Faith & Life Inspirational Message

In my spiritual journey I have learned many things, as would be expected.   Indeed, it would be sad if we were to be on a journey for a period of time and learn nothing.   That sounds more like stagnation than a journey.   One important thing I have learned is to balance working with the new---staying connected to the relevant things happening in our world---with the traditional---things like spiritual disciplines to keep me grounded.             A good bit of what I read comes from the spirituality in my contemporary world.   I do not fall for the illusion that anything new has to be better than the older ways of being spiritual.   But I am not so naïve as to think that most of whatever is new will have no staying power in our world.   For example, there is so much research coming out of our scientific community, we would be idiotic to ignore that.   Neuroscientists are discovering so much abou...

Occasionally ideas simply pop into my head.   They come as gifts of the universe or God or some Giver of gifts.   When I write this, I have to laugh.   I laugh because it is true for me.   At the same time, I realize how the truth of this could tempt me to want to manipulate it.   I am tempted to think, why not have money pop into my hands instead of ideas popping into my mind!   I could immediately spend the money.   Ideas come, but they seldom have any value until I work with them, fashion them and put them into a larger whole. This is what I am doing with this inspirational piece.   The phrase, “power of partnerships,” came into my mind.   It would have been the easiest thing in the world to ignore it.   On the surface, the phrase sounds true enough, but there is nothing special about it.   There is nothing that inherently attracted me to the phrase.   But I have learned to receive this kind of gift---even if I do not k...

It is hard for me to imagine anyone seeing the three words that form the title of this reflection---peaceful, happy and strong---not wanting a share in all three.   Can you believe anyone would say, “Nah, I prefer war to peace.   I prefer conflict to peace!”   Can you imagine anyone saying, “I much rather prefer sadness and despair to happiness!”   And it is just as difficult to hear someone saying, “Heck, I’d much rather be weak and hurting than be strong.”   Anyone in his or her right mind wants to be peaceful, happy and strong.            The real question is not whether I prefer these attributes, but how do I get them?   Is there anything I or we can do to make them come true?   Or do we simply have to wait, sit back and hope to become peaceful, happy and strong?   The good news is, there are some things we can do to bring peace, happiness and strength to ourselves and to others.  ...

I have long been fascinated by imagination.   We only have to spend a little time with kids to witness the power of imagination.   Even fairly young kids---toddlers---can imagine with the best of them.   Imagination is the formation of ideas and images, which are not present to us.   Imagination is, as the dictionary tells us, a creative ability.   Imagination is able to create worlds that don’t yet exist.   Imagination fosters alternative worlds.   Imagination is the key to the future. If memory is the key to the past, imagination is the key to the future.   Memory often is quite a treasure.   Memory is the way we capture mentally those times, which have passed.   Memory preserves.   I have fond memories of some of my own childhood days.   I have quite fond memories of the times my two little girls were growing up, learning things and beginning to make lives of their own.   I am very thankful for the gift of memory. ...

The concept of friendship has been an important one for quite a long time for me.   And I am sure the phenomenon of friendship has been important to me since I was in the first grade, at least, and probably even before then.   I have taught a few times a college class on spiritual friendship.   Every time I have done that, it has been a special occasion.   It seems that teaching a course on friendship creates a special opportunity for significant personal development among the students.   And fortunately, I am the beneficiary of that experience, too. I have studied the idea of friendship, so I probably know more about the history, the philosophy and theology of friendship than most people know.   I have valued the way Aristotle talks about different kinds of friendships.   I appreciate the way Cicero, right before the time of Jesus, developed some profound ways of understanding how friendships are formed and how they should be lived.   Friendsh...

Sometimes it seems those of us who strive to live some kind of spiritual life, try too hard.  Saying such does not mean I believe the spiritual journey is so demanding that we need to see it as a herculean effort that only strong folks can manage to do.  Actually, I think the journey may be fairly simple.  Theology can become quite complex, but the spiritual walk itself is relatively simple.  I think that is probably true in all the major religious traditions.  I am convinced it is for Christianity.  I suspect it is also true for my Jewish friends, my Buddhist colleagues, etc.             There are some basic components to the journey.  Faith is surely a beginning point.  Somehow we need enough trust to begin the walk.  There has to be some commitment to develop along the way or we would not continue.  Commitment is formed through a process of discipline.  Surely any journe...

Recently a writer for the New York Times died.   David Carr wrote about culture for that famous newspaper.   He is someone I read sometimes, but I was not a regular reader of his material like I am for someone like David Brooks, whom I very much respect and from whom I learn a great deal.   When Carr died, he was given much press and was lauded as very smart and quite influential.   My interest was piqued, so I read more about him than might be expected.             Carr was still relatively young when he died.   He was born in 1956.   I was intrigued to track his career.   Clearly, he had learned to make a living using words.   Jobs like his fascinate me.   I wonder how many kids think that they could figure out how to use words and make a really good living?   After all, everyone uses words!   He just learned how to use words very effectively.   He learned how to use w...

There are some writers who speak to me in fairly predictable ways.   Some of them are contemporary people who write for newspapers, on the internet, and other social media.   Others who speak to me are long since dead: spiritual greats from centuries ago, i.e. people like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John of the Cross, Teresa of Avila and a host of others.   I don’t really pay too much attention to their political or religious categorization---such as conservative or liberal, evangelical or modern.     One such writer I like is David Brooks.   He writes for the New York Times .   Some of the really great material he brings is nothing he invented.   It comes from something he reads or hears and, then, reflects on it.   Maybe I am attracted to this because it is much like I work.   Recently, I read something from Brooks.   I was lured by the headline of the article: “What Our Words Tell Us.”   Granted, I have a love of words....

I am not surprised to see a new study out which links spirituality and health.   For quite a while, people have thought there was a connection between spirituality and health.   In fact for quite a long time, I have assumed there are a variety of ways to talk about health.   Normally, I think people mean physical health.   That is a given.   If someone asks if you are healthy, they typically mean physical.   Or if I call in “sick,” the boss is going to assume I have a fever, a cold or some other physical malady.        But we all know there are ways we talk about mental health.   Everyone would assume health is not limited to one’s physical state of being.   I can be perfectly healthy and not feel “well.”   Ask anyone who has bouts of depression.   He or she may be ok physically, but not at all up to engaging life.   I can be physically in tip-top shape and not want to get out of the bed in the mornin...

The title for this inspirational piece could also be written in a different way.   I could have chosen to say “alone and together.”   In either case the question in my mind is how people in general and how I in particular practice the spiritual journey.   On one hand the answer is obvious.   My spiritual journey is mine alone.   You cannot do my spiritual journey and I cannot do yours.   From this perspective to pose the question, alone or together, is senseless.   It seems like my spiritual journey is done alone.             There is no way I can speak for the majority of Americans who actually would say they are on a spiritual journey.   However, I would guess that many, if not most of them, are doing their spiritual journey alone.   I would say this even knowing that a significant portion of people on their spiritual journey are folks who go to church, attend a synagogue or mosque. ...

Recently, I took the opportunity to undergo one of those tests that we all should do when we get older.   Of course, there are ranges of these tests that are good for older folks to do.   There are a number of good reasons for us to do these things, but probably the key issue is called self-interest!   The problem here however, it sometimes does not seem to be in our self-interest.   In all honesty I had no interest at all in doing it!   And I could come up with ten reasons why I “really did not need to do it….not now anyway.”             To follow my own “logic” here would only prove my stupidity.   I know there are other ways I opted to be stupid, but most of the time when it comes to my health, I sacrifice stupidity and go with safety.   Throughout the process I am always intrigued by the guile and gravity of my mind.   It is one creative, tricky little dude!   Sometimes I don’t eve...

What a trio of words we have in the title of this inspirational essay.   Work, creativity, and caring are all weighty words alone.   But together they are heavyweights!   These words come packaged in the last paragraph of the book, The Active Life , by my friend, Parker Palmer.   This is a book I have used in class, as well as the Soul Work group I lead on campus.   In essence, it is a book, which tries to teach us who are involved in the active life how to be contemplatives.   To those of us in the active life, it always seems easier to think about becoming a contemplative---that is, living life from the perspective of contemplation---if we could run off and join a monastery.   But obviously, most of us are not going to do that.             So I appreciate Palmer’s effort to show me how, as I live an active life on campus, to live my life contemplatively.   This is where that last paragrap...