InSpiritry

“There aren’t enough days in the weekend.“       Rod Schmidt

It’s Monday. Again. Time to rise and shine, grab a cup of coffee and a bagel and leave the weekend behind. For some of us, this past weekend was full of time with family and friends.  For some, it was a chance to hit the lake for fishing. Others enjoyed three days of yard work or home repair or a service project. Lots of us spent Sunday in church and maybe even at a church picnic. Many of us went to concerts or had a night out for dinner or had friends over. Of course, some of us were at jobs that don’t stop on Saturday or Sunday. Sadly, a few of us felt compelled to keep working and worrying and waiting for things to change (you know who you are!) (more…)

“When a teenager wants to learn to drive, don’t stand in her way!”

There are many rites of passage for kids growing up in America in the past half century: the first day of school, spending the first night away from home, learning to ride a bike. With each experience, adults help children move away from the safety of home to acquire new skills. Each event is an important step towards independence — that ultimate goal of childhood!

Another of those experiences most of us remember is learning to drive. (more…)

“Everything changes. Nothing remains without change.” Buddha

Our jobs. The economy. The weather. The planet. Our relationships. Our families. Our faces. Everything does change! (more…)

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this…I can take the next thing that comes along.“ 

Eleanor Roosevelt

While none of us wish for fear–and many of us avoid it at all cost–it is true that we grow from experiences that make us feel afraid. (more…)

“President Obama has announced that Sonia Sotomayor

is his nominee for the Supreme Court.“ 

Yesterday, after several weeks of consideration, President Obama introduced us to the woman he is nominating as the next Supreme Court Justice. (more…)

“There are a hundred ways 

to kneel and kiss the ground.”

                                                  Rumi

This quote, from the Middle Eastern poet Rumi, hangs above my desk as inspiration. Written to suggest that holiness is not prescribed but can instead be expressed in any number of ways, it is also a mantra for how to live creatively.  (more…)

 ”Regard your soldiers as your children…

look on them as your own beloved sons

and they will follow you even unto death.” 

                        Sun Tzu

Today is Memorial Day. The day for aging WWII and Vietnam vets to polish their medals, memorialize sargeants, call old friends. A day for men and women who fought in Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan to remember their comarades, rub their regrets, wear their honor. Today, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers of amazing young adults lost in battle will dust off portraits of their special heroes, then tell their stories hoping they will never be forgotten. And on military bases around the world, soldiers will enjoy a good meal, shoulder chuck one another in pride, reread love letters, talk to family by phone or online.

The rest of us will mark the day too. (more…)

“When you don’t want to do something

one excuse is as good as another.”

                                                  Yiddish proverb

This quote is a reminder that we have more control over our lives that we would sometimes like to admit!  

Do you have things stay on your to-do lists: paying bills, homework, housework, a phone call, repairs, losing weight, making a life change, serving your community? Many of us claim the reason for things not getting done is lack of time or money or sleep or help or even good weather, but most of the time our excuses don’t hold up to scrutiny. If we’re honest, we know there are things, as the proverb above aptly suggests, we just don’t want to do! 

If you have something you keep putting off, it’s worth doing a self-check to see why. (more…)

“The nail that sticks up gets hammered down.”
                                                       Japanese proverb 

“While the hammer drives the nail,

it is the nail that finds its way into the wood.”

As we work together to solve dilemmas in our families, our places of work and even our world, things go best when we each have a role to play. What an interesting metaphor develops if we think of ourselves as items in a woodshed. Hammer, anvil, nail –each type of tool and person serves a purpose. Though our social roles change in different circumstances with a little more flexibility than an iron tool, because of our natural abilities, we frequently tend to choose (or be given) one kind of responsibility or another!  (more…)

 “Human history is in essence a history of ideas.”       

                                                                  H. G. Wells

Most of us, when we look back in time, have periods that intrigue us — prehistoric epochs, Biblical Times, the 1700s, WW II, the 60s. (more…)