Saturday Mornings

@NASASun Sure, why not? It IS Halloween!

When my daughter was 7 years-old, she once interrupted a bedtime story to tell me, "In a pie-eating contest, it doesn't matter if y...

We can try, at great personal sacrifice, to be perfectly righteous, a perfect friend, perfectly responsive, perfectly available, perfectly f...

Sometimes it is hard to tell whether we should be directing more of life or cooperating more with it. Our true desires are too often submerg...

Photographer Marc Sellés Limós captured this photo of an epic lightning storm while also encapsulating star trails caused by the Earth’s rot...

Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life. -- Rachel Carson

For having lived long, I have experienced many instances of being obliged by better information, or fuller consideration, to change opinion...

Know that career progression isn’t linear — sometimes you have to go sideways for a while before you go up. Broadening your experience is h...

Ever noticed ...that Truth is always just sitting there in the background? It really doesn’t care whether I  believe it or not, whether I k...

In many circles, seeking God is, among other things, a virtue. But too often, seeking God often drifts faster towards clichéd beliefs than ...

AXIOS

One predator of the ' moment ' is analysis . More than anything else, our experiences (good or bad) inform what we believe . You c...

On the Lighter Side :   

' Poem  for the week' -- "Verses to the Moon": Oh moon, who now look over the roof of the church, in the tropical calm to ...

There is no deeper desire than the desire of being revealed. -- Kahlil Gibran

I got nothin' today. ...some days really are like that, aren't they?   No shortage of material, actually.  Just of motivation — mayb...

Instagram:  richvillodas The level of power we hold must be commensurate with the level of inner work we have done (and are doing).  Other...

I’m wondering … how much of our actions are organized for approval from someone or a group whose approval we need or desire? Would the actu...

The first way to develop presence is in living each day with great simplicity . The practice of the presence of God , although a little diff...

Establishing your ways and becoming set in them are not the same thing. Even a tacit review of history exposes the fact that many acts we vi...

In light of yesterday's post, here is this year's contribution to a now annual series —  Fall Tree Of The Day :   Winona Lake, IN...

Poem for the week' -- "The Autumn": Go, sit upon the lofty hill,     And turn your eyes around, Where waving woods and water...

For fast-acting relief, try slowing down . -- Jane Wagner

My grandson recently fell and skinned his...nose. It got me thinking — why do we react, or not react, the way we do...to events like skinne...

A primary task of leadership is to direct attention. To do so, leaders must learn to focus their own attention . Attention is the basis of...

I've noticed ... we make assumptions about other people all the time; at least I do...often to my chagrin. My chagrin, however, is likel...

5 minutes on Jesus' version of peace ....

Many current manifestations are related to prior problems. New times test old assumptions . Empathy requires understanding and understandi...

Amazing photography: 2022 Audubon Photography Awards

' Poem for the week' -- "A Decade": When you came, you were like red wine and honey, And the taste of you burnt my mouth ...

Character is how you treat those who can do nothing for you. -- Anonymous

UPDATED:  Full-disclosure — the first version of the below was…well, a bit of a mess (really needed an editor, at the very least).  Hopefull...

If a movement is to have an impact, it must belong to those who join it, not those who lead it. -- Simon  Sinek

Ever noticed ... that , in one way or another, nearly everyone has gaps psychologically? Even when these are difficult, perhaps they are amo...

When the signs of age begin to mark my body (and still more when they touch my mind); when the ill that is to diminish me or carry me off s...

 Sometimes, it’s all about the stickers.

BONUS (given that it's now October!): I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. -- L.M. Montgomery Now, back to the music:...

AXIOS I saw something similar this week, too, in our our town.  They're selling... because we're buying. Oh, regarding those selli...

It’s often easy and quick to do something small to help someone, but we rarely do it. Why it matters: We underestimate the value of small an...

Pay attention — both to what enlivens you, as well as to what deadens you. How much of the time, for example, does what enlivens us crea...

Democracy  (NOT) in action — real history is nearly always helpful: In Arizona, Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson has restored...

Just because someone carries it well, doesn't mean it's not heavy. -- David Kessler

I’m wondering …who I would really be if I were not challenged each day by what is around me? Do I welcome it at the time?  Often no. Am I g...

The trouble is that we have made the Bible into a bunch of ideas — about which we can be right or wrong — rather than an invitation to a n...

It is fascinating how often we can feel more free of some things…the next day. Our comfort level with things seems proportional to the exten...

The New York Times Letters from an American

Right where you are, in the hurt and sorrow , that’s right where the insight is, that’s where the answer is, that’s where the wisdom is. Th...

Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. -- Eckhart Tolle Why is this so infuriating?  ...ah, but why is it...

As you may have detected, Wednesdays have become a little bit more of a long-skate day at the rink for posts on Saturday Mornings. Today, m...

When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand . -- Brenda Ueland

I've noticed ...it is helpful to take note of oneself .  Here's one observation I've made — I am not much of a relational risk-t...

In a homily offered on the final day of the Men’s Rites of Passage (MROP) retreat that served as the material for his book,  Quest for the G...

We go places, so we can take people places. What we appear to be most capable of extending to others is directly related to what we have rec...

When I pray for peace , I pray not only that the enemies of my own country may cease to want war, but above all that my country will cease ...

Live out of your imagination , not your history. -- Stephen Covey

You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it. -- Paul Coelho

We cannot truly know full meaning in life, until we go through it.  But, we can learn to recognize elements of that meaning from those we h...

Just because things hadn't gone the way I had planned didn't necessarily mean they had gone wrong. -- Ann Patchett

Ever noticed ...when somebody has  what is sometimes referred as the ‘it’ factor? What actually is the IT factor? While a bit hard to precis...

I started worrying about what kind of ground I was on with God. I started worrying about how many birds were in my field, how many rocks, ho...

Art is one of the persistent things that still brings me joy about life. You are who you are — that could be tempered by who you want to b...

James Webb Space Telescope

' Poem for the week' -- "Wild Horses Drink from the River of History": Hours before dark, I follow the stony path from th...

Just because it isn’t predictable, does not mean it’s not reliable. -- Jason Miller

Have you ever prayed a prayer like this:  Dear Father, I come to you with this salutation — aware that I don’t really understand much of who...