Our ability to be both truly present to one another and aware of God’s presence in our lives is a gift unto itself. It is our calling. There’s nothing more important we can do today.
This morning I came across a poem I wrote a few years ago in response to an act of friendship and concern on the part of a friend. I tweaked and tidied it up a bit (are poems ever really finished?) and maybe it will help someone today like his gesture helped me back then. Say thanks to a friend today for the small gifts of kind words and simple faith.
A couple of weeks ago, I was in Chicago for a professional meeting of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, where one of the scheduled speakers was Mike Eruzione. Please tell me you know who Mike Eruzione is. Please…
Okay, I realize that not everyone is a sports fan, but Eruzione played a [...]
For how sad it is that any of us might not do what we seem called to do, that we might live our lives never embracing the small voice inside us that says, “teach” or “sing” or “nurse” or “own a business” or “be of service…”
Here’s what I learned today standing on a beach in Fort Bragg, California: Even if time can’t heal all wounds, it at least can make even the seeming dregs of our lives beautiful. Just add water and an overwhelming force.
Just a quick post to say that my collection of essays about facing disease and treatment with faith is about to hit the virtual and physical bookstore shelves.
We are called to live our lives as if every day could be our last. As if every grudge we hold will never have a chance to be removed if we don’t act immediately. As if every word spoken in anger can never be taken back if we don’t act now. As if every sin will eternally leave us more burdened and further removed from God and those around us if we don’t seek forgiveness today.
Enjoy the Olympics. Cheer on your favorite athletes and rejoice in the competition and the victories. But here’s a more important challenge: Emerge from the Olympics with a better sense of your own call, your own race. Then go run it.
Here’s the point of all this, really. If you don’t like the culture, make your own…or help others make their own. Instead of paying $50 or $100 bucks to see a megastar at your local arena, support or create your own small venues that put the spotlight on the gifted but lesser-known artists who may never find their way (or want to find their way) to top 40 radio, MTV or the Grammy Awards.
[an occasional series of essays about life, spirit, and the music that makes up the soundtrack of my life]
Bright eyes, burning like fire.
Bright eyes, how can you close and fail?
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?
Bright eyes.
–Mike Batt, recorded by Art Garfunkel
Not long ago on an oldies station, I [...]