Saintly Wisdom

Walking with St. Andrew
Nov. 30th--the Feast Day 

Almighty God, who gave such grace to your apostle Andrew that he readily obeyed the call of your Son Jesus Christ, and brought his brother with him: Give us, who are called by your holy Word, grace to follow him without delay, and to bring those near to us into his gracious presence; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

I have loved St. Andrew as an Apostle. He was there and he just went.  He did not have Peter's loud mouth, Matthew's penchant for money, nor Judas' wiles that led him to suicide.
He answered the call.  He fit in. He made up the team that is remembered to this day.  But when it came down to it, he stood up for his faith and paid its price.  Crucifixion on an "X" shaped cross which is still used on the Flag of Scotland where they herald him as patron saint. 

A lot of us could learn from Andrew for our own journey.  It is not an easy matter to know how to fit into groups and go with the flow.  It is a difficult thing sometimes to believe that what may come about is bigger than any individual and works itself out in the body of the faithful--the Body of Christ. 

 The Scottish Hills with Loch Lamond

"Not the grandest of the Apostles,

but Jesus only called St. Andrew 

and wanted him as he was." 

The WHAT IF Parade

What If We Threw a Parade 

and Nobody Showed Up? 

Actually, it really happened in Washing, DC but the other way around.  They planned a big time parade--and then quietly called it off, so that a lot of folks showed up and there was nothing to see.  That's right!  It never got alot of publicity because of the sheer embarrassment for the nation's capital.  

"Eighty percent of life is just showing up."

Woody Allen

I wonder ole Woody if that is true for the people who missed the parade.  They showed up.  I guess something else has to go into the other 20%--like blood, sweat and tears to pull something like that off.  Or, if you are the parade goer--maybe to have checked to confirm details.  I mean--they actually sold $25 tickets for seating to this thing!  Macy's has been putting this thing on since 1924 and it took more than showing up.  

But I have a question to ponder for the rest of the day.  Is life only about good planning and showing up?  Or, is it more about who we become?  Maybe we could give Woody his due and say that life is alot about showing up for yourself....being present to yourself, knowing who you are.  What's the point of showing up without even a hint of knowing who you are--exactly what is it that you would show up for? 

Stirrings of a Soul

Sonnet Speaks Softly of the Soul 

Lines from Browning's Sonnet 7

The face of all the world is changed, I think,

Since first I heard the footsteps of thy soul

(and I….)

Was caught up into love, and taught the whole

Of life in a new rhythm. 

 I heard the stirrings of my granddaughter's soul on her baptism day. 

There was plenty of gentle,soft cooing--and ear piercing screams--

but underneath it all, there was that stirring of the soul 

which said,  

"I am here! And I am marked as Christ's own forever!"   

Oh, Them Bones!

DNA to Rule on British Monarchy!  

This sounds like something out of the Inquirer or pop press that runs with sensational stories.  People  =pay to read the ridiculous to assure themselves that they are sane!  But this one has some possibility to it.  It has certainly caught the Brits' attention and by surprise.  Read an excerpt News.com.au:  

ARCHAEOLOGISTS are anxiously waiting to see if a skeleton dug up from a hole in a car park in the English city of Leicester is the remains of the much-maligned King Richard III.  More than five centuries after he was killed in the Battle of Bosworth Field by the armies of Henry Tudor, who later became King Henry VII, scientists believe they are close to making an identification. Michael Ibsen, 55, a 17th generation nephew of King Richard III, will have his DNA tested against the remains found in the humblest of settings but which could just prove to be the burial place of the last English monarch to fall in battle. Ibsen, who was born in Canada and moved to London 27 years ago where he works as a carpenter, said: "The only line that they were able to follow through to current times was the line that leads to my mother.''   

Apparently, the skeletal remains show a person with severe curvature of the spine, the telltale mark of Richard III--Shakespeare's hunchback king.

 So what exactly is the big deal?  It certainly is a bone of contention for the existing relative, isn't it?  And should it be the remains of the King, does he deserve a state burial at Westminster?  To be sure, the King's legacy is not a good one--including murder of children.  Then again, what British King has been the ideal?  The word on British streets is that the Queen does not want him buried in Westminster.  

We are definitely in the wait and see mode.  Perhaps this is one giant step for archeology and DNA and we will have to figure out what it means after that.  Most of the time, we hear how DNA clears the guilty.  In this case, maybe it has raised up the bones of the guilty!  

There is a lot to be said how we become fascinated with archeological digs--and for good reason to make sense out of history, its timeline, as it transports us back in time.  Then again, people of faith may look for the ultimate statement from the Spirit as in the Valley of Dry Bones (Ezekiel 37):  
 
The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ²He led me all round them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. ³He said to me, ‘Mortal, can these bones live?’ I answered, ‘O Lord God, you know.’ ⁴Then he said to me, ‘Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath^* to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath^* in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.’

We Need Star Trek!

Star Trek Needed for 21st Century

I've always loved the original Star Trek Series because the characters were so well defined and acted out.  I am just sorry that I cannot remember the exact show which gives us some wisdom for our day.
In that show, I will never forget how Kirk, Spock and McCoy are fighting it out on a planet with some aliens.  Finally, representatives from an advanced civilization arrive and tell them to stop their violent ways.  But the fighting goes on. They are caught in the back and forth of getting the last hit.  That's when the weapons just stop working!  The voice from the advanced civilization speaks and says something like this:  "It will do you no good to fire.  We have immobilized all your weapons.  Now please get out of our sight--for you are just too primitive and painful a people to be in our presence." 

Imagine all of the fighting around the world coming to standstill because all weapons are immobilized!  Then it occurred to me.  As horrible a thought as this is--Do you suppose we would find another way to kill each other off?

 There is another story that portrays the human race as more proactive to establish peace. (Again, my apologies for not being able to cite the exact show--but I am not going to hunt through 180+ Amazon screens!) Kirk and crew arrive on a planet which has been in an endless war with another civilization on another planet.  When alarms go off, the great computer calculates the number of casualties.  That number of people must go to the disintegration chambers OR the treaty will be broken and real war with vast devastation will break out.  War has become that sterile and commonplace.  What do Kirk and crew do?  They intervene to bring peace by destroying the death chambers.....so the casualties cannot be recorded. War is imminent....unless the ambassadors can work it out.  The point?" War should never be so sterilized that it becomes a way of life. 

He shall judge between the nations,
   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
   and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more. 
Isaiah 2: 4 

Beware the Things, Part 2

They Are Out There! 
Beware The Things!  

I am sounding the alarm as the race for Christmas begins to beware the seductive power to become just another "thing" in all of the transactions.  Look.  I love the whole Christmas season.  Nobody has ever gotten the trees the size that I have gotten!  But there comes a time when you can step back and ask yourself---alright, what have I become as I amass all these things?  There's a great book out there called Unplug the Christmas Machine.  It can give you a whole different vision of who you are and how you use the season instead of becoming just another ornament in it.  Take a good look at the mall picture below--do you see Thing 1 and Thing 2 in that crowd?  They are there alright and they have human faces. 

So don't throw out the season.  Change it for yourself.  How can you use this season to say "thank you" to people for what they have meant to you during the year?  Instead of accumulating things--connect with them in personal way by showing your gratitude.  Write the longer note in the Christmas card--forget the mass production.  Gratitude is the key to the season of Christmas when we find special ways to express our thanks.  Aren't we most ourselves as human beings when we say thanks? 

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.  Melody Beattie

Beware the THINGS!

Beware the THINGS! 

Remember in the Cat in Hat what happens when Thing 1 and Thing 2 get loose?  They treat everything as "things"--without respect--and the home, a place of personal abode, is ransacked.  So beware the season which starts with Thanksgiving and turns us into "things" -- instead of people--we are out there buying stuff and looks what happens to us--does anyone come home renewed?

Now, there is another way to find the reason for the season--and it is not some religious motto.  It keeps us as people and not things.  And the only way I know to do that is to use the season for one purpose only-- CONNECTION WITH OTHER PEOPLE.  I love this image--it says connection to me. It does not matter what gender the hands, if they are praying or just sharing, or being friends--the point is that "connection" is what people are made for. So, how can you use this time of year to connect with people? 

Find ways to connect--don't let the Christmas rush cut you off from people.  Make a list of people you need to re-connect with--and then go ahead take the step.  When we reach out and connect with other people, the gift we find is a connection within ourselves. 

Black Friday Reprieve

Black Friday Shop Till You Drop!  

I have literally done this--hit the malls early and gone through the day until I fell down drunk from drinking it all in.  Really--I jockeyed for parking places, had my list for specific deals, and did my hit and run--well, walk and crawl that is.  I guess there is something for just getting out there to say you did it.  Now I have tried to do Black Friday on the web.  There are deals to be had.  It was at that time of my life that I saw the world as the challenge.

Now I just wonder and think to myself.  What if I took Thanksgiving and its days for solely rest--or should I say "soul rest?"  Contrast the picture above with the one below.  Who is getting the better deal?  Where would you rather be? 

Now that is quite the contrast!  But you get the point.  You goes back to Wordsworth--

"Getting and spending we lay waste our powers...."

(or maybe our souls....)  

It would be nice if we could book time away to the mountains.  The contrast is to say--feed your souls by what you become a part of, not by what you buy and consume--even on a sale.  Now look at the next picture.  What is this man connected with....himself? God?  A connection of the soul and God?

 The Psalmist has said that we become what we are connected to--what we set before our lives.  The biggest contrast in these pictures is Black Friday we immerse ourselves in things--and become a thing ourselves.  Then again, there is Good Friday in which we realize that matters is who we die for, give our  lives to.  Maybe the Psalmist had something in 16:8--"I have set the Lord always before me"  and  "He is my portion and my cup." 

When we count our many blessings;
 it isn't hard to see
that life's most valued treasures
are the treasures that are free.
For it isn't what we own or buy
 that signifies our wealth.
It's the special gifts that have no price;
 our family, friends and health.

Author Unknown

The Secret of Saying Thanks

Thanksgiving Thoughts 2012 

Rockwell’s famous painting of Thanksgiving says it all.  Look at the table.  What food do you see?  Oh, of course—there is the turkey.  But what else?  Most Thanksgiving tables groan with food. The Food Network, Paula Deen, and all the iron chefs in America work overtime on the menu.  Not Rockwell! The center of this feast are people.  They wear smiles and real happiness.

We remember this day for the death of President Kennedy.  Few recall that the great author CS Lewis died on this date as well in 1963. Both losses remind us that at the heart of life, we give thanks for all lives, great and humble--and especially those who share the Thanksgiving table with us. 

  I have a book recommendation for this day.  The Secret of Giving Thanks by Douglass Wood and Greg Shedd—yeah, I know it sounds like a kid’s book.  But as CS Lewis loved to say—“I hope that I get wise enough to really understand the books for children.”   

With the simplicity of a child, the book’s message is--

 

The more we give thanks, 

the more we find to be thankful for.

And the more we are thankful for, 

the happier we are. These are 

supreme gifts of life. 

Sea Spell

 

Sea Spell 

“I remember the day 

when the sea cast its spell upon me,

and I fell into the net of complete wonder and joy.”   

                                                            Jacques Cousteau 

Always my son Will with the fishing pole...and I know he was taken alike by the sea spell as I was when I was a youth.  I don't remember when it was.  But it is that awe-inspiring day in which you are taken up and made a part of something larger than yourself.  Now I ask you.  What was the most fulfilling?  To feel it as a boy?  Or, to watch it catch on with my own boy?  In generations, you are made a part of something that outlives you--yet experience the same joy you have being passed on beyond you.  

I think this passing of the gift is what St. Paul was after in 2 Timothy 1" 4-7

 Recalling your tears, I long to see you so that I may be filled with joy. I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you. For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you through the laying on of my hands; for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.

 

 

Always The Onlooker

Always the Onlooker

Funny how some memories travel with you through life.  I must have been in the 8th grade when I set out to go fishing in the bay -- it just happened to one one heck of a windy day!  Real gusts, cross currents, and a very narrow bridge to row through.  Why not just stay how--that sensible thought never crosses the boy's mind you has his heart set on fishing.  And looking back now, I suspect that I had something to prove to myself about seamanship.  My Dad had warned me about trying to make that row through the narrows--how easy to hung up on the bridge--then what? 

Off I went and into the row boat.  The tricky part was how to get up enough forward momentum to get through the bridge while I shipped oars because they would not fit.  Of course, there were second thoughts as I aimed the boat toward the bridge.  I had to hope that if necessary--I could just drift back and try again. 

The real story is not that I made it through.  Not by good seamanship, but only the grace of the current...which seemed to die down under the bridge so that the forward movement did carry me through it.  The real story is that as I emerged on the other side and headed into the calmer bay, there on the side of the bank stood my father, turning and walking back up the path.  He'd been there all along. 

I have heard that the kid's prayer is--"Give me just enough distance to let me do it myself--but do not go far while I try."  Amen to that prayer.  I can still see my Dad turning and leaving--not needing to say he was there--just being there while I made my great "try" at the ocean.  From then on, whatever I did, Dad was always at the oars with me. 

Unforgettable Lessons

The Lessons You Don't Forget

So there I was--laid up in a hospital bed with an F.U.O.--fever of undetermined origin--or more aptly, the UFO--by the time I can flown around the hospital trying to figure out why I ran this 100-103 degree temp for three weeks. Yikes--you talk about burning up and drying out!  My middle name was Noxema!   The worst part was that the tests they ran created more complications--eventually pnuemonia.  First I was afraid I would die.  Then that I would not die!  Which was worse? 

Oh yeah, I finally got discharged without lymphoma (the suspect) but with CMV blood disease (the culprit). But  all of that description is to set up what happened a month later. 

I went to visit somebody in another hospital.  Out of nowhere comes this young man who calls me by my first name.  Never saw this guy in my life!  How are you feeling?  I was so happy when you were discharged from the hospital.  I was taken aback.  Hold on, excuse me, do I know you?   Here is what I heard....

Well, sorta I guess.  My name is Earl Jensen and I was the guy who cleaned your room over at the hospital.  I pray for the patients when I clean their room.  When you pray for somebody, you never forget their name. 


Right.  I never forget the lessons with my name written on them.  It was also a good lesson to start in my own life.  

The Secret of Your Success

What is the Secret of Success?  

So here is this guy--king of the hill!  The ultimate image of the conqueror.... We see this picture all the time of people in all professions and sports--the one who made it to the top.  Is it as simple as perseverance--as the poem reads, just don't quit?


Don’t Quit
When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out--
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit--
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.
- Author unknown


Then I recalled the picture of mountain climbers before they reach the top to have their picture taken. And what do we see before they made it to the top?  Take a good, hard look and remember this one more than the lone guy at the top.

That's right!  They go together and on the safety line.  They depend on each other to make it to the top.  Rugged American individualism does not mean we go it alone.  It always means--choose well who you go with.  I think back over my life and I see the endless lines of teachers, mentors, coaches who were there for me--and tied me on to their rope to give me a leg up.  Nobody stands alone at the top.  The whole team does! 

We should be well advised to ask more than--"Where do I want to go?"  
Rather shall I always ask:  "Who shall I ask to go with me?" 

Cell Phone Caper

The Great Cell Phone Caper 



What a pain in the you know what!  And you have probably done it too—lost the cell phone? Only I lost it during a very long hike.  For some people, this is a tragedy.  They have their lives stored on their phones—including their favorite pictures.  For me, I just wanted a phone to make phone calls—period.  Nothing more.  Even so, before cutting off the phone, I did my due-diligence.  That’s right…checked every chair I sat in, the parking lots I got out in, dialed the phone and listened around the house—you know the drill.  And then this afternoon, my son called the number trying to get me—not knowing that I had lost the phone!  A man answered it. He had just found it in a field! Crisis over…. I will get him a gift certificate as I retrieve it tomorrow.

Here's the sorry part.  Even without losing it, how much do I depend on it?  I sometimes wonder if my electronic devices lead me around!  I certainly go to meetings and parties and see the endless line of people stuck to their devices.  What's the difference between that and the person with the portable oxygen tank? 

I might as well be a hamster in a cage.  The wheel defines the hamster's motion--what he is doing.  Now what is the difference between the hamster trying to get around the wheel and my being led by that phone all day?  

 If not the hamster--then how about that pathetic scene in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory?  The little girl is beyond a spoiled brat--she's totally possessed by the need to possess. 


Veruca Salt: I wanted to be the first to find a Golden Ticket, Daddy!
Mr. Salt: I know, angel. We're doing the best we can. I've got every girl in the place to start hunting for you.
Veruca Salt: All right, where is it? Why haven't they found it?
Mr. Salt: Veruca, sweetheart, I'm not a magician! Give me time!
Veruca Salt: I want it now! What's the matter with those twerps down there?
Mr. Salt: For five days now, the entire flipping factory's been on the job. They haven't shelled a peanut in there since Monday. They've been shelling flaming chocolate bars from dawn till dusk!
Veruca Salt: Make them work nights!

  Postlude

 There is a Yiddish saying about "beware your possessions that posses you!"   Of course, I needed to look for it.  But really, when I look back at the frustration over a thing as I will go to a funeral tomorrow. "What is that we will give in exchange for our lives," asks the Psalms.  There is a whole lot that our lives could stand to lose.  

Soul Renewal

Renew the Soul!

“Those who contemplate 

the beauty of the earth 

find reserves of strength 

that will endure 

as long as life lasts.”  

                                        Rachel Carson  Silent Spring

I have never, ever found anyone who disagrees with Rachel Carson's quotation.  

I find very few who have ever tried it.  

Some say, "Well, but I live in the city and where's nature to be found?"

(What a shame!)  

Others tell me:  "I know it is out there. But I run dawn to dusk.  I can't get me out there."  

(Okay, you have joined the mechanical, electronic world.)   

The excuses roll on.  Yes, but....

But what!  

  

  Consider the lilies of the field,
 how they grow; they neither toil nor spin,  
²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory 
was not clothed like one of these.   
                                                                              (Matthew 6:28-9)

 Some things you can try...

Watch the sun rise -- listen deeply, breathe deeply as the world wakes up.

Or, catch the sun setting.  It takes only a few minutes out of the day. Watch night fall.

Sit outside at night, listen to the noises, and feel the night world. 

Take yourself for a walk and really look at the world around you.  

Or--

get a book of world wide art (by Elliot Porter?) and enjoy some of the pictures.  Place yourself in the pictures.

get cds of nature sounds, close your eyes and let the sounds run through you.  

Once you experience it--there's no more living without it.  

Seize the Day?

Carpe Diem!     

Seize the Day! 

Robin Williams 

Dead Poets Society

(Robin Williams as an English teacher in a boys' prep school shows his class old yearbooks and then makes the following speech.) 

They're not that different from you, are they? Same haircuts. Full of hormones, just like you. Invincible, just like you feel. The world is their oyster. They believe they're destined for great things, just like many of you, their eyes are full of hope, just like you. Did they wait until it was too late to make from their lives even one iota of what they were capable? Because, you see gentlemen, these boys are now fertilizing daffodils. But if you listen real close, you can hear them whisper their legacy to you. Go on, lean in. Listen, you hear it? - - Carpe - - hear it? - - Carpe, carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.

Hold On....Not So Fast!   

The expression carpe diem comes from a poem by Horace , a famous Roman lyric poet c.65-8BC.  The full meaning is "seize the day because tomorrow cannot be trusted."  It was a cornerstone of the Epicureans, "feast now for tomorrow we die!"  Really?  Is this what Robin Williams was trying to teach in his poetry class?  These other men are now feeding the daffodils....

Reframe Carpe Diem....

When we reframe something, we take a look at it in a different perspective--like putting a new frame around a picture. 

So how about this meaning--seize the day now because we believe in tomorrow?  Or, seize today to build tomorrow? These are mottos with hope...not the despair of acting now because it all dies tomorrow.  

Let's take another step.  Look at the image above.  I am positively intrigued by it!  It uses the hands on the Sistine Chapel ceiling--of God the Father reaching down to Adam the creation.  There's a gap there.  In the Hebrew Scriptures, the gap between God and people is closed by the covenant.  In Christian tradition, Jesus stands in the gap and connects people with God.  Either way--we sieze the day because God gave us the day and meets us into it. The day after belongs to God as does the future.

"This is the day which the Lord has made.  

We will rejoice and be glad in it." 

                                                                                                          Psalms 118:24

Walking the Spirit

Spiritual Exercise: 

Waking to Your Walk

Try to live this day without breathing.  Ridiculous question?  Not really.  It is the only way that I know of to stress the same importance for walking the spiritual walk.  Period.  Don't breathe spiritually and something dies.  The monastics knew this too well.  They called the different hours of the night "The Divine Hours."  The community rose to the tolling of the bell. Gathered and prayed and then returned to their "cells." Now that is quite the way to teach the priority of the spiritual life.  Or, try starting every day without eating and see how far you get.  That simple lesson teaches the need for spiritual food--and--prayer feeds us. 

For me, I start the day the way I want to live it.  I walk and pray.  There is a set pattern for every day as the dog walks me (and in that order!).  When I miss the walk, the day is just not the same.  I have listed my tradition, its exercises below--see what you think.

Resource:  Henri Nouwen, Making All Things New

 Go ahead--take your spirit for a walk! 

Spiritual Exercise for Morning Walk

 Invocation

“O Lord,

Fill my lungs with the breath of this new day. 

Go before me and stretch out my path with your grace.

Let me show forth my gratitude for this day for all I meet.” 

                                                                                   Amen

Intercessions

Prayers for my Family

(“O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come to you.” )

Prayers for the Sick

(“O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come to you.” )

For those who have Died

(“O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come to you.” )

For those in any Special Need

(“O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come to you.” )

For the World

(“O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come to you.” )

For Nature

(“O Lord hear my prayer and let my cry come to you.” )

Lord’s Prayer

Benediction

“O Lord,

Fill my lungs with the breath of this new day. 

Go before me and stretch out my path with your grace.

Let me show forth my gratitude for this day for all I meet.” 

                                                                                   Amen

Harry Potter Power

Where Does the Power of Harry Potter 

Really Come From? 

How would you answer this question?  Does his power come from his birthright--he inherited it and that settles it?  Or, does his power come from the character that grows into the person with belief in himself to use it?  Some might say it was both! He was born with what he grew into as the person with belief in himself to use it.  Ultimately, the entire series rises or falls on his ability to face death in the Deadly Hallows, Part 2.  It took a fundamental belief that he could sacrifice himself to achieve his end rather than to wizard his way out--and thereby, he found his way out.  Hey, don't scowl, that's just my view!  The point is that there is more to Harry Potter than wizard. 

Compare these pictures.  Harry uses one hand with the wand. Two hands are clasped in the other picture. How are these "powers" different?

 Living by Power vs. Power of Love...


I have always loved this quotation from Aristides, the non-Christian as he tried to describe Christians to the notorious Emperor Hadrian. The emerpor had the power of legalized murder--truly living by power. He never understood the source of power of love.  

 "They love one another, they never fail to help widows. they save orphans from those who would hurt them. If they have something they give freely to the man who has nothing, if they see a stranger, they take him home and are happy as though he were a real brother. They don’t consider themselves brothers in the usual sense, but brothers, instead through the Spirit, in God."  

Night Revealtion

Night Revelation

I was walking my dog Jezebel last night.  Suddenly, she stopped, went stone still, statue in the night—piercing the darkness with eyes like a knife.  “What is it girl?  What’s there.”  She was immovable.  So I tried to look through her eyes. There was something there. A spectre-like form stood under a tree.  We took small steps toward it.  Then, it turned, showing only the flash of its tale—a fox!   

How many of us would have first ignored the dog and dragged her along?  And then, perhaps missed the fox itself as it quickly turned and vanished?  

Have we learned to look through the eyes of a dog?  Or, how about that fox looking at us? They see far more acutely than we can ever imagine. One time in Maine, I saw a fox trotting along.  I followed it.  Catching my scent, it ran off and down a hill and into the woods.  I stood there looking for some time without the benefit of the many ways that fox could see me.  As I made my way back toward home, who do you think was down the path in the underbrush watching ME?  That's right.  It did not run off. It back-tracked me to get a better vision of who this guy was that had tracked it.  

Annonymous Letter

Veteran's Day

November 11, 2012

 

Anonymous Letter

Left At The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier,

Upon this day of poignant reflection, we are humbled by your sacrifice;
No measure of recompense doth any possess which may serve to satisfice-
Our very liberty hath been your precious gift-your dutiful life, its price-
Our humble gratitude is all we have, no manner of quittance* would suffice!
                                                               

(*a discharge from a debt or obligation)