The gift of enough
I’m back home after a weekend on Vashon Island. I enjoyed my time as guest preacher this morning with an appreciative group at Burton Church. Truth be told, over the past four years, I’ve preached more to sheep and geese,…
Reintroduced to wonder
A small art gallery near Lake Galway in Ireland holds an exhibition with local art. A poet of no small renown drops by to view it. As he finishes his perusing, a local farmer arrives. Once a year, the farmer…
Childlike joy
This week we celebrate the Advent Candle of Joy (the Shepherd's or Gaudete Candle).Count me in. I’m all in favor of joy. But sometimes, I don’t feel it. Is that okay to admit? Or say, out loud? There’s a part…
Hiding place for the holy
Christmas is the season of Advent, which means, literally, "to wait."But let’s pause here, shall we? You see, waiting is not one of my spiritual gifts. And truth be told, I wish it were easier to wait.To wait implies that…
We’re here for one another
I write (and talk) a lot about embracing beauty in the ordinary. The sacrament of the present moment. But some days, I feel undone by life's unsightliness. The cracks, fault lines and intense suffering takes a toll.I reread Donald Hall's…
Absorb daily miracles
During a noon-hour rush on a steamy July day, two men were jockeying their way through the crowd on a New York City avenue. They practically shouted as they tried to hear one other above the din. One man, a…
The gift of tiny miracles
While a young mother waits at a post-office-counter, her four-year-old daughter occupies herself with the opportunity for self-entertainment, exploring the lobby, looking, prattling, not an item left untouched.The girl finds a penny on the floor. "Look momma," she says proudly,…
Wild and precious life
A farmer once came to see the Buddha, to seek advice, to get help with his problems. The farmer had many problems, and he told the Buddha, in great detail, all about how they made his life very difficult.The weather…
Seven wonders of the world
The first-grade class assignment: to name the seven wonders of the world. Each student compiles a list, and shares their list, aloud, with the class. There is ardent interaction as the students call out entries from their lists: The Pyramids,…
Born to Savor Life
In his book Too Small to Ignore, Wess Stafford (President of Compassion) tells a story from his childhood on the Ivory Coast of Africa. About a village visited by a convoy of French colonial officials for a government survey. Their…