'Poem selection' for the week -- "Causing an Accident":
The moon builds its tower
Sisyphean project
Like a velvet landscape
a velvet Elvis above the booth
I want to arrive this way
like resurrection
in front of you but not
Casual on a curb
trapped in a beam
almost crossing in front
of every moving vehicle
A long pause
A breath
Skin feathered over bone
silvering and bright
We want it to happen this way
A sudden capitulation
giving way to flesh
The secret plot revealed
Innocent face with eyes wide
whites showing
before the bump
I ride in my body’s hearse
We are circling the block
We are made entirely
by confiscation
We are waiting
for love to save us
something borrowed
an oxymoron
or absolute truth
-- Sarah Bartlett
From the author:
“I wanted to write a poem that examined the fine line between salvation and disaster. Specifically in the rare moment when love arrives. For me, it’s always a hot tangle—a little shocking, a little beautiful, and a little cataclysmic.”
Friday, March 31, 2017
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Wednesday, March 29, 2017
Preparation
I've noticed...when I have to prepare for something, that I also need to be proactive about it in other ways, too, like considering what I eat, what I take in, what I need to think about (or not think about). I've realized that the thing I will be doing is impacted by how I treat myself in advance. This can be something big, like getting in shape for a big hike or event, or something small like remembering what to eat for lunch because of my workout tonight, getting ready for a presentation, or even simply just meeting with another person.
I've noticed this with regard to involvement with others, too. I need to be clean, in my spirit, when I know I will be in a situation that will require something from me, for the benefit of someone else. In other words, I won't be able to listen as carefully or identify as much what love could look like, if I've been lazy or have compromised myself in other ways ahead of time.
I wonder, too, about the broader implications are of this. When, for example, could I not be prepared for the possibility of my need to be clean or ready for something I don't know about (as opposed to preparing just for the things I do know about)? What if such preparation is more of a way of living, than simply a short-set of preemptive actions tied to any particular activity or event. Besides, what am I really assuming, if this were not true?
What if being prepared isn't as much only a kind of selective 'getting ready' as it is a kind of learned on-going responsiveness to what is going on around me, within me?
I've noticed this with regard to involvement with others, too. I need to be clean, in my spirit, when I know I will be in a situation that will require something from me, for the benefit of someone else. In other words, I won't be able to listen as carefully or identify as much what love could look like, if I've been lazy or have compromised myself in other ways ahead of time.
I wonder, too, about the broader implications are of this. When, for example, could I not be prepared for the possibility of my need to be clean or ready for something I don't know about (as opposed to preparing just for the things I do know about)? What if such preparation is more of a way of living, than simply a short-set of preemptive actions tied to any particular activity or event. Besides, what am I really assuming, if this were not true?
What if being prepared isn't as much only a kind of selective 'getting ready' as it is a kind of learned on-going responsiveness to what is going on around me, within me?
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Credit
No man will make a great leader who wants to do it all himself or get all the credit for doing it.
Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.
-- Andrew Carnegie
I find something refreshing about people from other eras who at least spoke about, if not practiced, the timeless traits of good character. I don't, in fact, know much about how this man lived, but it strikes me that simple words like these, fashionable in some circles today, have been discovered and manifested throughout history to both the benefit of those around them and posterity. They remain valuable to the extent that they inform again how to live in our times.
Do not look for approval except for the consciousness of doing your best.
-- Andrew Carnegie
I find something refreshing about people from other eras who at least spoke about, if not practiced, the timeless traits of good character. I don't, in fact, know much about how this man lived, but it strikes me that simple words like these, fashionable in some circles today, have been discovered and manifested throughout history to both the benefit of those around them and posterity. They remain valuable to the extent that they inform again how to live in our times.
Monday, March 27, 2017
Sunday, March 26, 2017
New Lens
If you wear glasses, you likely often forget that they’re even there! Only when you take the lenses off do you realize how much your capacity to see is informed by the lens through which you are seeing. When we talk about metaphysics we are speaking of a specific lens by which we have tended to perceive reality. Like glasses that we’ve grown accustomed to but are no longer strong enough, we need a “system update” in our Christian tradition. I believe the Trinity is our necessary new lens.
When we look at the Trinity from a metaphysical standpoint rather than simply a theological standpoint, it’s not so much about persons in relationship as it is about a process by which the world is constructed and maintained.
The vast majority of the world’s metaphysical systems are binary. They work on the principle of paired, equal opposites. We see great archetypal polarities that are somehow held in balance: male/female, dark/light, conscious/unconscious, good/evil, action/being. Our dualistic minds feel comfortable in that kind of binary swing. Binary systems prefer symmetry and come to resolution in stasis or stillness.
My hunch is that Christian metaphysics are not binary—as traditional religious metaphysics are—but ternary (having three parts). This is precisely because of Christ and the Trinity.
Ternary systems have three independent forces coming together to form something new, a fourth thing. Perhaps the simplest example is a braid. You need at least three sections of hair for a braid to hold; the braid is then a new creation. The interweaving of threeness results in something that didn’t exist before. It is not just a swinging back and forth between two old things that were already there, but a drive into a brand new dimension.
While a binary system is by nature stable and symmetrical, a ternary system is asymmetrical and innovative. Unlike a pendulum, it cannot come to equilibrium within its own orbit; it seeks stability in a new plane, through a resolution that is at the same time a new arising. It corkscrews its way through time, matter, form—whatever plane is at hand—in a riot of uncertainty and new combinations, the whole of which is the fullness of divine reality.
I believe that Christianity has, from the start, been a ternary swan in a binary duck pond. Once the ugly duckling has been correctly identified as a baby swan, we begin to see valuable clues for healing the schism between theology and metaphysics and for tapping into a ternary system’s inherent aptitude for dynamism, change, and process. That, I believe, is the real reason for paying more serious attention to this obscure principle of the Trinity.
-- Cynthia Bourgeault
When we look at the Trinity from a metaphysical standpoint rather than simply a theological standpoint, it’s not so much about persons in relationship as it is about a process by which the world is constructed and maintained.
The vast majority of the world’s metaphysical systems are binary. They work on the principle of paired, equal opposites. We see great archetypal polarities that are somehow held in balance: male/female, dark/light, conscious/unconscious, good/evil, action/being. Our dualistic minds feel comfortable in that kind of binary swing. Binary systems prefer symmetry and come to resolution in stasis or stillness.
My hunch is that Christian metaphysics are not binary—as traditional religious metaphysics are—but ternary (having three parts). This is precisely because of Christ and the Trinity.
Ternary systems have three independent forces coming together to form something new, a fourth thing. Perhaps the simplest example is a braid. You need at least three sections of hair for a braid to hold; the braid is then a new creation. The interweaving of threeness results in something that didn’t exist before. It is not just a swinging back and forth between two old things that were already there, but a drive into a brand new dimension.
While a binary system is by nature stable and symmetrical, a ternary system is asymmetrical and innovative. Unlike a pendulum, it cannot come to equilibrium within its own orbit; it seeks stability in a new plane, through a resolution that is at the same time a new arising. It corkscrews its way through time, matter, form—whatever plane is at hand—in a riot of uncertainty and new combinations, the whole of which is the fullness of divine reality.
I believe that Christianity has, from the start, been a ternary swan in a binary duck pond. Once the ugly duckling has been correctly identified as a baby swan, we begin to see valuable clues for healing the schism between theology and metaphysics and for tapping into a ternary system’s inherent aptitude for dynamism, change, and process. That, I believe, is the real reason for paying more serious attention to this obscure principle of the Trinity.
-- Cynthia Bourgeault
Saturday, March 25, 2017
The Busier You Are, the More You Need Quiet Time
In a recent interview with Vox’s Ezra Klein, journalist and author Ta-Nehisi Coates argued that serious thinkers and writers should get off Twitter. It wasn’t a critique of the 140-character medium or even the quality of the social media discourse in the age of fake news.
It was a call to get beyond the noise.
For Coates, generating good ideas and quality work products requires something all too rare in modern life: quiet.
He’s in good company. Author JK Rowling, biographer Walter Isaacson, and psychiatrist Carl Jung have all had disciplined practices for managing the information flow and cultivating periods of deep silence. Ray Dalio, Bill George, California Governor Jerry Brown, and Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan have also described structured periods of silence as important factors in their success.
Recent studies are showing that taking time for silence restores the nervous system, helps sustain energy, and conditions our minds to be more adaptive and responsive to the complex environments in which so many of us now live, work, and lead. Duke Medical School’s Imke Kirste recently found that silence is associated with the development of new cells in the hippocampus, the key brain region associated with learning and memory. Continue here.
-- Justin Talbot-Zorn & Leigh Marz
It was a call to get beyond the noise.
For Coates, generating good ideas and quality work products requires something all too rare in modern life: quiet.
He’s in good company. Author JK Rowling, biographer Walter Isaacson, and psychiatrist Carl Jung have all had disciplined practices for managing the information flow and cultivating periods of deep silence. Ray Dalio, Bill George, California Governor Jerry Brown, and Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan have also described structured periods of silence as important factors in their success.
Recent studies are showing that taking time for silence restores the nervous system, helps sustain energy, and conditions our minds to be more adaptive and responsive to the complex environments in which so many of us now live, work, and lead. Duke Medical School’s Imke Kirste recently found that silence is associated with the development of new cells in the hippocampus, the key brain region associated with learning and memory. Continue here.
-- Justin Talbot-Zorn & Leigh Marz
Friday, March 24, 2017
Cake
'Poem selection' for the week -- "Cake":
Look, you
want it
you devour it
and then, then
good as it was
you realize
it wasn’t
what you
exactly
wanted
what you
wanted
exactly was
wanting
-- Noah Eli Gordon
Look, you
want it
you devour it
and then, then
good as it was
you realize
it wasn’t
what you
exactly
wanted
what you
wanted
exactly was
wanting
-- Noah Eli Gordon
Thursday, March 23, 2017
By Accident
Most of us live our lives by accident -- we live it as it happens. Fulfillment comes when we live our lives on purpose.
-- Simon Sinek
Quit holding on to your love of
waiting to find your purpose;
give it away freely and
purpose will find you.
-- Bob Goff
-- Simon Sinek
Instagram: bobgoff
Quit holding on to your love of
waiting to find your purpose;
give it away freely and
purpose will find you.
-- Bob Goff
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Receptivity
When do we receive truth? Many such questions are best answered by the asking of another question. Perhaps something like, when does soil receive rain?
When does soil receive seeds? When does truth start to grow? Here, this seems to happen most often when the 'ground' has been plowed, when it is softened, when it is open. Otherwise, rain (and truth) seems to just run off the surface to the side.
So how do we become receptive to truth? We can do some of the tilling ourselves, often with life's help, by how we choose to live. Or, God can till us (also, often with life's help)...sometimes simply from the consequences of our own hardness or lack of receptivity.
What makes us receptive? Or, perhaps another way towards the question, what makes us hard?
When does soil receive seeds? When does truth start to grow? Here, this seems to happen most often when the 'ground' has been plowed, when it is softened, when it is open. Otherwise, rain (and truth) seems to just run off the surface to the side.
So how do we become receptive to truth? We can do some of the tilling ourselves, often with life's help, by how we choose to live. Or, God can till us (also, often with life's help)...sometimes simply from the consequences of our own hardness or lack of receptivity.
What makes us receptive? Or, perhaps another way towards the question, what makes us hard?
Tuesday, March 21, 2017
Misery & Abundance
The selfishness of man creates misery. The selflessness of God creates abundance.
Monday, March 20, 2017
March Madness - On To The Sweet Sixteen
...more pics here. And then, Michigan went on to land a spot in the 'Sweet Sixteen'!
Sunday, March 19, 2017
Mercy Anywhere, On Our Knees
When prayer is authentic, it will always lead to actions of mercy; when actions of mercy are attempted at any depth, they will always drive you to prayer.
-- Richard Rohr
Saturday, March 18, 2017
SM Brunch 22: Best Players, Curiosity, Knowledge
Another Saturday Mornings Brunch:
The best players have curious minds.
-- ESPN Interview
****
Curiosity is the path to enlightenment. Certainty is the path to ignorance.
****
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.
-- Confucius
****
Our experience with life is always creating opportunity; opportunity for us to know (and experience) something more; more deeply, more truly. We have a choice; to shut it down or to open ourselves more and more to it.
****
...like these kids:
The best players have curious minds.
-- ESPN Interview
****
Curiosity is the path to enlightenment. Certainty is the path to ignorance.
****
Real knowledge is to know the extent of one’s ignorance.
-- Confucius
****
Our experience with life is always creating opportunity; opportunity for us to know (and experience) something more; more deeply, more truly. We have a choice; to shut it down or to open ourselves more and more to it.
****
...like these kids:
Friday, March 17, 2017
Spaces
'Poem selection' for the week -- "Spaces":
I do not know how
she felt, but I keep
thinking of her—
screaming out to an empty street.
I had been asleep
when I heard a voice
screaming, Help!
and frantic, when I opened my door.
I remember her shoulders
in the faded towel I found
before she put on my blue sweats
and white T-shirt. Call 911
please, she said.
When the officer arrived
I said, I found her there after the—
But she said,
No, that wasn’t what
happened.
What must be valued
I’m learning,
in clarity and in error,
are spaces
where
feelings are held.
Here—in a poem?
And elsewhere
-- Jenny Johnson
From the author:
“I tried to write a poem of witness. Then I decided that, for me, the more honest poem was the one about what a witness can’t know about another person’s experience.”
I do not know how
she felt, but I keep
thinking of her—
screaming out to an empty street.
I had been asleep
when I heard a voice
screaming, Help!
and frantic, when I opened my door.
I remember her shoulders
in the faded towel I found
before she put on my blue sweats
and white T-shirt. Call 911
please, she said.
When the officer arrived
I said, I found her there after the—
But she said,
No, that wasn’t what
happened.
What must be valued
I’m learning,
in clarity and in error,
are spaces
where
feelings are held.
Here—in a poem?
And elsewhere
-- Jenny Johnson
From the author:
“I tried to write a poem of witness. Then I decided that, for me, the more honest poem was the one about what a witness can’t know about another person’s experience.”
Thursday, March 16, 2017
Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Return
We all need to return at times to the foundation of our lives, to help us keep track of what we are building...of what is truly being built.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Genuine People
We’ve all worked with people who can’t stop talking about themselves and their accomplishments. Have you ever wondered why? They boast and brag because they’re insecure and worried that if they don’t point out their accomplishments, no one will notice. Genuine people don’t need to brag. They’re confident in their accomplishments, but they also realize that when you truly do something that matters, it stands on its own merits, regardless of how many people notice or appreciate it.
Genuine people know who they are. They are confident enough to be comfortable in their own skin. They are firmly grounded in reality, and they’re truly present in each moment because they’re not trying to figure out someone else’s agenda or worrying about their own.
-- Travis Bradberry
Genuine people know who they are. They are confident enough to be comfortable in their own skin. They are firmly grounded in reality, and they’re truly present in each moment because they’re not trying to figure out someone else’s agenda or worrying about their own.
-- Travis Bradberry
Monday, March 13, 2017
Everyone Wants To Change
Everyone wants to change, but change demands desire and discipline before it becomes delightful. There is always the agony of choice before the promise of change.
-- Larry Lea
-- Larry Lea
Sunday, March 12, 2017
Experience God's Presence
The question for me is not whether there’s a point to giving things up during Lent, but whether I should ever stop fasting from all that numbs, dulls, and deadens me to life, all of life, as it is today—the good and the bad. Fasting makes me willing to try. Continue here....
-- María de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda
The interior experience of God’s presence [through prayer] activates our capacity to experience God in everything else—in people, in events, in nature.
-- Thomas Keating
-- María de Lourdes Ruiz Scaperlanda
The interior experience of God’s presence [through prayer] activates our capacity to experience God in everything else—in people, in events, in nature.
-- Thomas Keating
Saturday, March 11, 2017
SM Brunch 21: Focus, Pay Attention, Distract Us, and Being Awake
More Saturday Mornings Brunch:
It takes an incredible amount of focus, on every series, to be successful in this game.
-- Eric Spolstra, Coach of Miami Heat
****
What we pay attention to is of ultimate importance. If we pay attention to the wrong things, we may just miss the right things.
What if all Satan can really do is distract us from truth? ...he is really good at it.
****
We make ourselves sleepy when we end up avoiding our sense of creation through our comforts, diversions, and ways of relating to others.
Creation has been designed to keep us awake. In particular, to be awake to God.
****
It takes an incredible amount of focus, on every series, to be successful in this game.
-- Eric Spolstra, Coach of Miami Heat
****
What we pay attention to is of ultimate importance. If we pay attention to the wrong things, we may just miss the right things.
What if all Satan can really do is distract us from truth? ...he is really good at it.
****
We make ourselves sleepy when we end up avoiding our sense of creation through our comforts, diversions, and ways of relating to others.
Creation has been designed to keep us awake. In particular, to be awake to God.
****
Instagram: mountainafflicted@taylormichaelburk
Friday, March 10, 2017
Poem for My Son in the Car
'Poem selection' for the week -- "Poem for My Son in the Car":
The wipers sweep two overlapping hills
on the glass, we are quiet against the
squeaky metronome as we often are
before the concerns of the day well up.
Today: Is it dark inside my body?
The wet cedar’s dark of green-gone-black
of damp earth mending itself,
a pewter bell rung into night’s collected
sigh, choral and sleep-sunk.
Dark as the oyster’s clasp
in its small blind pocket
and the word pocket a tucked notion
set aside in-case-of.
Inside there are vestibules, clapboards
trapdoors, baskets,
there is cargo,
there is the self carrying the self
sprint, trodden—
nowhere does it not—
and mournful as a spine bowing to wood
you carry your actions; inside
is cave and concern,
everything purposeful
heartwood, clockwork, crank and tender
iron in the mountain belly,
all the hidden things breathing.
Outside of and woven into, you are
the knowledge you can’t touch
the desire you can’t locate,
unnameable questions unnameable answers,
source and tributary
and the rivers that hold you
beneath. Your darkness
lives in that potential,
snowblind
aurora
pulse
shore.
-- Jennifer K. Sweeney
From the author:
“The car is something of a truth portal for my son; from the steady rhythm and blurring landscapes, and with both of us pointed forward, budding philosophies, fears, and confessions arise. When he asked me this question at age five, I was moved in such a way I kept peeling back its layers—what might it mean to understand the darkness of the body. The more I turned over his question, the more darkness felt akin to tenderness.”
The wipers sweep two overlapping hills
on the glass, we are quiet against the
squeaky metronome as we often are
before the concerns of the day well up.
Today: Is it dark inside my body?
The wet cedar’s dark of green-gone-black
of damp earth mending itself,
a pewter bell rung into night’s collected
sigh, choral and sleep-sunk.
Dark as the oyster’s clasp
in its small blind pocket
and the word pocket a tucked notion
set aside in-case-of.
Inside there are vestibules, clapboards
trapdoors, baskets,
there is cargo,
there is the self carrying the self
sprint, trodden—
nowhere does it not—
and mournful as a spine bowing to wood
you carry your actions; inside
is cave and concern,
everything purposeful
heartwood, clockwork, crank and tender
iron in the mountain belly,
all the hidden things breathing.
Outside of and woven into, you are
the knowledge you can’t touch
the desire you can’t locate,
unnameable questions unnameable answers,
source and tributary
and the rivers that hold you
beneath. Your darkness
lives in that potential,
snowblind
aurora
pulse
shore.
-- Jennifer K. Sweeney
From the author:
“The car is something of a truth portal for my son; from the steady rhythm and blurring landscapes, and with both of us pointed forward, budding philosophies, fears, and confessions arise. When he asked me this question at age five, I was moved in such a way I kept peeling back its layers—what might it mean to understand the darkness of the body. The more I turned over his question, the more darkness felt akin to tenderness.”
Thursday, March 09, 2017
Intuitive Mind
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.
-- Albert Einstein
So, we can choose after all...distraction doesn't have to win.
-- Albert Einstein
So, we can choose after all...distraction doesn't have to win.
Wednesday, March 08, 2017
Economy of Distraction
There is now, more than ever, a whole economy of distraction which, among other things, conditions us to reactivity rather than proactivity.
Tuesday, March 07, 2017
Monday, March 06, 2017
Doesn't Always Knock
Opportunity doesn’t always knock; and those people who tend to sit around and wait for it for it often miss the opportunities that are waiting if they just put in a little effort. This sometimes also manifests as someone waiting around for the “easy button” scheme that will help them do the thing.
As Thomas Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Successful people understand that opportunity is fueled by work and putting oneself out there.
-- Bernard Marr
As Thomas Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” Successful people understand that opportunity is fueled by work and putting oneself out there.
-- Bernard Marr
Sunday, March 05, 2017
Honesty & Weakness
I am convinced the main requirement in prayer is honesty....
-- Philip Yancey
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
-- Romans 8:26
-- Philip Yancey
In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.
-- Romans 8:26
Saturday, March 04, 2017
SM Brunch 20: Truer, Effect, Enough, Wither, and The Jewel
More Saturday Mornings Brunch:
The truer you become in being you, the less you and your personality need to enter the room.
-- Sally Blount
****
Our 'effect' is more like a wake than like a splash.
****
You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.
-- Maya Angelou
****
Though leaves are many, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun,
Now may I wither into the truth.
-- W. B. Yeats
****
The truer you become in being you, the less you and your personality need to enter the room.
-- Sally Blount
****
Our 'effect' is more like a wake than like a splash.
****
You alone are enough. You have nothing to prove to anybody.
-- Maya Angelou
****
Though leaves are many, the root is one;
Through all the lying days of my youth
I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun,
Now may I wither into the truth.
-- W. B. Yeats
****
Friday, March 03, 2017
Harrowing
'Poem selection' for the week -- “Harrowing”, from this most wonderful reflection:
The plow has savaged this sweet field
Misshapen clods of earth kicked up
Rocks and twisted roots exposed to view
Last year’s growth demolished by the blade.
I have plowed my life this way
Turned over a whole history
Looking for the roots of what went wrong
Until my face is ravaged, furrowed, scarred.
Enough. The job is done.
Whatever’s been uprooted, let it be
Seedbed for the growing that’s to come.
I plowed to unearth last year’s reasons—
The farmer plows to plant a greening season.
-- Parker Palmer
The plow has savaged this sweet field
Misshapen clods of earth kicked up
Rocks and twisted roots exposed to view
Last year’s growth demolished by the blade.
I have plowed my life this way
Turned over a whole history
Looking for the roots of what went wrong
Until my face is ravaged, furrowed, scarred.
Enough. The job is done.
Whatever’s been uprooted, let it be
Seedbed for the growing that’s to come.
I plowed to unearth last year’s reasons—
The farmer plows to plant a greening season.
-- Parker Palmer
Thursday, March 02, 2017
Reality
There is my reality - the one I live in, the one that I modify because of the way it needs to accommodate the needs of those around me. And, there is the one I would live in if my present one wasn't accommodating, where I would choose more just from what I prefer for myself. Then, there is my anti-reality, the one I know about, but don't live in myself; where I see (or just know) the needs of people who live very different lives from the way I live mine (there are multiple versions of this one).
...and then there is one that I am mostly unaware of, but certainly seems to exist.
If each person has these, there are many realities. So many. Too many. And, in what combination, are all these realities really real?
...and then there is one that I am mostly unaware of, but certainly seems to exist.
If each person has these, there are many realities. So many. Too many. And, in what combination, are all these realities really real?
Wednesday, March 01, 2017
Ash Wednesday: Grace and Demand
On Ash Wednesday, we are reminded to pray anew:
God of grace and demand, you challenge us to reclaim our baptismal identity as those whose lives are built on your call and your promises--not on the easy, seductive forces around us. Stir our hearts that we may engage your transforming word anew and rediscover its power to save. Amen.
-- Walter Brueggeman, A Way Other Than Our Own
Here is a helpful description of the role of this historical day:
Ash Wednesday: The Church As a Midwife
God of grace and demand, you challenge us to reclaim our baptismal identity as those whose lives are built on your call and your promises--not on the easy, seductive forces around us. Stir our hearts that we may engage your transforming word anew and rediscover its power to save. Amen.
-- Walter Brueggeman, A Way Other Than Our Own
Here is a helpful description of the role of this historical day:
Ash Wednesday: The Church As a Midwife
Tuesday, February 28, 2017
In Love With Their Own Ideas
I think a defining element [of a good leader] is a courageous thoughtfulness, the ability to learn fearlessly and be open to different ideas.
Leaders who fall in love with their own ideas and their own plans to the point where they can’t fall out of love with them can be dangerous… When theory collides with reality, reality always wins. Any good leader has a responsibility to go outside of his or her own brain to listen to whatever input can be solicited.
-- Admiral Eric Olson
Leaders who fall in love with their own ideas and their own plans to the point where they can’t fall out of love with them can be dangerous… When theory collides with reality, reality always wins. Any good leader has a responsibility to go outside of his or her own brain to listen to whatever input can be solicited.
-- Admiral Eric Olson
Monday, February 27, 2017
Sunday, February 26, 2017
So if I were your enemy...
The quieter the mind, the more powerful, the worthier, the deeper, the more telling and more perfect the prayer is.
-- Meister Eckhart
Technology, social media, Netflix, travel, food and wine, comfort. I would not tempt you with notably bad things, or you would get suspicious. I would distract you with everyday comforts that slowly feed you a different story and make you forget God. Then you would dismiss the Spirit leading you, loving you, and comforting you. Then you would start to love comfort more than surrender and obedience and souls.
If that didn’t work, I would attack your identity. I would make you believe you had to prove yourself. Then you would focus on yourself instead of God. Friends would become enemies. Teammates would become ...continue here.
-- Jennie Allen
-- Meister Eckhart
Technology, social media, Netflix, travel, food and wine, comfort. I would not tempt you with notably bad things, or you would get suspicious. I would distract you with everyday comforts that slowly feed you a different story and make you forget God. Then you would dismiss the Spirit leading you, loving you, and comforting you. Then you would start to love comfort more than surrender and obedience and souls.
If that didn’t work, I would attack your identity. I would make you believe you had to prove yourself. Then you would focus on yourself instead of God. Friends would become enemies. Teammates would become ...continue here.
-- Jennie Allen
Saturday, February 25, 2017
SM Brunch 19: Communication, Media, Way You Treat, and Weakness
More Saturday Mornings Brunch:
The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.
-- Joseph Priestley
****
The media amplifies anxiety, and then offers programming that offers relief from that anxiety.
-- Seth Godin
...seems like more than a coincidence; something insidious is going on here, especially when money is the motivation.
****
The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
****
I have been increasingly aware that true healing mostly takes place through the sharing of weakness. In the sharing of my weakness with others, the real depths of my human brokenness and weakness and sinfulness started to reveal itself to me, not as a source of despair but as a source of hope.
-- Henri Nouwen
****
The more elaborate our means of communication, the less we communicate.
-- Joseph Priestley
****
The media amplifies anxiety, and then offers programming that offers relief from that anxiety.
-- Seth Godin
...seems like more than a coincidence; something insidious is going on here, especially when money is the motivation.
****
The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.
-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
****
I have been increasingly aware that true healing mostly takes place through the sharing of weakness. In the sharing of my weakness with others, the real depths of my human brokenness and weakness and sinfulness started to reveal itself to me, not as a source of despair but as a source of hope.
-- Henri Nouwen
****
Instagram: bobgoff
So it's searchable:
The world will know what we believe
by seeing who we love.
-- Bob Goff
Friday, February 24, 2017
Protest
'Poem selection' for the week -- "Protest". Given these days, one might naturally think that this poem was written recently. So, it gives another dimension of pause to learn it was actually penned in 1914:
To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve the law,
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare, must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills;
May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and childbearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.
Therefore I do protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong, which holds one rusted link.
Call no land free, that holds one fettered slave.
Until the manacled slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee,
Until the mother bears no burden, save
The precious one beneath her heart, until
God’s soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labor, let no man
Call this the land of freedom.
-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The human race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance, and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve the law,
And guillotines decide our least disputes.
The few who dare, must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills;
May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and childbearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.
Therefore I do protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong, which holds one rusted link.
Call no land free, that holds one fettered slave.
Until the manacled slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee,
Until the mother bears no burden, save
The precious one beneath her heart, until
God’s soil is rescued from the clutch of greed
And given back to labor, let no man
Call this the land of freedom.
-- Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Thursday, February 23, 2017
31
Yesterday, Tami and I celebrated 31 years of marriage. She said some very simple, yet deeply penetrating words to me; she said she's glad she married me. I couldn't agree more that I feel the same way towards her.
We haven't always felt this way. Like everyone else, we've had our deep challenges.
What a wonder God can do in our lives, in spite of us. We are so grateful for the kind of love he creates in people, the kind he has created in us.
We haven't always felt this way. Like everyone else, we've had our deep challenges.
What a wonder God can do in our lives, in spite of us. We are so grateful for the kind of love he creates in people, the kind he has created in us.
-- Bob Goff
Tuesday, February 21, 2017
Not By Force
A leader leads by example, not by force.
-- Sun Tzu
...this is not as tidy and straight-forward as it might first appear; example and force have many dimensions and can take many forms. In other words, it is worth some thought beyond just quick intellectual assent.
-- Sun Tzu
...this is not as tidy and straight-forward as it might first appear; example and force have many dimensions and can take many forms. In other words, it is worth some thought beyond just quick intellectual assent.
Monday, February 20, 2017
The Republican Fausts
Many Republican members of Congress have made a Faustian bargain with Donald Trump. They don’t particularly admire him as a man, they don’t trust him as an administrator, they don’t agree with him on major issues, but they respect the grip he has on their voters, they hope he’ll sign their legislation and they certainly don’t want to be seen siding with the inflamed progressives or the hyperventilating media.
Their position was at least comprehensible: How many times in a lifetime does your party control all levers of power? When that happens you’re willing to tolerate a little Trumpian circus behavior in order to get things done.
But if the last 10 days have made anything clear, it’s this: The Republican Fausts are in an untenable position. The deal they’ve struck with the devil comes at too high a price. It really will cost them their soul...continue here.
-- David Brooks
Their position was at least comprehensible: How many times in a lifetime does your party control all levers of power? When that happens you’re willing to tolerate a little Trumpian circus behavior in order to get things done.
But if the last 10 days have made anything clear, it’s this: The Republican Fausts are in an untenable position. The deal they’ve struck with the devil comes at too high a price. It really will cost them their soul...continue here.
-- David Brooks
Sunday, February 19, 2017
Cast Yourself
Cast yourself in the arms of God and be very sure that if He wants anything of you, He will fit you for the work and give you strength.
-- St. Philip Neri
God, with your help, let me courageously face whatever I'm afraid of.
-- Linda Neukrug
-- St. Philip Neri
God, with your help, let me courageously face whatever I'm afraid of.
-- Linda Neukrug
Saturday, February 18, 2017
SM Brunch 18: Life Mistakes, Ideology, Changed Rules, Habits, Discipline, and Forgiveness
More Saturday Mornings Brunch:
-- Philip Yancey
****
In the 1970s, the rules changed: the self-denial ethic morphed into the self-fulfillment ethic.-- Philip Yancey
This makes me wonder what version of self- we are now in -- past self-actualization, now to...self-promotion?
****
People seem as attracted to ideology as ever and our capacity to change or adapt our ideologies seem to lessen with age, unless they are disrupted. The problem is that as we age we tend to insulate ourselves more and more from things that could disrupt us. But...
****
The great thing about habits is that they are changeable.
-- Bernard Marr
****
Without self-discipline, success is impossible, period.
-- Lou Holtz
****
Friday, February 17, 2017
Heart to Heart
'Poem selection' for this Valentine week -- "Heart to Heart":
It’s neither red
nor sweet.
It doesn’t melt
or turn over,
break or harden,
so it can’t feel
pain,
yearning,
regret.
It doesn’t have
a tip to spin on,
it isn’t even
shapely—
just a thick clutch
of muscle,
lopsided,
mute. Still,
I feel it inside
its cage sounding
a dull tattoo:
I want, I want—
but I can’t open it:
there’s no key.
I can’t wear it
on my sleeve,
or tell you from
the bottom of it
how I feel. Here,
it’s all yours, now—
but you’ll have
to take me,
too.
-- Rita Dove
It’s neither red
nor sweet.
It doesn’t melt
or turn over,
break or harden,
so it can’t feel
pain,
yearning,
regret.
It doesn’t have
a tip to spin on,
it isn’t even
shapely—
just a thick clutch
of muscle,
lopsided,
mute. Still,
I feel it inside
its cage sounding
a dull tattoo:
I want, I want—
but I can’t open it:
there’s no key.
I can’t wear it
on my sleeve,
or tell you from
the bottom of it
how I feel. Here,
it’s all yours, now—
but you’ll have
to take me,
too.
-- Rita Dove
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Action & Thought
Think like a man of action; act like a man of thought.
-- Henri Bergson
More than juxtaposed concepts, consider how each of these informs the other.
-- Henri Bergson
More than juxtaposed concepts, consider how each of these informs the other.
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Forgotten
How much do we no longer know, as human beings, simply because of all that we have forgotten over time...generation after generation?
So stark is this possibility that some seem to think things like silence or contemplation are actually new ways of knowing.
So stark is this possibility that some seem to think things like silence or contemplation are actually new ways of knowing.
Tuesday, February 14, 2017
Shared Goal
As an emotional intelligence competency, teamwork means being able to work toward a shared goal with others, actively participating and sharing responsibility. Leaders with this competency draw on their skills in empathy and cultivate an atmosphere of cooperation and respect. They are able to build commitment to the team’s goal from everyone. This competency is about more than just work in team situations; it is core to all forms of collaboration.
-- Daniel Goleman
-- Daniel Goleman
Monday, February 13, 2017
Dear Mr. President:
I am not a Republican or a Democrat. I do not belong to an organized religion. I do not represent or belong to any special interest groups. I am not an advocate for any specific political view albeit I respect those with one. I am an American. An ordinary immigrant who came to the United States (legally) back in 1980. Today, I am the owner of a small business here in Washington D.C. living in the Maryland suburbs with my wife and kids appreciating the blessings daily.
Today, by coincidence, I watched in shock and disgust some of the ugly social media commentary against you and your family members following your final press conference. I read commentary no American could read without horror. Commentary no American can or should shrug off and move on from. It was another infuriating reminder of how we have become boundary-blind. We may not...continue here.
Sunday, February 12, 2017
Like?
If these are the creatures, what must the Creator be like?
-- St. Francis of Assisi
If man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely an awful thing: it is an infinitely foolish thing.
-- Phillips Brooks
-- St. Francis of Assisi
If man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely an awful thing: it is an infinitely foolish thing.
-- Phillips Brooks
Saturday, February 11, 2017
SM Brunch 17: Can See, Ground & Dies, Justice, and You've Got A Friend
More Saturday Mornings Brunch:
Most people can only respond to what they can see.
****
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
-- John 12:24
I must believe this more and more...even as it relates to some of my own vision for things. This is simply how life works; it works right through death. There is something about this that I can get more comfortable with and, as many of the wisdom traditions have pointed out, there is a wonderful beauty to this kind of understanding of seeds (perhaps this is part of why I love flowers so much).
...so, because of this, I really enjoyed a line from this particular rendition of the idea from this week's Michiana Chronicles:
“They tried to bury us, but then they discovered we are seeds.”
****
Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
-- Benjamin Franklin
While it may be true that he really wasn't the one who said this, there is a tidiness to it that makes a rather searing point.
For those interested in true sources, some think the idea above is really a modification of this...in response to a question about how wrong-doing can be avoided by a State.:
If those who are not wronged feel the same indignation at it as those who are.
-- Iohannis Stobaei Florilegium
****
Most people can only respond to what they can see.
****
“Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
-- John 12:24
I must believe this more and more...even as it relates to some of my own vision for things. This is simply how life works; it works right through death. There is something about this that I can get more comfortable with and, as many of the wisdom traditions have pointed out, there is a wonderful beauty to this kind of understanding of seeds (perhaps this is part of why I love flowers so much).
...so, because of this, I really enjoyed a line from this particular rendition of the idea from this week's Michiana Chronicles:
“They tried to bury us, but then they discovered we are seeds.”
****
Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.
-- Benjamin Franklin
While it may be true that he really wasn't the one who said this, there is a tidiness to it that makes a rather searing point.
For those interested in true sources, some think the idea above is really a modification of this...in response to a question about how wrong-doing can be avoided by a State.:
If those who are not wronged feel the same indignation at it as those who are.
-- Iohannis Stobaei Florilegium
****
Friday, February 10, 2017
Otherwise
'Poem selection' for the week -- "Otherwise":
I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.
-- by Jane Kenyon
I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.
-- by Jane Kenyon
Thursday, February 09, 2017
Wednesday, February 08, 2017
Gracefulness
I've noticed...looking back over my life, that I have tried to have an element of gracefulness to what I do. And, I felt a kind of contradiction in myself when this doesn't happen.
I don't think I've tried to plan for this; it more just seems to happen, like just a 'way' I'm wired or prefer to do things. In other words, it isn't just what gets done, but how it gets done that is important to me.
I don't think I've tried to plan for this; it more just seems to happen, like just a 'way' I'm wired or prefer to do things. In other words, it isn't just what gets done, but how it gets done that is important to me.
Tuesday, February 07, 2017
But Not
The challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humor, but without folly.
-- Jim Rohn
-- Jim Rohn
Monday, February 06, 2017
Either, Or
Be wise regarding either / or dilemmas or propositions. Often there are other forces involved, trying to keep things positioned this way.
For example, why must things be described only as either 'left' or 'right'? Aren't there different features of both, which are appealing?
For example, why must things be described only as either 'left' or 'right'? Aren't there different features of both, which are appealing?
Sunday, February 05, 2017
Inner Experience
Historically, most people naturally presumed that they would come to God by finding unique spiritual locations, precise rituals, special priests or shamans, or unique sacred words. Our correct behavior or morality around these manifestations would bring us to God or God to us. The majority of us began by looking for the right maps or laws, hoping to pass some cosmic test. The assumption was that if you got the right answers, God would like you. God’s love was highly contingent, and the clever were assumed to be the winners.
But the Bible does not make transformation dependent on cleverness at all; rather, transformation is found in one of God’s favorite and most effective hiding places: humility. Read the opening eight Beatitudes in this light (Matthew 5:1-12). Such “poverty of spirit,” Jesus says, is something we seem to lose as we grow into supposed adulthood.
We all need what Jesus described as the mind of a curious child (see Matthew 18:1-5). A “beginner’s mind,” which is truly open and living in the now or in what some call “constantly renewed immediacy,” is the most natural and simple path for all spiritual wisdom.
The genius of the biblical revelation is that we come to God through “the actual,” the here and now, or quite simply what is. The Bible moves us from sacred place (why the temple had to go), sacred actions (why the law had to be relativized), and mental belief systems (why Jesus has no check list in this regard)—to all space and time as sacred. At the close of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
Space, time, and patience reveal the patterns of grace. This is why it takes most of us a long time to be converted. As Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) prayed, “Above all, trust in the slow work of God.” Our focus eventually moves from preoccupation with perfect actions of any type, to naked presence itself. The historical word for presence is simply “prayer.” Jesus often called it “vigilance,” “seeing,” or “being awake.” When you are fully present, you will know what you need to know in that moment. Really!
As Eckhart Tolle points out in The Power of Now, you don’t have to be a perfect person or in a certain place to experience the fullness of God. God is always given, incarnate in every moment, and present to those who know how to be present themselves. Strangely enough, it is often imperfect people and people in quite secular settings who encounter “The Presence” (Parousia, “fullness”), more than overtly religious people preoccupied with doing their rituals correctly. That pattern is rather clear throughout the entire Bible where, except for Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, God-experiences are in “secular,” domestic, and nature settings.
The biblical text moves us toward transformation of both the self and all of history. Deep understanding of Scripture cannot happen until you have somehow first experienced God actively and lovingly working in your own life! Then it all makes sense. Without inner experience of God and grace, Scripture interpretation is often lethal and egocentric. As Paul courageously says, “The written letters alone bring death, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).
-- Richard Rohr
But the Bible does not make transformation dependent on cleverness at all; rather, transformation is found in one of God’s favorite and most effective hiding places: humility. Read the opening eight Beatitudes in this light (Matthew 5:1-12). Such “poverty of spirit,” Jesus says, is something we seem to lose as we grow into supposed adulthood.
We all need what Jesus described as the mind of a curious child (see Matthew 18:1-5). A “beginner’s mind,” which is truly open and living in the now or in what some call “constantly renewed immediacy,” is the most natural and simple path for all spiritual wisdom.
The genius of the biblical revelation is that we come to God through “the actual,” the here and now, or quite simply what is. The Bible moves us from sacred place (why the temple had to go), sacred actions (why the law had to be relativized), and mental belief systems (why Jesus has no check list in this regard)—to all space and time as sacred. At the close of Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says: “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
Space, time, and patience reveal the patterns of grace. This is why it takes most of us a long time to be converted. As Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955) prayed, “Above all, trust in the slow work of God.” Our focus eventually moves from preoccupation with perfect actions of any type, to naked presence itself. The historical word for presence is simply “prayer.” Jesus often called it “vigilance,” “seeing,” or “being awake.” When you are fully present, you will know what you need to know in that moment. Really!
As Eckhart Tolle points out in The Power of Now, you don’t have to be a perfect person or in a certain place to experience the fullness of God. God is always given, incarnate in every moment, and present to those who know how to be present themselves. Strangely enough, it is often imperfect people and people in quite secular settings who encounter “The Presence” (Parousia, “fullness”), more than overtly religious people preoccupied with doing their rituals correctly. That pattern is rather clear throughout the entire Bible where, except for Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah, God-experiences are in “secular,” domestic, and nature settings.
The biblical text moves us toward transformation of both the self and all of history. Deep understanding of Scripture cannot happen until you have somehow first experienced God actively and lovingly working in your own life! Then it all makes sense. Without inner experience of God and grace, Scripture interpretation is often lethal and egocentric. As Paul courageously says, “The written letters alone bring death, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).
-- Richard Rohr
Saturday, February 04, 2017
SM Brunch 16: Out / Into, Romanticize, Lose?, Fear Clothed, and Abandoned
Another Saturday Mornings Brunch:
****
Seems true; what you get out of it, depends on what you put into it.
****
I can truly love another person only if I don’t romanticize him or her.
-- Parker Palmer
****
What if the things we're afraid we will lose by not being more courageous, we will lose anyway?
****
Remember that anger is fear clothed, so when you feel anger always ask what you are afraid of – and if someone is angry at you, feel compassion because it only means they are afraid of something.
-- James Altucher
****
Seems true; what you get out of it, depends on what you put into it.
****
I can truly love another person only if I don’t romanticize him or her.
-- Parker Palmer
****
What if the things we're afraid we will lose by not being more courageous, we will lose anyway?
****
Remember that anger is fear clothed, so when you feel anger always ask what you are afraid of – and if someone is angry at you, feel compassion because it only means they are afraid of something.
-- James Altucher
****
Friday, February 03, 2017
Music
'Poem selection' for the week -- "Music":
When I was a child
I once sat sobbing on the floor
Beside my mother’s piano
As she played and sang
For there was in her singing
A shy yet solemn glory
My smallness could not hold
And when I was asked
Why I was crying
I had no words for it
I only shook my head
And went on crying
Why is it that music
At its most beautiful
Opens a wound in us
An ache a desolation
Deep as a homesickness
For some far-off
And half-forgotten country
I’ve never understood
Why this is so
But there’s an ancient legend
From the other side of the world
That gives away the secret
Of this mysterious sorrow
For centuries on centuries
We have been wandering
But we were made for Paradise
As deer for the forest
And when music comes to us
With its heavenly beauty
It brings us desolation
For when we hear it
We half remember
That lost native country
We dimly remember the fields
Their fragrant windswept clover
The birdsongs in the orchards
The wild white violets in the moss
By the transparent streams
And shining at the heart of it
Is the longed-for beauty
Of the One who waits for us
Who will always wait for us
In those radiant meadows
Yet also came to live with us
And wanders where we wander.
-- Anne Porter
When I was a child
I once sat sobbing on the floor
Beside my mother’s piano
As she played and sang
For there was in her singing
A shy yet solemn glory
My smallness could not hold
And when I was asked
Why I was crying
I had no words for it
I only shook my head
And went on crying
Why is it that music
At its most beautiful
Opens a wound in us
An ache a desolation
Deep as a homesickness
For some far-off
And half-forgotten country
I’ve never understood
Why this is so
But there’s an ancient legend
From the other side of the world
That gives away the secret
Of this mysterious sorrow
For centuries on centuries
We have been wandering
But we were made for Paradise
As deer for the forest
And when music comes to us
With its heavenly beauty
It brings us desolation
For when we hear it
We half remember
That lost native country
We dimly remember the fields
Their fragrant windswept clover
The birdsongs in the orchards
The wild white violets in the moss
By the transparent streams
And shining at the heart of it
Is the longed-for beauty
Of the One who waits for us
Who will always wait for us
In those radiant meadows
Yet also came to live with us
And wanders where we wander.
-- Anne Porter
Thursday, February 02, 2017
Wednesday, February 01, 2017
In vs Out
I used to think...in terms of getting moved out of something (by me...or God...and usually because of something wrong with me). Now I know that understanding is probably mistaken, as it is more likely, in such situations, that I am being moved into something, than out of something.
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Creating Leaders
To successfully create more leaders you must have an open mind, a small ego, a humble heart....
-- John Eades
-- John Eades
Monday, January 30, 2017
Maintenance
A lot of life is maintenance. There is wisdom in recognizing that life shouldn't primarily be about the reduction of work. Taking care of, caring for things, is a kind of goodness.
Sunday, January 29, 2017
Not Only
The truth of the one God—as opposed to all the divinities invented by men—is seen in Jesus Christ in the fact that he is free not only to be exalted but also to be lowly, not only to be remote but also to be near, not only to be God in himself in his majesty but also to be God outside himself as this One who is infinitely less than God....
The error of man concerning God is that the God he wants to be like is obviously only a self-sufficient, self-affirming, self-desiring supreme being, self-centered and rotating about himself. Such a being is not God.
-- Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV I, pp. 417 and 422
The error of man concerning God is that the God he wants to be like is obviously only a self-sufficient, self-affirming, self-desiring supreme being, self-centered and rotating about himself. Such a being is not God.
-- Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics IV I, pp. 417 and 422
Saturday, January 28, 2017
SM Brunch 15: Punished, Racial Bias, Show, Spiritual Dimensions, and 21
Another Saturday Mornings Brunch:
In the end, we aren't punished as much for our sins as we are by our sins.
-- Nadia Bolz-Weber
****
We are biased. And, we can change.
****
We must show people how.
****
Faith is resurgent, while dogma is dying. The spiritual, communal, and justice-seeking dimensions of Christianity are now its leading edge. . . A religion based on subscribing to mandatory beliefs is no longer viable.
-- Harvey Cox
****
It was a joy this week to celebrate our youngest's (Makenzie) 21st birthday! She has wonderful friends, who helped us throw her a party!
In the end, we aren't punished as much for our sins as we are by our sins.
-- Nadia Bolz-Weber
****
We are biased. And, we can change.
****
We must show people how.
****
Faith is resurgent, while dogma is dying. The spiritual, communal, and justice-seeking dimensions of Christianity are now its leading edge. . . A religion based on subscribing to mandatory beliefs is no longer viable.
-- Harvey Cox
****
Friday, January 27, 2017
Winter Trees
Time has developed an affection in me for both the existence and idea of trees. There are, perhaps, many 'roots' to this interest as it strikes me that they exhibit many characteristics that are among the best of things human beings can be as well. Sometime soon, I will itemize those; among those being their resilience, pace, and brilliance. But, for now, simply following the link to my posts on 'trees' over the years will suffice.
'Poem selection' for the week -- "Winter Trees":
All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
-- William Carlos Williams
'Poem selection' for the week -- "Winter Trees":
All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.
-- William Carlos Williams
Thursday, January 26, 2017
Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Completely Happy
I've noticed...there is a part of me that is not completely happy until everyone is. Or, putting it this way, I do not seem to fully enjoy, knowing that others are not able to enjoy what I get to enjoy.
It is almost like there is something about goodness we must all share.
It is almost like there is something about goodness we must all share.
Tuesday, January 24, 2017
Monday, January 23, 2017
Shaping
We often presume that things are primarily about their affect on us, and then about what or who is doing that 'affecting'. I wonder if the reality is that things are more about how they shape us, than simply how they affect us.
When we enter or persist in times of discomfort, what if we could carry this likelihood with us? Perhaps we can ask, who are we becoming through this? It could very well be that most of the time, we cannot know the answer to this kind of thing until well down the road. But, I do wonder what could be different if I lived with an awareness of it along the way.
When we enter or persist in times of discomfort, what if we could carry this likelihood with us? Perhaps we can ask, who are we becoming through this? It could very well be that most of the time, we cannot know the answer to this kind of thing until well down the road. But, I do wonder what could be different if I lived with an awareness of it along the way.
Sunday, January 22, 2017
Funerals
Some stand out to me, like such services for Harriet Decker, Elsie Eisenbraun, Kathy Abbitt, Clint Bolton. I tend to enjoy summary reflections of things, especially lives.
The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
-- Nahum 1:7
This verse was shared at a memorial service I attended yesterday. It was presented, in part, as a summary of what the life of the deceased, Barbara Manahan, valued in her life. It is interesting how death creates such opportunities to reflect on life. I wonder if such things are the way the dead speak to the living, about what is important in life.
Funerals (honest ones anyway) can connect the realities of life and death, to life and death, in good ways. They remind us that the two are not as fitted to either / or, and good / bad, as they are to both / and. We need a deeper understanding that life and death are not competing with each other, they are working together, as parts of reality ((Jn 12:24) They show us the connection between our humanity and the divine. In other words, neither one of these cannot be fully experienced without the other.
Funerals are often like a 'reset' of these truths for me. They whisper a kind of peace to me about the hope we have in the goodness of God that extends beyond our physical lives.
Saturday, January 21, 2017
SM Brunch 14: Conspiracies, Unfamiliar Territory, Travel, Knowing, and U2
Another Saturday Mornings Brunch:
I am generally a skeptic when it comes to conspiracies, except when they apply to me (grin).
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I must be willing to live, at times, in unfamiliar territory (perhaps even willing to choose it). Otherwise, I risk becoming unhealthy, even sick, from a diet of the familiar I can so naturally maintain.
****
Perhaps 'the road less traveled' is not really the one others don't take. Perhaps it is really the one I don't take, the less familiar one...the one less traveled by me.
****
The first step to any goal is to know what you want.
****
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I am generally a skeptic when it comes to conspiracies, except when they apply to me (grin).
****
I must be willing to live, at times, in unfamiliar territory (perhaps even willing to choose it). Otherwise, I risk becoming unhealthy, even sick, from a diet of the familiar I can so naturally maintain.
****
Perhaps 'the road less traveled' is not really the one others don't take. Perhaps it is really the one I don't take, the less familiar one...the one less traveled by me.
****
The first step to any goal is to know what you want.
****
My son announced to me this week that he bought tickets for he and I to attend U2's concert, as part of their 'Joshua Tree Anniversary' tour, this June. Though certainly grateful for the opportunity itself, I am even more overwhelmed by his heart towards me -- his generosity, his sensitivity, his expression of love. Love is a humbling thing, isn't it?
Friday, January 20, 2017
An Accounting
If you can't talk about something, you can't think about something.
-- Eula Biss
So, here's my 'Poem selection' for the week -- "An Accounting":
In this room, hours pass, a slight
corruption of each previous
allotted time block—and probably
confirm failure and humiliation,
which though not ideal, I accept
as historically accurate. I’m sick
of lifestyle music, the thing between
awe and detachment which Hazlitt
defines as adrift. I clear my throat
remind myself, doors are locked,
the ashtray half-full. Unless otherwise
noted, light falls from the television—
accompanies night, any available
other-worldly knowledge. What else?
I’m unhappy even at the edge of rivers,
conversations regarding weather,
any manner of appointment. All comfort
requires another voice. Ditto delusion.
For instance, these shadows imposed
from trees bent by wind and other forms
of predictive behavior, may or may
not contain consciousness. I’m still
working it out. A glass of water grows
warm. I have done terrible and middle
class things for money. This is not
necessarily an acceptable conversation.
Things are good. The serotonin
reuptake inhibitor fades another winter.
If there are things we need, there are
things we need less. I face the mirror
to say it again with feeling. Understand
this is me applying myself.
-- Brett Fletcher Lauer
-- Eula Biss
So, here's my 'Poem selection' for the week -- "An Accounting":
In this room, hours pass, a slight
corruption of each previous
allotted time block—and probably
confirm failure and humiliation,
which though not ideal, I accept
as historically accurate. I’m sick
of lifestyle music, the thing between
awe and detachment which Hazlitt
defines as adrift. I clear my throat
remind myself, doors are locked,
the ashtray half-full. Unless otherwise
noted, light falls from the television—
accompanies night, any available
other-worldly knowledge. What else?
I’m unhappy even at the edge of rivers,
conversations regarding weather,
any manner of appointment. All comfort
requires another voice. Ditto delusion.
For instance, these shadows imposed
from trees bent by wind and other forms
of predictive behavior, may or may
not contain consciousness. I’m still
working it out. A glass of water grows
warm. I have done terrible and middle
class things for money. This is not
necessarily an acceptable conversation.
Things are good. The serotonin
reuptake inhibitor fades another winter.
If there are things we need, there are
things we need less. I face the mirror
to say it again with feeling. Understand
this is me applying myself.
-- Brett Fletcher Lauer
Thursday, January 19, 2017
Looking Back With Gratitude On Obama
Getty Images
This reflection on the the significance of Obama Presidency is worth listening to. It reminds me of the importance of how what is going on around us makes us feel about life, especially for those whose starting-points in life are different than mine. We need to see and hear others, from their point-of-view, because it helps us more accurately understand our own.
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