If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or […]
I’m a fraud. Oh sure…I find peace in yoga, meditation, prayer, and reading. I love the life of an enlightened prophetess who is certain of her spiritual gifting of leadership and teaching from God. I have a prayer closet and prayer beads and prayer candles and a firm belief in “quiet time” and silence. I […]
“He (Brian Fleming, Purple Heart Recipient) tells of his vehicle in Afghanistan being blown up by an IED. Saying that prayer is what saved him, he tells how God answers prayer, because his wife and mother were praying fervently for his return, and here he is. This, of course, begs the question. ‘Do the wives […]
“Creativity takes courage–courage to explore one’s deepest self and to let in the depths of the world’s struggles and joys, torments and agony. Rilke puts it this way: ‘Works of art always spring from those who have faced the danger, gone to the very end of an experience, to the point beyond which no human […]
I got on an elevator this morning…I glanced around trying to find someone to smile at. Instead 5 heads where staring at their smart phones. I went to a meeting today where I presented the status of a major project since the last time we met…I looked up and 4 out of 5 people had […]
“Art is not something done for another or to another. Art is everybody participating, that is, when ritual is real, when the whole community participates. No one can pray vicariously. No one can sing or chant or dance in our place. We are all meant to participate because each of us must find the ‘center,’ […]
“7. We Are Not Lazy. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heshel says that humankind will perish not from lack of information but from lack of appreciation. How right he is! When gratitude reigns, energy reigns. When thankfulness is real, praise happens. Praise is never lazy. Praise extends itself, sacrifices, gives away. Praise is effusive, it goes out to others. […]
As a kid I worried unnaturally about breaking things, spilling stuff, or just generally making a mess. It is possible that this sort of behavior comes with being the last of 5 kids and having a Mom who had just about had it with cleaning up after clumsy little ones and messy teenagers. I remember […]
The last entry in my gratitude journal on 06/04 says “I’m grateful that this day is over.” Seven words written…so many more unspoken. The last 6 weeks are a blur of survival. And when I say survival I mean mental, emotional, and spiritual survival. I didn’t intend for these weeks to be this way but […]
I thought I’d drive out of the rain today…but I didn’t. Instead I drove IN the rain…every minute of 348 miles. Not one time did I turn off my wipers. Not for one moment was there a sun break. And I think I know why… Jesus and I had a date on a stormy beach […]