Saturday Mornings

Simplify. How does one do it these days? This week I am reading from two sources, one Paula Huston and another Wendell Berry.  I find a st...

I was raised to believe that the quality of a man’s life would greatly increase, not with the gain of status or success, not by his heart’s ...

I asked the Lord, that I might grow In faith, and love, and every grace; Might more of His salvation know, And seek more earnestly His fa...

There is nearly nothing as satisfying as a morning run through the woods .  On a crisp morning like today's, the sun just slants is shin...

OK, so I am reading this book for Lent called simplifying THE SOUL and I am almost afraid to continue.  It is a powerfully desirable series...

An Elder was once asked when the soul acquires humility . He answered, "When it thinks about its own vices." For years, two pat...

Working at something together is better than working on each other. It took more than a few years for us to discover this, but after 26 o...

Ruler of the Night, Guarantor of the Day…   This day-a gift from you. This day-like none other you have ever given,   or we have ever rec...

I'm surprised each time anew by the knowledge that I'm once again undergoing a spiritual 'recalibration'. I am released fr...

Tell all the Truth but tell it slant Success in Circuit lies -- Emily Dickinson

Amassing knowledge and gaining wisdom are two different things. So, what hinges the difference between knowledge and wisdom?  Among other ...

...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances . ...I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.....

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have... because.... -- Hebrews 13:5 It is interesting if you s...

Our dangerous class is not at the bottom; it is near the top of society. Riches without law are more dangerous than is poverty without law....

To suppose, as we all suppose, that we could be rich and not behave as the rich behave , is like supposing that we could drink all day and s...

As we think through growing up and becoming a woman with our daughter , the deeper questions about our existence as men and women lay right ...

Without exception...all try their hardest to reach the same goal, that is, joy . -- St. Augustine I never really connected this thought...

I pray for my kids...for their well-being.  For their hearts...to be bent towards God. I pray for wisdom on how to reflect the heart of G...

Isn't it here? The wonder? Why do I spend so much of my living hours struggling to see it? Do we truly stumble so blind that we must be ...

I’m dogging her discreetly, wondering: What don’t they get? Everything, probably. What it’s like to be lugging her particular load, wante...

After silence , that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. -- Aldous Huxley

It seems to be appealing to hold people's inconsistencies against them. Why do you suppose that is? ...could it be that we tend to d...

Opportunities are seldom labeled. -- John A. Shedd  ...shared by a friend, David Baker .

In a word, live together in the forgiveness of your sins, for without it, no human fellowship, least of all a marriage, can survive. -- ...

It is our vulnerability, not our competence, that makes us accessible to the world. ...another unexpected gift from suffering or struggle...

Among other things that speak deeply to me about this movie, the main character's assessment of his dad was that he was very hard, loo...

We must learn to not fear our fear. More often than not, fear is used to manipulate us from without...and from within.  But, while not all...

What news will tomorrow bring? Good? Bad? The future is full...of uncertainty . We have to pray with our eyes on God, not on the diffi...

I am an idealist.  I am also a pragmatist. I am usually an idealist as long as pragmatically possible.

I need to pray . And, often times, I need to breathe myself into it. I have been breathing into prayer for several years now...as I exerc...

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who ...

O God, within this strange and quickened dust The beating heart controls the coursing blood In discipline that holds in check the flood But ...

Every sin is an attempt to fly from emptiness . -- Simone Weil

As much as we hate to admit it (especially to ourselves): We really would prefer that people be more like ourselves. ...I'm thankful...

Pain is never permanent. -- St. Teresa of Avila More on pain here ...

OK, so there are many things beautiful. Regarding my post yesterday, what stands out to me is that what often makes things feel 'unriva...

Snow on pine is nearly an unrivaled beauty.

Modern Christianity, then, has become as specialized in its organizations as other modern organizations, wholly concentrated on the industri...

We don't know what any given day will bring. Unexpected pleasantry, joy. Devastating news for ourselves or someone we love. A success...

Another helpful read from Christianity Today addresses the generational concern about the transmission of faith.  Citing what might at firs...

Wonder with the heart and trust with the mind, until you can do both with both .

How unfortunate that we today know so little of the vast literature on Christian mediation by faithful believers throughout the centuries! ...

The gospel is nothing until I hear it addressed to me . -- Martin Luther

To pray is to descend with the mind into the heart. -- Theophan the Recluse What do we really mean when we refer to the 'mind'...

Click image to take a listen to a couple of his new songs... Here is a link Andy Whitman's review...a worthy read.

We have a splendid heritage of Christian poetry in English that most church members live and die without ever reading or hearing about. -...

Many people today act like a someone created a peace treaty between reason and faith after reason won the war.  Reason cedes territory to fa...

You are the God from whom no secret can be hid, and we are a people with many secrets,     that we want to tell for the sake of our lives,  ...

I would encourage you to read this post .  It is familiar to the human (and my) experience...not constantly, but at one point or another, ve...

The penalty of affluence is that it cuts one off from the common lot, common experience, and common fellowship. -- Arnold Toynbee This i...

Wow, another pretty excellent episode this week .  Really hard not to recommend this program - profoundly human.  This one will make you win...

Your reputation is who people think you are, your character is who you really are. -- John Wooden

In light of this, are there any changes you would like to make this year?

Just breathe. ...sometimes you just need to take so many breaths...just to breathe again. When I run, for example, I often bring my tens...

Do you need 'forgiveness' in 2012?  To receive it?  To offer it?  Here is an interesting read from Donald Miller's blog on forg...

The enemy is not your friend. Well, that seems a bit self-evident, doesn't it? But, think about it a bit. Don’t we often see those w...

Love seems the swiftest but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been marrie...

Sometimes, the things that help me identify most with a song are the little snippets or phrases tucked within them.  For example, I really l...

God, the God of Israel, is not a God that we can force to conform to our purposes. For as Isaiah makes clear, we have been created to confor...

"Long lay the world in sin and error pining" Earlier this month I referenced one of my favorite Christmas songs , which is fille...

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes … and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outsid...

Click here for more pics....

Since I'm on vacation, I've let myself stop and think...about politics.  Wow, why bother, some might say.  Even when I want to, it...

Well, two years have passed since my 2009 version of this, but I must say that not much changed; the ones then are still my favorites this ...

We spend a good portion of our lives colliding with things that we do not comprehend -- like running into things that jar us from our own se...

The Bible does promise that we can have true intimacy with Christ. But this intimacy, which is mediated through the Holy Spirit, is unlike a...

Reminded me of a beautiful experience yesterday with some dear friends who chose not to hide...and helped give me t...

The trail peaked out this morning at a point along the stream that compelled me to stop.  To stop and look at what lay before me.  To listen...

I love it, too !  Thanks, Blake, for connecting me with Bon Iver.  See Paste Interview . From a prior post, take a listen .

...I cannot know.  Read the story here .... Sometimes our smallness overwhelms us.

We all need someone to help us reset our boundaries from time to time.  Prone to wander...so the saying goes. While we tend to resent it at ...

Ranking friendships is dangerous business. There is something inherently unfriendly about it -- it reduces friendship towards one thing......

Each generation is reacting to the one before and it usually takes about a full generation to realize that's what it's doing, fix th...

Sometimes I think we’re alone. Sometimes I think we’re not. In either case, the thought is staggering. -- R. Buckminster Fuller

The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become the more we realize that everything in life is a gift. -- Brennan ...

Ads have a tendency to promote narcissism while portraying our lives as dull and ordinary. They trade on natural desires but in a way that ...

If thou art willing to suffer no adversity, how wilt thou be the friend of Christ? -- Thomas à Kempis Dare I pray for this kind of frie...

There is something about the sweep of things, if we're honest...that illuminates day-to-day goings-on.  It also takes an honesty abou...

There is a surprising joy in giving to others.

The Pilgrims made 7 times more graves than huts.  It might be said that no Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheles...

I think it comes down to money (which is really a question of values). People would say that economies of scale of manufacturing have had...

My children, my grandfather said, you'll never see anything worse than yourselves. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson ...seems hard to believe, ...

We must lay before Him what is in us not what ought to be in us. -- C.S. Lewis

Many people believe in God because of what they think He will do for them.... I didn't know it, but I have been one of those people at...

Wow!  What an awesome morning to be alive. Perhaps due to an extra hour of sleep or perhaps due to a call I couldn't resist, I was abl...

Do you think people change ? I'd like to explore this question in subsequent posts.  I'd enjoy your thoughts / comments, too.

I don’t know about you, but in this part of the world when the leaves take the long dive, and the nights grow longer, and a chill comes int...

I've been reflecting a bit on Hugo's thought (see post below ).  At first blush, it is easy to disagree...we need money.  We have mo...

...our sense of material entitlement has had a profound impact on the financial choices of American families . Thanks to Jim for sending ...

As the purse is emptied, the heart is filled. -- Victor Hugo

I found this leaf today and became a bit enthralled by it...the symmetry, the intensity, the verigation of color.  I hel...

A friend asked me how I landed on my recent thinking about confession.  Here was my response.  I want to remember it: First of all, I was ...

So, a response to a question posed in a recent post .  The question was, "What is hiding's opposite?" Of course, there is no...

Keep praying, but be thankful that God's answers are wiser than your prayers!   -- William Culbertson