a busy teenager who was going to thank her someday when I could find the time.

Sadly, grandmother found the time to die before I found the time to be grateful.

I learned an important lesson that day, O Lord. I learned that thanking someone quickly for the good they have done is so much better than thanking them slowly for it. I have also learned that when I am late in thanking someone for their kindness or generosity that it gets easier and easier to simply not thank them at all. Once a certain amount of time passes it is almost impossible to thank someone without our insincerity nullifying or weakening the very words of gratitude we eventually utter. When that happens our avoidance of the other person is usually the alternative we choose to follow. Avoidance is our foolish way of saving face. We save our face at the expense of losing a generous friend.

God, keep me grateful. Give me the timely words with which to express my gratitude. I would much rather have an on-going friendship with a generous friend than an ungrateful expression on my face or a spirit of avoidance in my heart.

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,
non-denominational, internet-based, 501c3-tax exempt religious congregation.

Last Tuesday / This Tuesday

Last Tuesday. I’m sitting in an Adirondack chair, my feet resting on a well-weathered log here in Sisters, Oregon. It’s my family’s annual week-long vacation at the same beautiful house we’ve rented for the past four summers. My favorite spot. Just above the little creek. Most of my worries are 153 miles away. ✧✧✧ This Tuesday. I’m sitting in my

Read More »

Five More Wisdom Biscuits

  1. I know garbage “You should put the garbage bins back where they were before you remodelled,” I tell the managers of the Grant High School construction project when they host a neighborhood forum. “Funny thing, that,” the lady in charge says, “It’s a bit counterintuitive.” She explains something city planners learned about beaches. “If there is a garbage

Read More »

Light-Lifting

✧✧✧ Introduction ✧✧✧   A long-form follow up to May’s 14/40 Five Wisdom Biscuits about smiling.   ✧✧✧ Outline ✧✧✧ A Story Deep Shit About Smiles The Joke My New Workout Plan ✧✧✧ A Story ✧✧✧   I exercise religiously—by which I mean I’m very compassionate and affirming. Today, I didn’t challenge myself to attempt an eight-rep back squat 5–8

Read More »
77% Weekly Newsletter
77% Weekly Newsletter