“Poverty, Violence, War, Earthquakes, Floods…all reasons families are forced to live in Third World conditions.”
Last night, a line of dangerous summer thunderstorms raced across North Texas, full of sky-splitting lightning strikes, damaging winds, tornados, heavy rain and hail. As our huge, old trees heaved in the gusts and thunder rattled our windows, we heard a high pitched POP! and then total silence. (more…)
The best part of living in a small town…
Yesterday, I had lunch in Honey Grove, Texas. I was speaking to the Friends of the Library there, a group of 75 people dedicated to supporting the public library in a community of descendants of farming families. Some had lived there all their lives, but many have retired from successful careers to this struggling town of historic buildings and fond memories. My topic was Celebrating Small Town Life — (more…)
“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…)
“We are what we repeatedly do.“ Aristotle
Think about how you spend an ordinary day. Much of our time is filled with things we repeatedly do! Aristotle reminds us that as we take actions over and over again, they become our habit of living and finally our way of being. (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…)
