The View From Here

I have practiced Family Law in Orange County for over 17 years. I’ve been a single Mother, raised teenagers, lead Girl Scouts, held a positions on the Little League Board and PTA when they were younger. I love politics and ran for political office in 2010. I'm currently elected to represent the 55th A.D. on the OCGOP Central Committee. I have learned from politics, litigation and parenting, that there is almost always some greater good to be pursued and fought for, and that there are many important things in life that can not be purchased. I have learned that my own voice is far too valuable to compromise. In my professional life, I have been with people in the midst of their most life altering and dark moments. I have traveled a path of transformation with them and right beside them. On this blog, I candidly share some of the mysteries that have been revealed to me in the context of my different roles in life. May these thoughts and experiences illuminate the paths of others as they have mine.

My words to live by:
Live by the sword, die by the sword. Never confuse reasonableness with weakness. Always believe you can lose. Judges are human and appeals are expensive. Peace is priceless.

“What if” and “If only” are phrases I work hard to keep out of my vocabulary. (Yesterday is forgiven, Tomorrow is not promised)

Judge not, that ye be not judged, Matthew 7:1. We each have our own journey.



Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentines Day

On this day of love, not everyone has a "Valentine", and even if you do, you have to acknowledge that there are many "relationships" in your life. What better day that this day of love to challenge and srutinize relationships and whether we are really doing our best at all of them.

....A man must show himself friendly.

Friends can be short, tall, fat, thin, rich, poor, intellectually challenged, or brain surgeon material. Are any of these the factors that determine who we will be friendly and loving toward? Should they be factors? Does the data, appearance, or IQ of a person determine their loveability or value? Do we work to include, be kind to, have compassion for, and show friendliness to many people, any people, all people, regardless of their statistics?

....Let him who is without sin throw the first stone.

Are we inclined not to be not just unfriendly, but judgmental, to those whom are different than us? Is this what God wants from us, or does he want us to reserve our judgments and leave the condemnation to him. Seems obvious that he did want us to overcome our judgmental nature, yet we behave as if he has given us a duty, through our aspirations to keep ourselves “clean” and to not cavort with sinners. If we stand back and see the forest for the trees, we may see that our congregations and communities appear to outsiders as elitist clubs. Reminds me of that saying about glass houses. “Without sin”, well that is not me, and it is not you either, so do the wise and prudent thing, put down your stones. Jesus did not stone this woman, who had been caught in the act of adultery, so shy would we? He told her to go and sin no more. He did not tell her to go and extricate, surgically remove all of the sin and other sinners from your life. His instruction to this forgiven woman was to clean her own house, and his message to her accusers was to clean theirs.

...Even to the least of these my brothers.

Jesus told us that we may someday entertain angels without knowing it. He implied that these angels would be disguised as unlovely and lowly people. We will have no way of detecting them. Have we done all we can for the “least of these”, or is it possible that we have missed some and disappointed our maker? We encounter so many people in the course of our day. Store clerks, parking attendants, receptionists, the guys standing next to you at the DMV. Have you missed an opportunity to show kindness to any of the least of these?

....They will know you by your love.

Jesus also told us that of all the spiritual gifts we have received, of all the spiritual insight and knowledge we have received through him, the greatest, the highest, the best thing we can do for each other, and to show the world his love, is to love one another. Who can you show love to today? How can you show the extraordinary breadth and depth of the love of God that has been shown to you? Today seems like a good day to start.

On this celebrated day of love, who can you love better?

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