Faith & Life Inspirational Message

There are a number of reasons I continue to read new and disparate things.   As I get older, I don’t want to become more boring!   That assumes some of my students now consider me to be boring.   I realize I do not get to decide whether someone thinks I am boring.   I could be the most exciting human being in my state, but if an eighteen-year old college student decides I am boring, then for them I am boring.   What I think does not matter for them.            I continue to read because I am curious.   I learned long ago that nurturing my curiosity makes me more interesting and more knowledgeable.   I have the best chance of being interesting if I am interested.   That goes for a number of things, but I am convinced it clearly is true for spirituality.   I like to have a wide range of interests.   Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, the old farm saying goes.   As one who grew u...

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.  ...

As I have mentioned so many times, when serendipity comes my way, I am delighted.   I always feel so lucky when serendipity hits.   I feel good when I recognize that serendipity has just graced my life.   Sometimes I wonder how many times I miss something that is serendipitous, just because I failed to notice it?   This time serendipity came in the form of a John Lennon quotation.   I like John Lennon and the Beatles, but I was never a huge fan.   The quotation from Lennon did not even come from some music.   Instead it came rather innocently in some regular mailings that I receive.   Often I do not even read those things.   For whatever reason, this time I read it and Lennon’s words leaped out at me.   I am thankful.   I also am curious, so I did some research.   It seems that it is pretty dubious that Lennon ever said the words I am about to quote.   But I don’t care.   It is not important to me that they ...

When I find a phrase or sentence in a book that arrests my attention, I feel like I just found a diamond.   Of course, it is not materially valuable, but a great phrase or sentence adds value to my life and the way I understand life.   In fact, I wish I had started collecting these “diamonds” early in my life---maybe from college to today.   I wonder how many of these I would have in my treasury?              I am sure if I were to cull the various things I have written, I would have a minimal list of these phrases and sentences.   They would fill many pages in a notebook and would be a wonderful reservoir of inspiring thoughts.   Even though I don’t have that notebook, I still go in search of the phrase or sentence that stops me in my tracks and lets me exclaim, “Yes!”             I found one of these sentences recently when I was re-reading ...

If you are reading this, you too have survived last year and now are living in a new year!   If you participate in the media in any form, from reading newspapers to watching tv, you have become aware of a flood of statistics.   There are countless stories about last year.   I have become aware of the ten most brilliant-this and the ten dumbest-that.   As one who watches sports, I have watched the most amazing-this and the most disappointing-that.   Already coaches are losing jobs because of their involvement in some kind of “disappointing-that.”   As I write this, two professional football coaches have been fired.   I can’t imagine what they will do without their million dollar salaries!   As an assistant coach next year, they may have to scrape by with half that! The other annual fascination of mine as last year gives way to a new year is the making of resolutions.   Two staples of the new year are greeting everyone you meet with the p...

I participate in some forms of social media, although I have not yet become a Facebook follower.   That clearly means I am not all in!   But I do think there is a role for social media.   One of the roles I see for myself is social media provides one more outlet for me to share some spiritual nuggets that students, especially, would not get.   That may sound arrogant, but there are quite a few folks from my university that read the thing just because I am writing it.   The numbers are not huge, but Jesus only managed a few followers!   I am in good company.             The other thing that participating in social media affords is a chance to keep thinking about life and how to make the most sense out of it.   I grant that so much of the stuff that appears via social media---Facebook, Twitter and the rest---is not profound in any sense.   Much of it is technological chitchat.   I am not...

It is obvious that the title of this inspirational message is not in English.   For many of us who do not know any other language, this can be very frustrating.   Suddenly we can feel like the outsider.   It might even bring back memories of being a little kid and being left out of a conversation.   Exclusion is typically not a fun experience.            However, if you know French, you immediately knew the phrase used in the title was a pretty familiar phrase.   In fact, in educated, academic circles, it often is used in an English text and left untranslated.   Again if I am not educated, i.e., if I do not know French in this case, I still feel left out.   I might have a doctoral degree in physics and still not know what the phrase means.             The phrase, joie de vie, means “joy of life.”   Now that we all know what it means, we c...

Yesterday I went to Happy Hour.    This is a periodic gathering of some people from my college community.   It is a pleasant occasion, which I am always delighted to attend.   There are almost no faculty who go to this kind of thing.   It is a nice group of people from various spectrums across our campus.   It gives me a chance to be with people I seldom or never would have any reason to greet and spend time in conversation.             It is pleasant to be in a context where there is no agenda---and especially no hidden agenda.   When I am there, I am not looking for anything, I am not asking someone for something and there are no expectations.   The conversation can be engaging or rather aimless and it does not matter to me.               As I drove away, I began thinking about the Happy Hour phenomenon.   I know Happy...

Recently I went to a local restaurant, sports bar place with some friends.   It was late afternoon and the plan was to spend a little time together after work and in a different setting than the one in which we normally interact.   I enjoy these opportunities to be with some folks I like, but some of whom I barely know.   I especially appreciate the chance to get to know some people who work at the same place I do, but whom I never have the chance to see.   I am always amazed to walk into one of these gatherings and see some faces and have no clue who they might be.   It’s a humbling experience, since I usually think I know most people who work at my institution.   Wrong!   I like the fact that getting to know and spend some time with people is the reason we are getting together.   Where we do it is not that important.   But I know food and drink often make the occasion more pleasant, so I am happy to participate. When we go to thi...

There are many ways people would describe the point of their lives.   For many the list would entail their own kids and, maybe, grandkids.   Work is the source of meaning for many people.   It might be their churches, synagogues or mosques.   I am sure I cannot imagine some of the answers some folks might have to the question, what is the point of life?             Even if we have figured out the point of life for ourselves, it is not a given that we are living life in a way that makes it certain that we will achieve what we said was the point of life.   Sadly, there are too many people who can tell you what the point of life is and, yet, in the next sentence confess they are living far from being able to pull it off.   I felt this way when I was younger.             There are others who would simply not be sure what the point of their lives w...

Suffering is not the favorite choice for spirituality focus.   In fact, many more popular spiritualities forego any discussion of suffering.   If you were to read these spiritualities, you would not even think suffering ever happens.   To many of these superficial (in my estimation) spiritualities are chasing what spiritual-psychiatrist, Gerald May, calls the happiness mentality.   In effect, that spirituality contends that if you are spiritual, you ought to be happy.            Let it be said, I am happy to be happy.   I don’t know anyone who prefers sadness to being happy.   Happiness is great; often it is fun.   But the happiness mentality always crashes on the rocks of suffering.   And so far as I know, there is always the good chance we all will have our share of suffering.   Even the Buddhist, who sets out on the spiritual pilgrimage to eliminate suffering, begins with suffering as se...

Recently I read an interesting article that basically told me what I already knew.   The article focused on the happiness theme.   That is not surprising, since happiness is an “in thing” these days.   There are many studies that attempt to show us what happiness is, how to be happy and how to make it last.   I have said many times that I am certainly for happiness.   It is hard for me to imagine anyone saying, “No, I prefer being unhappy!”       The article was helpful as a reminder.   And it put together some important information for me to share with you.   I am convinced that happiness is not always a spiritual issue, but it can be a spiritual issue.   Personally, I am not sure that happiness should be a spiritual goal, but I am certain that happiness as a byproduct of spiritual goals is a good thing.            The author of the article, Ramesh Ponnuru, works in ...