TUESDAY AUGUST 25 -- I can tell you that it is easy to write—and preach—a homily on kindness.Practicing kindness, well, that is another thing altogether.This I know with deep gratitude: One of the gifts we can give one another is…
In June 1859, Jean-François Gravelet (known as The Great Blondin) crossed Niagara Falls walking a tight rope. During his life, he repeated the feat several times, always with a different theatrical variation: blindfolded, in a sack, trundling a wheelbarrow, on…
TUESDAY AUGUST 18 -- Children—or, let us say, the child within us—remind us of what it means to be “tethered” to authenticity.Did you see the movie “Shine”?In the opening scenes, we first meet the middle-aged David Helfgott (played by acclaimed…
A Nigerian woman, a physician at a teaching hospital in the United States, attended a Gordon MacDonald lecture. After, she approached Gordon, to offer kind words of affirmation. She introduced herself using an American name.“If I may ask,” Gordon inquired,…
TUESDAY AUGUST 11 -- “We live like ill-taught piano students. We are so afraid of the flub that will get us in dutch, we don't hear the music, we only play the right notes.” Thank you, Robert Capon.And in yesterday’s…
New to both the town, and the church, Ellen wanted to be involved, to give of herself, to share her gifts. As it happened, the parish needed a new tapestry for one of the smaller chapels.And as a seamstress, Ellen…
TUESDAY AUGUST 4 -- Music is one of those gifts that nudges and replenishes your heart. Often when you least expect it, washing over you with grace and healing. Especially life-giving when life feels hard. Another of my favorite movies…
Sometimes we need stories more than food to stay alive. And sometimes those stories are in the revitalizing form of music. As I write this, I’m listening—and yes, singing along—to a song that gives me hope. “When you walk through…
On a few of my walks in Ireland, I would pass by congregates of sheep, with lots of new lambs. And I did my best to try to chat. Wondering if they would understand my accent.“So. Is it okay to…
TUESDAY APRIL 28 -- Walking gives your mind time and space. To wander and mull and ponder. And evaluate, and then re-evaluate.I’m walking (we’re doing about five miles per day), but gratefully my heart and spirit are “walking” too. That's…