I love this poem by Emily Dickinson: If I can stop one heart from breaking,I shall not live in vain;If I can ease one life the aching,Or cool one pain,Or help one fainting robinUnto his nest again,I shall not live in vain.[i] She suggests that life doesn’t have to be filled with big accomplishments to …
How easily do we slip into abstraction while real people are counting coins at the grocery store? Loud voices are saying, “They just need to work harder,” as if effort alone could outpace rent and medical bills. Then there is the spiritual bypass of saying, “It’s all part of the divine plan,” as if that …
“Be a lamp, or a lifeboat, or a ladder… Walk out of your house like a shepherd.” Rumi This quote by Rumi really speaks to my heart this morning. We can easily become discouraged when we look at challenges in the world that are so big that we wonder how we can help. When I …
When the outside world gets angrier and louder, that is when we need the Sabbath the most. It gives us the opportunity to rest in the Stillness and to be held in God’s love. It is an opportunity to restore, renew and reframe what is occurring in the outer world and our place in it. …
Read this slowly. Let it settle into your heart. Visualize the atrocities being committed around the world in the name of justice, protection, untamed power, and spite. Imagine your own home destroyed. Your family gone. Your loved ones called to war, returning in a box. And then ask yourself: Do I still support this? Judy …
I quiet my mind and listen to the still, small voice. I trust the way will be revealed. I allow truth and clarity to come.
I love the following lines from the eighty’s song, Higher Love by British singer/songwriter Steve Winwood: “I could light the night up with my soul on fireI could make the sun shine from pure desireLet me feel that love come over meLet me feel how strong it could be.” Like many others, I have …
I had an epiphany today, and it feels like a big relief. I’m giving up my role as the morality police. Somewhere along the way, I must have picked up the idea that other people’s choices were my concern and that I needed to monitor, correct, or hold the line for what was right. It …
When my daughter stepped back from her demanding teaching career, she needed time to recuperate. She didn’t set goals, she simply paid attention to the needs of her children and her own health and began walking. Every morning, she laced her shoes, stepped outside, and walked along the sea wall in Bay Saint Louis where …
Chris Carter, an all-pro wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, tells the story of a college athletic recruiter visiting his home when Chris was 12 years old, trying to recruit his older brother to play basketball for Indiana. During the visit, Chris’ mom said to the recruiter, “You need to come back in a few …