Into A Better Shape

Inner Peace

Do not let the behavior of others destroy your inner peace.  

-- Dalai Lama

Darkness & The Soul

I’m wondering…about the notion, some of us have inherited, that our soul is dark; that light is something external.

According To The Way We Have Treated

Christ has prophesied what will happen at the last judgment: we shall be judged according to the way we have treated him in the persons of the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden.

-- Dom Hélder Câmara

3 Observations & A Question

We can all live far more simply — it’s our culture that’s telling us not to.

When you’re in serious trouble, you care much less about who throws you a life ring.

More often than not, doing the hard thing is easier than we thought.

Do you want to know or want to grow or just want the status quo?
 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Three critical stories that are getting buried by Epsteingate

Three critical stories that are getting buried by Epsteingate

Not to mention:

The silencing

Before Winter Solticr, I Remember

Poem for the week' -- "Before Winter Solticr, I Remember":

This, too, is what we are born for, this waking in darkness, unable to see, but still able to hear the 

shush 

of wind in bare branches, able to 

feel 

the charge of our heartbeat, the 

swell 

of our belly as it fills with borrowed air. 

I have spent my life learning to 

love 

these shapeless hours before the 

light 

finds us, these shadowsome 

nights when 

my whole being seems to stretch 

beyond 

the bed, beyond the room, 

beyond the home, beyond the valley, beyond even 

the globe, 

as if I rhyme with the dark all 

around us, 

the dark that holds us, the dark 

that surrounds 

this whole swirling spiral of 

galaxy. 

Sometimes, I feel how that infinite 

darkness 

calls to the darkness inside me as 

if to say, 

remember, remember where you 

come from, 

remember what you are. And the 

darkness 

inside me sings back.

-- Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer 

Darkness and disorientation often go together (at least initially).  This poem struck me this week as I’ve walked past the homeless around a conference in downtown Louisville and as I think about a current phase of disorientation in the journey of a good friend of mine.

Disorientation

Many times disorientation is the result of a perceived separation.

We become disoriented when we feel disconnected from something that otherwise centers us. This happens in, at least, a couple of ways.

One is when we do things that cause us to lose track of what our center is or what centers us. This could be a result of drift (we just stop paying attention to the things that orient us well to reality). Or, this can happen when we take up things that become habits which move us away from connection to what serves us well. In other words, this can be either conscious or unconscious things.

Another way this happens is when what we thought was the basis of our centeredness changes. This happens when something about that thing is revealed in a way that makes us question the validity of that basis. Perhaps, rather than it being rooted in our sense of something being right, it turns out to actually be wrong. Or, something about it no longer squares in a consistent enough way with what we had thought it did.

At these moments we're forced to recalibrate. And sometimes that calibration involves complete separation from it in the first place, often leaving us feeling disoriented in the mean time.

I have a friend who is growing through the deep-throws of disorientation right now. It is not only difficult to go through, it is difficult to watch.

A meditation on the concept...here.

But, there is also an observable pattern in such things; it often takes disorientation to enable reorientation to what is actually true or, at the very least, to a deeper understanding of it.

Some call this process transformation.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

-- Paul Lewis Boese

Improve Today

It doesn’t matter what position you find yourself in right now. What matters is whether you improve your position today. 

-- Shane Parrish

Listen To My Body

I've noticed...that our bodies are designed to communicate with us.  I'm learning how to better listen to what it is telling me.

Persecuted

Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.

-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

3 Observations & A Question

When it’s over, we’re going have to explain whether we were a part of it…or not.

We must pay attention to what needs our attention, especially within ourselves.

You already have what you think you need.

What is the narrative you’re going with right now to describe your life?

 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Flow

Beauty and harmony are often a result of flow. Where things collect and get congested, things breakdown. 

In the physical realm, most designers of hard surfaces include some slope. This facilitates the flow of whatever collects on the surfaces. If they don’t incorporate opportunity for flow, substances collect on them and over time they start to break down the surfaces.

In fact, most of nature already works this way; everything is about flow (movement). When that is happening in harmony, beautiful things seem to thrive. 

Assuming this is more than just an observation (and perhaps a model), one might project that a similar dynamic of flow enhances the quality of most relationships. In other words, when congestion occurs on our surfaces, all kinds of other things have opportunity to grow. So, what would it mean to observe and understand how flow works in our lives so that we could also understand it in someone else’s? 

One obvious thing would seem to be related to what we try to hold onto — where we try to block the natural flow of things. We’ve all heard the phrase, “let it go". 

This is true more profoundly than we know.

I Am…Here Now

Breathe in, “I Am” — Breathe out, “Here Now”:

After a long and wonderful hike to some of the most beautiful scenery in Idaho (Sawtooth), my wonder continued in a ‘restorative’ yoga session.  Doors open and fresh mountain air surrounding our guided time struck me afresh how healing (and necessary) being present can be.

Breathe in, “I Am” — Breathe out, “Here Now”

These words were repeated over and over throughout the session. As our time came to a close, they finally sank fully in and I was filled with unexpected emotion.  I was actually here — more importantly, I realized it.

Breathe in, “I Am” — Breathe out, “Here Now”

Who we are is often best discovered by more fully being where we are.  

Here’s some of what set the stage:

Breathe in, “I Am” — Breathe out, “Here Now”

More pics...here.

Insults Your Soul

Dismiss whatever insults your own soul.

-- Walt Whitman

Rest Ethic

The best work ethics requires a good rest ethic.

-- Kevin Kelly

Closeness AND Pleasure

Ever noticed…how much we want closeness AND pleasure?

We want both. Sometimes we feel like we have neither. And, when that happens, we may think we will be happy with just one. But, we really still want both.

There is a degree to which pleasure is not ultimately satisfying without closeness.

And, similarly, relationship without enjoyment feels lacking.

Over the course of our existence, we do likely experience all three (each and combined) at one point or another — though, perhaps, much less than we would prefer — but, more often only one of them, as life seems to anticipate the likelihood of longer stretches of one without the other.

The trick is to learn how to honor the gift of either (or both) from life, rather than demand them from it. As with many things, our lack of demand is what opens us more to experiencing the possibility.

Human First

Picking up a bit on yesterday's observation: You have to be human first...repeat, human first.

Not male, not white, not American...not even Christian.  

Human.

From there, you can be the other things, too. But, if you don't start there, the other things seem to get skewed pretty quickly.

And, if you're worried about that identity prioritization, humans are made in the image of God. Humans can (and should) reflect that image in how they relate to each other (to everything really).

This understanding informs our sensibility of what it actually means to be human…and what it looks like when we don’t.

3 Observations & A Question

You have to be human first...repeat, human first.

If happiness is something you feel for yourself, joy is something you know with others.

At some point, you have to recognize what isn’t serving you well and get rid of it (does it make it more true if Joe Rogan learned this, too?).

Most people leave where they don’t feel safe, either simply because they can or because they’re desperate enough — wouldn’t you?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

On The Lighter Side: Favorite Child

 On the Lighter Side:

Dehumanizing

Instagram: sharonsaysso

If we weren't already, we really need to consider this IG observation on dehumanization by Sharon McMahon.

I say 'we' because the range and content of the comments are...frightening.

Judge Each Day

Judge each day, not by the harvest, but by the seeds you plant.

-- William Arthur Ward

Like A Little Empty Attic

I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands. 

 -- Sherlock Holmes

Though fictional in character, the observation isn't.  It seems pretty descriptive, on a number of levels, with all the things that now clutter our minds.

Perhaps this is why clear thinking these days seems to have escaped us.

Care For The Oppressed

I’m wondering…as a society, why does it seem to require courage to care for the oppressed?

Life Experience

No matter the religion or denomination in which we are raised, our spirituality still comes through the first filter of our own life experience.

-- Richard Rohr

4 Observations (from Others)

We cannot know love if we remain unable to surrender our attachment to power.

-- Bell Hooks

I believe that in times such as these, we are all being called to listen. 

-- Barbara Otero-López

It may be that when we no longer know what to do, 
we have come to our real work and when we no longer know which way to go, 
we have begun our real journey. 

The mind that is not baffled is not employed. 
The impeded stream is the one that sings. 

-- Wendell Berry

How shall we negotiate postmodernity without inner strength?

-- Barbara Holmes

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

I Love America

This 4th of July, I'm not sure what to be more discouraged about, the ideologies of the current President or the congress that keeps bank-rolling them...all not under the premise of more limited government, but by unvarnished increasing the size and scope of it (ICE is now the most heavily funded law enforcement agency in the government...does that seem right to anyone?) to enable the priorities of the President.

Because...

I love America.

Though there are growing parts of it that I love less and less, I love America.  Not for all the vagaries and travesties it has wrought throughout its history, but for the ideals of freedom it represents.

And, selfishly, I love America for the personal benefits that I have enjoyed from that freedom (I know that not everybody has, for all kinds of reasons — choices they’ve made; choices that others have made — and that tarnishes my enjoyment). 

Both its great ideals and amazing beauty are wonderful to behold.

In many ways now, I am afraid for both.  Values seem to be overtaken by the power of money.  Perhaps, it has always been this way, but it seems like it is getting worse.  Though some people have always treated others badly, it now seems fashionable to do so.  

The common good seems more like an after-thought at best.  People seem myopically focused on their own needs and no longer seem to consider how those are met, at least in part, by the things we gain from a common good point of view.  Leaders seem more energized by personal gain through the manipulation of the common good than the ideals of them overall.  Serving the common good seems to have been completely reconfigured.  

Sacrifice for the sake of others at one point seemed emboldening; now it seems to be passé. 

As my recent posts reflect, it is easy to point out the prevailing fallacies of our time.  But, I love was America and want to be a part of promoting its ideals even more.

The America I love...loves each other.

The America I love...looks out for the disadvantaged.

The America I love...values differences.

The America I love...invites people to a vision for all people.

The America I love...does not promote fear.

The America I love...protects what is good.

The America I love...acknowledges where real power comes from.

The America I love...works at unity (not uniformity).

The America I love...honors sacrifice for the benefit of the common good.

Does any of this seem like what is happening now?  Well, not really, but if we can just get all these immigrants out of here....  Seriously?  How did we even get here?  This may explain at least some of it.

I'm getting together with friends and family today and doing many of the things we have all come to enjoy about the innocence of our freedoms.  I will eat hotdogs and ice cream, drink a beer, throw water balloons and...wave a flag for America (pics here).

But, in the back of my mind, I wonder (even fear) if what I love about America is actually still here...for the common good (or even for me).

Strengthened By Use

Courage is very important.  Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.

-- Ruth Gordon

'Big Beautiful(?) Bill', Con’t

Please read this. We don’t have time to wait. People will suffer.

Senator Chris Murphy just sent out this report from the Senate Floor: He specifies what each American can do, pronto. He says we do not have the luxury of waiting until mid-terms or 2 years at the rate the dismantling and deletions of our programs have taken place:

“Last night in the Senate, something really important happened. Republicans forced us to debate their billionaire bailout budget framework. We started voting at 6 PM because they knew doing it in the dark of night would minimize media coverage. And they do not want the American people to see how blatant their handover of our government to the billionaire class is.

So I want to explain what happened last night and what we did to fight back:

The apex of Republicans’ plan to turn over our government to their wealthy cronies is a giant tax cut for billionaires and corporations. And they plan to pay for it with cuts to programs that working people rely on. Popular and necessary programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP, are all being targeted. In order to pass the tax cut, Republicans have to go through a series of procedural steps. Last night, they took the first step which requires them to pass an outline of their plan, but with it, any senator can offer as many amendments as we want. So my Democratic colleagues and I did just that.

Now, we knew that Republicans would largely unanimously oppose them, but we had two objectives here. One, Republicans were forced to put their opinion on record — many for the first time — on the most corrupt parts of Trump and Musk’s agenda. Two, as I’ve been saying, I am going to make every process and procedure as slow and painful as possible for as long as my colleagues choose to ignore the constitutional crisis happening before our eyes.

So what did we propose?

We proposed no tax cuts for anyone who makes a billion dollars a year.

We made them vote on whether or not Elon Musk and DOGE should have limitless access to Americans’ personal data.

We made them vote on whether to protect IVF and require insurers to cover it. Every single amendment Democrats proposed was shot down.

On almost every single amendment, Republicans universally opposed it. Every Republican voted against our proposal to prevent more tax cuts for billionaires. The corruption and theft is happening in the open here.

The whole game for Republicans is taking your money and giving it to the wealthiest corporations and billionaires — even if it means kicking your parents out of a nursing home or turning off Medicaid for the poorest children.

They know what they are doing is deeply unpopular. They are offering a tax cut to the most wealthy that is 850 times larger than what they are offering working people. Oh and by the way, any tax cuts for working people are going to be washed out by higher costs for basic necessities, like health care and food. It’s a fundamental injustice.

Thanks to your pressure and support, many of my Democratic colleagues have joined my effort to do everything we can to make sure they cannot destroy democracy and steal your money in the dark of the night. We are being loud about what is happening. I’m going to continue to grind the gears of Congress down as much as possible to make it that much harder and slower to get away with this corruption. That’s why the votes lasted until nearly 5 AM.

DO NOT PRESS SHARE. JUST COPY THE ENTIRE POST AND PASTE IT ON YOUR OWN WALL.

This is a five-alarm fire. I don’t think we have two years to plan and fight back. I think we have months. It’s still in our power to stop the destruction of our democracy with mass mobilization and effective opposition from elected officials.

So we can’t miss any opportunity to take advantage of opportunities to put Republicans on the record and shine a light on what is happening.

And you have a role to play in this as well. I need you to amplify what’s happening, support the leaders who are fighting for you to make sure they can continue speaking truth to power against Musk and Trump’s billionaire cronies, and show up at rallies and town halls.

Use every tool at your disposal to send a message loud and clear about how you expect my colleagues to lead and fight in this moment.”

-- Chris Patrick Murphy, US Senator

The insidious part (of which there are many) is that our President is gloating about what this will enable him to expand against people he has wholesale characterized in terms quite similar to those used in Nazi Germany less than 100 years ago (just trade Jews then for immigrants now).

Most Republicans are either too naïve about what is happening or too scared to stop him (only 3 Republican senators voted NO on the bill).

Polls continue to show the majority of Americans oppose the bill.

It's Authoritarianism wrapped in bureaucratic language....

We have to wake up before it is too late.  At that point, saying "Gosh, I just didn't know..." will be such a pitiful response.  We need to respond now (especially, since we didn't earlier — that's on us as Trump has told us all the way along what his intentions were...and are).

Differentiation Comes From Clarity

Companies that offer too many options often struggle to differentiate. Differentiation comes from clarity of WHY, not excess of WHAT.

-- Simon Sinek

'Big Beautiful(?) Bill'

GOP tax bill would cost poor Americans $1,600 a year and boost highest earners by $12,000, CBO says

And, this may not even be the worst part of it.

Have you seen what it funds (besides more of this)? And, what it takes money away from to do so (not to mention how much money it adds to the deficit), like this and this?

Even Elon Musk calls it political suicide (but, here might be why...).

Such things, in the end, reflect what we value.  In this case (though it's not the first time, to be sure), it seems primarily about how to make more money now (not about what's good for us or our future).

It's like money is our god or something (somebody else mentioned that once)....

And, there's really nothing beautiful about it.

Jesus Moved, Touched, Wept, and Welcomed

Instagram: brcremer

3 Observations & A Question

How we see ourselves is critical and the lens we use to do so is important.

Don’t develop the habit of isolating yourself — it’s too easy to do.

Fox News is the bane of the older evangelical generation.

Don't we know yet how repulsive self-righteousness is?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Make You Numb

Father of U.S. Marines punched and arrested by Border Patrol agents in Orange County

Disgusting....

Story after story after story like this one continue to emerge.

Can we really be unfazed by this as long as 'it's not one of us'?  When will outrage prevail?

Even more than outrage, we need solidarity and sensitivity; not to mention, nonviolence. Continue here….

Lying

When lying becomes prolific, it’s hard to believe anything is true. Believing is the operative concept here — a function of trust. If a person cannot be trusted, it’s hard to believe anything they say. When we say, "I don’t believe you", we’re essentially saying "I can’t trust you". Though we will never do it perfectly consistently, we have to be committed to telling the truth.

Now, we do have to get one the right — to admit that we only ever see portions of the truth. In other words, none of us is a repository of all truth. Each of us participates with the broader concepts of truth, but always in a limited way. This is not as particularly a disadvantage as it may sound. It acknowledges our right size relationship with truth (we are not God...thankfully). The beauty of this is that it is the pooling of each of our limited perspectives of what is true that reveals the reality of that greater truth. We are meant to come together to share our individual and collective truth (one does, actually, depend on the other). This is, in fact, what makes truth one. And so, by acknowledging our individual limitations, a key ingredient to seeking the truth is our interest and openness to finding it, in discovering it, and looking for it. And, this commitment needs to be a shared one for it to work well.

This commitment also includes discipline with regard to things like lying, the intentional distortion of truth. We must uphold the long-term value of telling the truth over the short-term advantage of lying.

Lying is a contagion when it is normalized. When lying is viewed without morality — merely as a means to an end — it spreads both widely and deeply. Our, otherwise constructive, energy is siphoned off to combat the forces of lying. It is really a misuse of our energy that could be applied to the perpetuation of the ideals of truth. Further, it is challenging (to say the least) not to become suspicious; not only of the liar, but of anyone who associates with a liar…and their unwillingness to see or find truth. This is, among other things, the insidiousness of it, as it disempowers the forces of energy for both the purposes and benefits of truth.

The collective has to win the battle for truth. And, that is achieved by the personal commitment to seeking and telling...the truth.

Worst Thing

No one is the worst thing they've ever done.

-- Oprah Winfrey

Excel At Things

The greatest business failures often come not from playing the game poorly, but from continuing to excel at things that no longer matter.

-- Shane Parrish

Sugar

I’ve noticed…the more sugar I eat, the more sugar I want to eat.

…literally, and metaphorically.

Your Perception of God

Is God present in our world today? 

Of course, this can't really be proven (especially with man-made instrumentation).  Like it or not, we're really down to our perception of God's presence then, aren't we?

So, what impacts your perception of God's presence in the world the most?

A recent experience mountain-top experience of the beauty and magnitude of nature?

An encounter somewhere along your journey with the devastation that humanity brings on itself and its surroundings?

Intimate relationships that perpetuate the ideals of love?

The damage you’ve seen or experienced from someone or something?

In other words, is it the height of your experience with beauty and joy or the depth of it with depravity and despair?

What would you add to the list…or to the question?

Don’t Match The Energy

3 Observations & A Question

All they need is enough, it doesn’t even have to be a majority — just enough. 

If you don’t want to say it now, it only gets harder to say it later.

It is far more effective to work on yourself, than on somebody else.

Do you know much you can take? — how do you know?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

Authoritarianism, Con’t

Instagram: sharonsaysso

Authoritarianism:

The law cracks down on protesters and librarians, but shields corrupt officials and violent allies.

Disagreeing with power is called betrayal.  But those who lie to protect it are promoted.

Distracts, distorts, and divides, so no one notices what people in power are actually doing.

-- Sharon McMahon

Mesmerized

We often seem mesmerized by the marvels of technology.

Perhaps, as a species, we always have been, which if so may signal that much of what is seemingly new isn't...all that much.

Something about man-made technology seems to pull us away from the technology of the natural world.

I was on a walk early one morning and heard the blast of a train horn off in the distance. I remember having a feeling about it. It was cool. Cool, because of what it represented and the technology involved with building a device that can carry large weights and quantities of things over great distances. Cool, also, probably because of something nostalgic about it that struck a cord in me.

Meanwhile, birds were tweeting. Bullfrogs were belching. The leaves of trees were rustling all around me. There was nearly constant sound, multiple simultaneous sounds, as the world was waking up.

I read something recently that promoted the notion that you really have to look at something for more than a minute or two to actually see something. In other words, it’s not just staring at something, it is receiving what you’re seeing in a way that allows you to truly see what the image represents. In our scrolling-laden age, we look at millions of things and don’t really see very much of anything. We’re not, I suppose, really looking; contemplating what we're seeing, taking in their significance.

Whether listening or seeing, we’re missing so much of what is all around us, as we mesmerize ourselves with the latest man-made technology, largely fascinating, but not very enlightening.

And this, perhaps, is as much a function of the information itself. Not all information is of equal value. Some of it, just because it exists, is meaningless. It’s just there. It may be entertaining, but offers very little to life (not everything is 'life-changing', nor should it be). We seem to take great pride in our ability to process information when, in fact, we’re not really processing much of it at all, not to mention what of it is actually of any value to us.

This is likely why, time and again, distancing ourselves from the bright-and-shiny of technology, and returning to the basic environments, systems, and beauty of the natural world often reveal (not only the distinction) something more valuable to the core of who we are as human-beings.

What is Juneteenth and Why Does it Matter: A Short History

Juneteenth Goes Uncelebrated at White House as Trump Complains About ‘Too Many’ Holidays 

A meditation: Protest, Pain, amd Joy 

In Yourself

You can only understand people if you feel them in yourself.

-- John Steinbeck

LT: What You Do, How You Do It

Talk all you want, but leadership comes down to what you do and the way you do it.

Where The Shoots Through

Ever noticed…on a wooded trail, the majority of flowers seem to be positioned exactly where light shoots through?

Guardian Angel or…?

Do you believe in guardian angels?

Perhaps, the question really is, do I?  

It's hard not to notice when a more serious consideration of the question is in play — like when you're in some kind of trouble.

I recently did a 14-er with Tami, our daughter, son-in-law, and 1 yr old grandson in Colorado.  I was not prepared, in a variety of ways, because of the last minute nature of the decision to do it.  But, I thought if they were all doing it, I'd probably be fine.

It was a beautiful day.  But the higher we got, the windier and colder it got.  Not only did I not have the right shoes, but I also only had a wind-breaker.  We usually are quite prepared for these kinds of thing, but not this time...including my hydration level from the day before, not to mention the elevation issues at this altitude.  You may know where this story is headed....

As most 14-ers do, this one required some effort, especially against the cold and wind.  While our grandson did great, at some point the elements were too much and they turned back.  Tami and I forged ahead.  We could see the summit and find such things, like a final push, the kind of challenge we are invariably grateful for (at the top anyway).

The higher we went, though, the more ground I was losing physically (and, perhaps, psychologically as the impacts of the cold and increasing effort set in).  We made it to top (see here).  But, I was worn down in more than one way.  I was shaking from the cold and losing some mental capacity.

After a few pics (where I had to try to smile), we headed back down.  Here's where things really got interesting.  I only had tennis shoes and they, on the melting snow, were more like skies than anything else.  I started to slip and fall. 

...dozens of times.  I made very little progress and now was not only tired and cold, but also quite wet.

And, psychologically, rather than staying above it, I was starting to go...under.

Due to the melting, the snow path was less clear and increasingly I was sinking down to my knees in the depth of it.  My shoes were now soaked and I was having trouble pulling myself up.  In spite of Tami's active encouragement to keep going, Why am I doing this? was climbing over and sucking on my mind and I was sinking in more ways than one.  Looking back, I was probably in more trouble than I realized.

A couple of other hikers noticed my struggle and came over to offer assistance.  Slightly chagrinned, I accepted as they helped support my physical decline and guided me towards less challenging areas.  One in particular, Caden (see above), literally bent down to pick me up and hold me until I could go on.  He walked with us a ways further.  After we got past the tree line, he let me use his shoulder to take the big steps down the rocky trail.  He stepped into several muddy parts to provide more support for me.  In fact, he walked us (me) literally all the back to our car.

I marveled at his willingness to not do whatever he would have done if we weren't helping me.  We talked quite a bit (due to my slow, knee-pained pace) and learned a lot of his life-story (which was amazing in many ways...not unlike any of ours).  At one point, when I understood more of who he saw himself to be ("this is what I'm here for", he explained, "to help people"), I wondered about the timing of it all and how this circumstance could be much more than just a physical one (out of my sense of need, it felt like a spiritual one, too).  In describing the story to someone else, their response was that Cayden was a 'God-send'.

Though I have come to doubt such attributions more than I used to (a story for another day), I felt an accuracy about the attribution.  A guardian angel?  Maybe.

I have to admit I don't know much about the angelic realm — how often or how much it intervenes in ours.  But, I know that many people have believed in it across the spans of time.  And, I have never succeeded bifurcating the blend of both.  I have a latent degree of confidence that many unexplainable things are just that, unexplainable and that that does not eliminate the real possibility of multiple kinds of reality.

As time passes from the event, my rational mind imports more explanations.  Nonetheless, the circumstances point to something beyond where rationality seems to fall short, especially (and conspicuously) in times of need.

Do you believe in guardian angels?  When?  Why?

3 Observations & A Question

The more you do something, the more understand it.

We often pray for relief when, perhaps, what we should be praying more about is the contribution we’re making to our need of relief. 

It’s a shame if your perspective of the world is limited by your lack of experience of the world.

What keeps you on your toes?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question….

The Parade

-- Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American

We have no kings here, we have no queens here, we have no emperors, we have no dictators, we have no despots, and we have no serfs and no slaves and no subjects, and none of us is a subject to Donald Trump. None of us is a subject to Mike Johnson. We are all citizens, those of us who aspire and attain to public office are nothing but the servants of the people. And the minute that somebody in public office thinks that they're a king, they're a queen, they're an emperor, they're a dictator, that is time for the people to evict, eject, reject, impeach, try, convict, and start all over again, because the most important words of our Constitution are the three first words of the Constitution: ‘We the people.’

-- Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a constitutional scholar

Dad and Ron

From Michiana Chronicles: 

2025 has been a year of seismic shifts. The loss of two men I greatly loved, admired, and respected seemed to punctuate those changes for me. 

At the beginning of February, my childhood pastor, Ron Kennel, died. By the end of the month, my dad, Joe Krabill, was also gone. Ron was 81. Dad was 94, a little over two weeks away from celebrating his 95th birthday. When I was about two months old... continue here.

-- Tony Krabill

Another wonderful consideration on being a Dad: 

I'm taking piano lessons with my son

President of the United States: "Animals"?

Try as we may, we just can't avoid the escalating drama in our federal government.  This, in part, is due to what appears to be the intention — to create that drama.  Both by rhetoric and show of physical force, trying to ignore it is no longer an option.

Unbelievably, the President of the United States is making wholesale references to American citizens who protest as 'animals':

Trump calls L.A. protesters ‘animals,’ ‘foreign enemy’ in speech to recognize anniversary of the U.S. Army

The use of this term, in this context, is an overt attempt to pit those referred to against what would otherwise be the case. In other words, to describe human beings as animals is overtly dehumanizing.  Trump must think that doing so is effective – that it will garner something in the audience (as it has in the past by other leaders with a lust for power).

Further, and against that backdrop, it appears that anyone who protests (not just in LA) will be subject to "...very big force":

If there’s any protester wants to come out, they will be met with very big force…. For those people that want to protest, they’re going to be met with very big force.

-- Donald Trump

We didn't seem to take him seriously the first time around; will we now (maybe, we finally are)?  ...more facts / less theatre (a parade?!?) here and here.

Democracy is under assault right before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived. He’s taking a wrecking ball…to our founding fathers’ historic project: three coequal branches of independent government.

I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress, and fear. But I want you to know that you are the antidote to that fear and that anxiety. What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment.  Do not give in to him.

-- Gavin Newsom

The correct way to connect the authoritarian presence in LA and the Big Beautiful Bill is that the bill gives the government the resources to do this in dozens of cities at once. So if you don't like what's happening in LA, it's coming to your town if the bill passes.

-- David Dayen, The American Prospect

For years to come, there are many people on the right, in the media and voters at large, that are going to be having to explain and justify how they fell into this trap of supporting Donald Trump. 

-- Marco Rubio