Saturday Mornings

​We have a rather remarkable capacity to work on our surroundings, to make them more precise...and more comfortable . It can be a problem, h...

​ I used to think ...of difficult and painful things as things to just get away from. Now I know that they are designed to change us for t...

Faster is not always better, Slower can be deeper. Just like More is often less and Less is actually more, true satisfaction doe...

Obedience to the call of Christ nearly always costs everything to two people -- the one who is called, and the one who loves that one. ...

Easter must be the most joyful of all joys , this side of Heaven.  Our hopes have not been dashed, they have been exceeded! Jesus said t...

​ Photo by Rebecca Boyd We are often caught wondering if sacrifice is worth it.  It was worth it to God...and it is for me, even if I k...

It seems appropriate to consider violence on Good Friday: Violence is what happens when we don't know what else to do with our suffer...

The context parallels of Holy Week and the ideals of fascism, then and now, are strikingly disturbing.  We think we need something, other th...

​ I have noticed ...that I tend to become more easily critical, when I'm less directly involved in the lives of others. ...mo...

Because we live in a society that regularly peddles the notion that things are 'not that bad', it's worse than you think.

You are not big enough to accuse the whole age effectively, but let us say you are in dissent. You are in no position to issue commands, but...

My ' poem selection ' for the week -- " Palm Sunday": Now to the gate of my Jerusalem, The seething holy city of my he...

I wish I could go back and tell myself that not only is there no trade-off between living a well-rounded life and high performance, performa...

​You do have to decide how you want to be , as a person. And, recognize that our ability to do this is largely contingent on what we choose ...

I used to think ...that I could only go so far. Now I know that with desire , commitment and training, I can go much farther.

​We can carry the unpleasantness of each other as part of the way we help preserve the beauty of each other. After all, we are grateful whe...

My ' poem selection ' for the week -- "Passage": A dark sail, Like a wild-goose wing, Where the sunset was. The moon ...

You just have to be willing to ask. God is always waiting for us, even inviting us...to ask.

Grand Canyon ( pics )...to the bottom and back up . Unparalleled beauty ! Sedona ( pics )...Devil's Bridge. ...some 35+...

If you want to get there, you have to keep walking. ...true in a number of respects -- physically and metaphorically.

Beauty demands for itself at least as much courage and decision as do truth and goodness, and she will not allow herself to be separated an...

​ I have noticed ...that I can always do more. ...and, that it is good for me to ask these questions : Should I? Why? Whom am I servin...

Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. -- William James

My ' poem selection ' for the week -- "The Answer": You have spoken the answer. A child searches far sometimes Into th...

​God has great intention to surprise us!

As we grow old, the beauty steals inward. -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Jim Sphorer, computer scientist at IBM's university partnerships, said that he likes to hire people from start-ups rather than right out...

Standing right next to a big building one night, I looked at the windows next to me to see if the lights were on. I couldn't tell, howev...

I used to think ...that what I do is important. Now I know this is perhaps not half as important as what I do after I've done it. When...

I must see another person, first of all, as human ...and all that being human really means.

For what is a poem but a hazardous attempt at self-understanding; it is the deepest part of autobiography. -- Robert Penn Warren ​ Poe...

There are graces all around us, many more than we know; even more available to us...if we would reflect, repent , refresh, and receive.  Thi...

Extremism is rarely the thing we need. Absolutes let us off the hook, because they demand not to be negotiated. But absolutes usually bu...

Whenever you find tears in your eyes, especially unexpected tears, it is well to pay the closest attention . They are not only telling you s...

Organic:  The efficacy of an unexpected complement is surprising.

I have noticed ...​that the less patient I am with myself, the less patient I am with others. Patience with others often occurs more easily...

My ' poem selection ' for the week -- "The Poem I Would Have Writ": My life has been the poem I would have writ But I c...

I am really amazed at this length of time.  As of today, Tami and I have been married now for 30 years .  This seems a bit like an odd combi...

As part of Lent  this year, I am reading these verses out loud each day... If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts,   then ...

Unrelated (I think), I am finding a beautiful reprieve on Saturday mornings  from the typical, daily requirements of these early-50s days ...

Many of us find ourselves in small places. And it is not because we can't get to the big places. It is because in small places people of...

Be sure that the ins and outs   of your individuality are no mystery to Him; and one day they will no longer be a mystery to you. -- C.S...

I used to think ...that there was always something about me that wasn't enough. Now I know that this is completely true and that this mi...

It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield. -- W. B. Yeats

My ' poem selection ' for the week -- "Silence": Within each of us there is a silence —a silence as vast as a universe....

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, th...

“Nearly everyone I know is addicted in some measure to the Internet,” wrote Tony Schwartz in a recent essay in The New York Times. It’s a...

[There’s] hardly a sin I can think of that isn’t somehow born of misperceived need, of haste and its accompanying inattentiveness, of some f...

Carl Jung said that so much unnecessary suffering comes into the world because people will not accept the “legitimate suffering” that comes ...

I have noticed ...that, by the evening hours, both my willpower and my ability to physically see clearly are diminished. I wonder if  (ho...

The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place. -- George Bernard Shaw

My ' poem selection ' for the week -- "The Gates of Hope": Our mission is to plant ourselves at the gates of Hope — Not...

Christianity is not an explanation of mystery , but rather a voyage into it. -- Alan Jones

Many  Friday mornings  now, I look forward to 3 things: - a good coffee - a cranberry scone - a new edition of Michiana Chronicles I...

The idea of neuroplasticity is simply that the brain changes in response to experience. It changes in response to our actions. It changes in...

I used to think ...that people's behaviors towards or reactions to me were because of something wrong in me. Now I know that most of the...

In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few. -- Shunryu Suzuki This concept needs t...

There are plenty of good reasons to be physically active. Big ones include reducing the odds of developing heart disease, stroke, and diab...

One reason why people are uncomfortable with tears and the sight of suffering is that it is a blasphemous assault on their precariously main...

The Republican establishment thinks the grass roots have the power but the grass roots think the reverse. The unions think the corporations ...

My ' Friday poem ' selection for the week -- "Sonnet -- Mutation": They talk of short-lived pleasure—be it so— Pain di...

Pride is concerned with who is right. Humility is concerned with what is right. -- Ezra Taft Benson

I have noticed ...that I temper what I offer of myself to others based on how I sense it will be received. I am still learning how to offer ...

All men’s misfortunes spring from their hatred of being alone . -- Jean de la Bruyere Among other things, I'm pondering what the mo...

It is through weakness and vulnerability that most of us learn empathy and compassion and discover our soul. -- Archbishop Desmond Tu...

Older, more experienced Christians often have greater troubles, temptations, and difficulties in the world. God has new work for them to do...

Nothing like the combination of a brilliant winter morning and a really good cry...the gripping story of a fight with cancer at This Life...

My ' Friday Poem ' selection for the week -- "Limitations": The subtlest strain a great musician weaves, Cannot attain ...

I learned long ago that winter will drive you crazy until you get out into it — and I mean “winter” both literally and metaphorically. -...

I used to think ...that I needed to defend myself.  Now I know that God will defend whatever really needs defended in me.

There can be such a sacred beauty to silence. We sat for a few moments in church on Sunday in prayerful  silence ; a pondering of the sou...

I have decided to stick with love,  hate  is too great a burden to bear. -- Martin Luther  King , Jr. We are so grateful for the opp...

A great many people do now seem to think that the mere state of being worried is in itself meritorious. I don’t think it is. We must, if it...

Rejection has a powerful grip on us. It so easily slays us. It is unyielding in its pursuit of us. Its threat is ever-present, even if o...

Sometimes, in order to find something, you have to stop looking for it.

So it's searchable: Do not handicap your children by making their lives easy. -- Robert Heinlein

I have noticed ...that I need to put myself in and pursue relationships with people. I seem to stop growing when I choose not to.

Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. -- Henry Ford

God does not comfort us to make us comfortable only, but to make us comforters. -- John Henry Jowett Give, and it will be given to y...

See story here .... What informs such character , such compassion ?  I continue to wonder if one can only understand poverty, if one has...

My ' Friday Poem ' selection for the week -- "Winter Leafage": Each year I mark one lone outstanding tree, Clad in its ...

I used to think ...that you needed to be strong to help carry things for people. Now I know that we often are able to help others the most b...

May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears . -- Nelson Mandela

I have noticed ...that I tend to recoil when personalities get 'large'. My withdrawal, veiled as it may be, perhaps is an attempt...

One paper published by a Duke University researcher in 2006 found that more than 40 percent of the actions people performed each day weren’t...

In a world addicted to 'fast', here's simple truth about ' slow ': TO KEITH MANSHIP: On the slow process of being mor...

This is a tough time to feel optimistic about the future. With the notable exception of impressive global cooperation on climate change an...

Tami  and I have been talking about the new year -- what we would want in it, what it might bring to us, what to pursue , what to be willing...

Wow, what a year 2015 has been!  The last few, I have enjoyed reviewing Saturday Mornings  entries throughout the year -- I am grateful for ...