Faith & Life Inspirational Message

Everyone knows there are good days and there are bad days.  Sometimes we hear people say, “life has its ups and downs.”  We probably learn this lesson pretty early in life.  Actually, I think little kids experience the reality of life’s ups and downs even before they have language to explain it.  But they know it deep in the core of their beings. I am also sure that most of us conclude early on that there is not much we can do about those “downs” in life.  Of course, some of those less than desirable periods are of our own making.  We do stupid things and pay the price.  But there are other “downers” in life that come our way and we are no more than sitting ducks for malady.  We get sick and sometimes suffer.  I know no person who gets up and says, “boy I hope I get really sick today!”  But clearly not a day goes by when someone in the world does not experience the unfortunate sickness. We know that not all illnesses are sickness of ...

I follow the daily lectionary because it is a resource that feeds my soul.  Spirituality can run the risk of being very individualistic and subjective.  It is not unusual in our day to hear people talking about “doing your own thing.”  Frequently, this applies to their spiritual perspective and journey.  I don’t condemn that.  In fact, I think it is appropriate for people to become self-aware enough to know what they want out of life.  But often, the “do my own thing” perspective is anything but deep.  It can be an excuse to do whatever I want to do and whenever I want to do it. The daily lectionary I follow is anchored in the Catholic monastic tradition.  I don’t need to be a card-carrying Catholic to appreciate the work some have done to produce the daily dose of biblical readings to guide me through the day.  I appreciate the fact that what I am giving focus is the same thing countless thousands are also reading, hearing and praying thro...

I never thought too much about it.  Quakers have historically argued for the equality of men and women when it comes to spirituality.  Even when Quakers began in seventeenth century England, they felt like God was just as likely to speak to women as to men.  And they felt like women were given ministries to do just as men were given ministries.  Hence in my lifetime, there often has been an incongruity between my religious tradition and the culture.  I knew my religious tradition held to a radical equality of the genders.  And I also sensed that the culture in which I lived was patriarchal---that is, male dominated.     And so when the crazy 1960s spawned so many different kinds of movements, it was not surprising one of those movements was the feminist movement.  Clearly, feminism has a complex history that extends to our very day, but let me be simple and say feminism is concerned for the equality of gender.  In a certain way a fe...

Recently, I picked up a friend at the airport.  Normally, I would think very little of this.  I would dismiss it as simply what friends do for each other.  And indeed, that is what friends do for each other.  I have done it for business colleagues.  It makes me wonder if I were to draw a line.  Would I do it for a stranger?  I realize I have never been asked by a stranger to pick him or her up from the airport.  That would be strange!     In my case picking up someone from the airport is easy.  I only live ten minutes from the airport, so the inconvenience is minimal.  I don’t even have to park and walk to where I can find the person.  I simply show up in the front of Arrivals and soon the person comes out.  In the case of my friend, it was really easy.  I looked good because I had done a good deed.  But I didn’t even think about it as a good deed.  She is a friend and that’s why I did it.  Th...

As Americans, we enter the Thanksgiving season. Already people are wishing me a “happy Thanksgiving.” I am delighted with that greeting. And I would be delighted if someone next week wishes me a “happy Monday.” But I guess Mondays are supposed to be normal…not so happy, not so awful. I am not sure I do major holidays very well. I am not against them. They celebrate important events in national, religious, and often personal lives. Thanksgiving is an American deal. In Turkey it is just another weekday! As an American, I welcome it. And I hope it is happy. I am confident one of the reasons I am not sure about major holidays is the trickiness of expectations. For example, Thanksgiving is supposed to be “happy.” Christmas is supposed to be “merry” and, of course, we return to the “happy” theme for New Years. Clearly, for too many people there are too many lousy things going on to gear up to be “happy” and “merry.” Holiday expectations are tricky things. The truth is Thanksgiving lasts one...

One of the things I most like about the semester ending is the fact we are getting near the end of the various books I use.  For example, in one class I have students read Kathleen Norris’ great book, The Cloister Walk .  The book originally appeared in 1996.  I am not sure when I bought it and read it.  I first became aware of Norris’ work with her book, Dakota .  That book is about landscape and a look at place and space.  I came to appreciate a few things about Norris.     I learned that her educational background was poetry.  She is a published poet.  Even of more interest to me was the fact Norris had spent two lengthy periods in a Benedictine monastery.  Like me, Norris is a Benedictine oblate, which basically means she is a “lay Benedictine.”  That commits us to living as nearly as we can the monastic life.  Both Norris and I are married; I have kids.  Of course, that means we cannot be monks in the tradit...

I have heard the phrase, “first things first,” so many times during my life.  Growing up on a farm, it made perfect sense.  Often there was an order or sequence to the chores facing us.  Clearly, “first things first” implies a logic to how one goes about things.  Usually if you did not do the first things, nothing else would be possible.  Or things would start to go very badly.   When I left the farm to go to college, I did not hear the phrase as often.  However, it surely applied to much of what I did in college and, then, later in life throughout my career.  It probably also makes sense when we think about having a family.  Likely it also makes sense when it comes to friendships and all the other adventures of life. It occurred to me this morning when I was trying to do a little spiritual time, that it also very much fits the spiritual life.  Some day, perhaps I will wake up and have nothing planned or nothing to do all day lo...