A friend, working his way through my book, Questions that Matter, had just read, and was thinking about, the essay “Patiently Waiting for Me.” In the song “I’m Movin On,” country artists Rascal Flatts sing “Finally I see…life has been patiently waiting for me.” In the essay, I ask if the “me” life is waiting for …
“The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” Frederick Buechner No matter how far we have journeyed, and regardless of age, each of us has many miles to go to fully uncover, and live into, our deep gladness. I am often asked how I …
“Before you tell your life what you intend to do with it, listen for what it intends to do with you. Before you tell your life what truths and values you have decided to live up to, let your life tell you what truths you embody, what values you represent.” …
I began as I always do…“Thank you for calling the depression hotline. How can I help?” The young man at the other end sounded disappointed; he had hoped to discuss, not depression, but anger management. He had just left a store and was sitting in his car, overwhelmed with anger and self-loathing. Moments earlier, he …
Note: The following will be published in the July/August issue of Neighbors of Batavia magazine. I thought it was a small world in 1964, but I had no idea. When I was 13, the family visited the New York World’s Fair. There is so much I remember: seeing New York City for the first time, …
Try to get over the narrow idea that surrender is abject defeat. Surrender, in spirituality, is total acceptance. From the Bhagavad Gita, as translated by Jack Hawley When he finished playing, we …
The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet. Frederick Buechner In an interview with Peter Block many years ago I asked about the nature of our gifts. “We’re blind to our capacities. If you ask people what their strengths are, the list they come …
Note: The Following was published in January 2011 in Neighbors of Batavia Magazine. I recently realized it never made it to my blog. As I approach 60, the moment of turning the calendar from one year to the next gives me pause. I wonder if I will have left a legacy. Will I have helped …
No matter what tragedy people are experiencing, their suffering is alleviated when they learn that others are standing with them. Some of my best teachers of this truth have been younger leaders. One in her twenties said, “How we are going is important, not where. I want to go together and with faith.”* Many …
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“Truth never happens in real time.” Those are the first few words in the book “Sacrament of Fear” written by an old friend, Will Dresser. The moment I read them, they captured a profundity I did not completely understand. Perhaps I do now, if even just a little. On July 28, I …