Tuesday -- Welcome to the New Year. I hope you’ve found a moment or two for gratitude and renewal.This week, the affirmation that, we are healers. Grounded in Ram Dass’ affirmation, “We're all just walking each other home.”It is from…
Happy New Year to all.For many, it is resolution time.But here’s my confession, I’m not a list maker. Well, that’s not technically accurate. I do make lists, but tend to forget where I put them. This is true; I tip…
Tuesday -- This week we remember, "Peace is our gift to each other." (Elie Wiesel)Knowing that peace is always, always small steps.And sometimes I wonder if even small steps of peace are possible. I only know that when I see…
Do you know the story of Hope in No Man’s Land?The movie does my heart good.The setting is Christmas, 1914. World War I—raging for only four months—had already become one of the bloodiest wars in history. Soldiers on both sides…
Tuesday -- This week the reminder that a gentle antidote for weariness or lethargy is childlike joy. Enlarging childlike joy is purposely and graciously, soul enriching.Confucian philosopher Mencius’ reminder, “Great is the human who has not lost his childlike heart.”Our…
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…
Tuesday -- In Brendan, (Frederick Buechner's novel about a sixteenth-century Irish saint), a servant recounts a conversation between Brendan and Gildas, a crippled and bitter old priest."I am as crippled as the dark world," Gildas says."If it comes to that,…
As a storeowner tacked a sign above his door, 'Puppies for Sale,' a little boy appeared and asked. "How much are you going to sell those puppies for?"The storeowner replied "$50 each."The little boy reached into his pocket and pulled…
Tuesday -- This week we’re unpacking one of the themes of Advent: waiting and making space—the permission to see that the ordinary is the hiding place for the holy. My favorite Christmas story—to retell sometime every December—is one Garrison Keillor…
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…