Living the Day with the Hawk

Live this Day with the Hawk


 I started the day with the sounds of a hawk gliding overhead.  It made its way to a grove of tall trees. As it flew, it blended into my daily prayer—“Oh Lord, go before me and spread forth your grace…push back the day with your grace.”  Instead, my words began to come out as, “Lift me high on your wings, O Spirit….that I might sail with you above this day and see it for the gift that it is.”  

Of course, it all fell into the specifics—“to see the day from above, and alight in nothing but delight for the people I will see,”  Or, “to know when to glide out of sight from the fray that would bind my wings and shut up the joy that I call out from above.”  You get the idea.  Take life from above.  See it for what it truly is.  Gift.

In a book called Leadership on the Line, Martin Linsky and Ronald Heifetz talk about “getting to the balcony” and looking down on yourself as you interact with others.  Some call it the “third ear.”  It is a level of detachment.  The “unhooking of your ego.”  It enables you to remain in a difficult discussion or situation without getting defensive.  Remember the hawk.  What does the hawk defend from above?  It’s free with its incredible gift of vision to see things in a whole different perspective.

Remember the hawk. 

                   Fly with the hawk… 

                                   And give thanks for the day you see.  

Prayer for Day's End

Boothbay Harbor Sunset 

A Prayer to Let God of the Day 


May God support us all the day long,

till the shades lengthen and 

the evening comes,

and the busy world is hushed, 

and the fever of life is over,

and our work is done.

Then in His mercy may He give us  safe lodging, a holy rest and peace 

at the last.  Amen

                                                              Cardinal Newman


Is it true that one of our most difficult tasks is to let go of the day and go to sleep?  Some of us carry so much baggage from the day, so much of the office, that there is no room left in the bed for us.  Saturated from the day, there's no room for "the self" or the sheep to count to go to sleep.  I love the prayer  that shuts down the world and then asks for God's mercy to grant safe lodging, a holy rest and peace.  That's what I see in the picture above.  The same water that churns during the day smooths out into calm and peace.  See the dory middle lower-picture ?  If you had something comfortable to lie down in, you could easily fall asleep.  What a contrast from the nor-easters that blow through and threaten to pull boats off moorings. 

I think that is the key--the moring.  Just enough rope to play out for high and low tide--anchored to the bottom that will not give way.  Perhaps we take the churning water to bed with us rather than the moring which tethers us to "the still point of the turning world."

The Choice of a Lifetime

"If there is one thing that I have learned about life--

it is that life goes on."  

Robert Frost

The Question is....

What choice will you make today to live it? 

We are all in the stream of life flowing beyond each individual life span---droplets in a moving ocean of life, ever moving no matter what we do today.  The question is what choice will you make to live it, use it...be in it? No doubt about it.  Make no choice about it -- and you just go with the flow.  I love the way Mary Oliver writes it in her poem, "The Summer Day."  

 

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

 Mary Oliver

Winter Walk

Lines for Winter

By Mark Strand

for Ros Krauss

Tell yourself

as it gets cold and gray falls from the air

that you will go on

walking, hearing

the same tune no matter where

you find yourself—

inside the dome of dark

or under the cracking white

of the moon's gaze in a valley of snow.

Tonight as it gets cold

tell yourself

what you know which is nothing

but the tune your bones play

as you keep going. And you will be able

for once to lie down under the small fire

of winter stars.

And if it happens that you cannot

go on or turn back

and you find yourself

where you will be at the end,

tell yourself

in that final flowing of cold through your limbs

that you love what you are.

Winter's New Life

"In the midst of winter, 

I learned that that within me....

there is an invincible summer."

Albert Camus

For as many times as I have heard this quotation, today is the first time that I have pictured it as a stream that thaws out in dead winter and flows with life.  Is that what Camus was after?  That there are parts of our lives which we allow to freeze over because of pain, grief, and heartache?  I have heart it said that people only live with part of their lives -- and they let the rest freeze over--a "frozen section" which is numb, but still does not hurt.  What thawed in Camus' life that flowed up and out like a stream flowing with new life in him?  What needs to thaw in us? 

HellGates

The Hellgates!
Enter at your own Risk...

The Hellgates of the Sassanoa River connect Bath, Maine with Five Islands.  It is the only way down the coast to cut through to Bath, a major seacoast town with the Iron Works that build Naval vessels. Of course, you can go way around and out to deep sea navigating difficult head waters to go down the Kennebec River to Bath.  So everyone goes through the Hellgates--and takes the risk of the whirlpools that appear out of nowhere as the tides change. 

Take a look at the picture of the Hellgate below.  Here's an expert kayaker who must know what he is doing.  It gets very rough and treacherous!  As my Dad said to me, "People drown in these waters!" 

Now look at the same location but at high tide.  The opposing currents are no longer working against each other creating the whirlpools.  It is safe to navigate following the channel.  Most folks wait until the water turns into this virtual millpond.  But! Gotta be careful that you don't pass through at one tide and end up stuck in town having to pass through the hellgates.

So what is the take-away from the Hellgates?  What do they say about the way we navigate life?

Foremost--when do we create an opposing force in any relationship, family, group, organization which contributes to the whirlpools around us? Every event has two sides of a story....and we forget what we contribute. 

Then of course, there is obvious truth about waiting to calm down, let our personal waters settle before we navigate into any "waters" which could be treacherous.  When challenged--we have to be steady at the helm, no sudden moves, and just enough power not to become trapped in the whirlpools.

My favorite is this one:  pick out something to steer at when you are in turbulent waters.  If you look at the whirlpools right in front of you, then you would swear you are going straight--but you are not; instead they are constantly taking you off course.

So the question is this--What or Who is out in front that you steer by?  And just remember, that if life only gave you calm waters, you would never learn the skills to navigate where you really need to go. 

Loving Back to Life

"Let us hold each other closely and siphon off the pain."   

 James Kavanaugh, Priest and Poet

I have always been deeply moved by that statement--for the times that I have held others closely, for the gift of being held by somebody else. 

So often life deals us the deepest of losses and heartache of sheer anguish.  Nobody needs a list of what I am talking about.  Life teaches painfully.  We bear the scars and wounds that keep on wounding. 

Here's what I have learned.  The question is not why these things happen. The question is why in a world where things go horribly wrong--why is it that we are then embraced by those who love us to siphon off the pain? 

Or, let's go one step more.... 
Have you every experienced the embrace of another human being who loves us back to life?
We know that when people are threatened with hypothermia, the way to survival is to wrap around another person. We can also save a life when we donate a unit of blood.  Can we not say that our spirit can be called back to life by another person?   I know of times when another heartbeat has awakened my heart to life.  And, broken hearts do come back to life again. 

Peace like Snow Falling...

The Gift of Peace

I went out for a walk in the evening’s snow, and I thought of artist Michael Podesta’s lovely print and saying:  “the gift of peace, quietly descending, blankets the terrain of the heart.”  The dark night hides the flakes felt like a tingling across the face…which the skin absorbs so that it coats and calms the soul.  The gift of peace, unseen, only felt, known, never doubted in the soul.  Why is it that we walk miles instead of taking the gift so freely given, falling on us when we are still? 

Get into the Game of Life!

Baltimore Oriole Manager, Earl Weaver

Farewell Earl....
You are still in the Big Game!

As a kid, I did my homework on the counter in my parent's bathroom---and listened to the Baltimore Orioles and heroics of skipper Earl Weaver.  Last week, he died at age 82 while on a baseball theme cruise!  Mark these words.  Weaver always found his way into the game that he loved.  Can the same be said of us?

For years, Weaver tried and tried again to play big league ball but quit in 1960.  He hung around the game, made his connections and he was hired by Baltimore in 1968. He won 3 American League pennants and a world series.  The big deal for Earl is that he found where he could contribute and boy did he contribute.  Where do we do the same?

Earl was a fiesty competitor.  How about the time in the minor leagues when he charged the opposing dugout, lost his footing and separated his shoulder?  He argue in the most polite ways while kicking dirt on the umps' feet.  The real spirit was his love of the game -- and nobody ever doubted that he put his all into everything.

One thing about Earl that made him stand out.  This was long before Moneyball.  He played the averages. Statisticians kept records on everything.  He made decisions based on the odds.  He went by the numbers.  However, there were bold times when he won big games because he just went with his gut.  He knew the game that well.

Earl said that his epitaph should read:  "Here lies the sorest loser!"  One announcer said--"I will never look at an oriole and know that a feather is missing."  We should say--"Earl, if only we knew what we wanted out of life as much as you and had the passion to go after it."  

"Let each of you look to where you can make your 

greatest contribution and go do it."  

Master of Trinity from Chariots of Fire

Eyes of the Heart

Marshall Point Lighthouse, Maine 

 Eyes of the Heart

We see the world through a window, never as it really is--but only as the eye allows.  We all know that the camera lens does not reproduce the world as we ourselves see it.  But do we ever stop to fully appreciate the limitations of our own vision?  The literal, physical world is only as our lens gives us to see it. 

Yet why is it, that we hear from those who are blind and realize how well they see?  The story of Helen Keller is nothing but amazing if not grace.  With eyes of faith, she grew to see the world at a depth that we the seeing are blind to.  So what does it take to see the world through eyes of faith?

Look again at the picture above.  What really matters?  The window!  If the shade is pulled, you see nothing. Or, the consistency of the glass effects dramatically what you see. Put a polarizer lens on the window and all the glare is gone.  In the same way, imagine that window as your life story.  Everything you have logged into your data bank colors the glass.  There are some situations in life in which our backgrounds make us totally blind.  The families which raised us, their values and beliefs, all of them gives us our vision of the world. 

Exercise:  Draw a rectangle.  Let that stand for the window.  Now draw the individual squares of glass, framed into the window.  Put a number in each pane.  List out what you believe are the dominant "eyes" from your background which shape your vision.  Which ones do you value the most?  Which ones need to change? 

"Now we see in a glass darkly, but then face to face."

I Corinthians 13

Self-Improvement in a New Key

The Secret Squirrel Baffler!

I am utterly convinced that if given the course, squirrels could become nuclear scientists!  Without a doubt, they learn faster than any critter I have ever seen.  The market has dozens and dozens of contraptions to protect bird feeders--and yet given time, even the best squirrel busters bust!  They can break the code by trying over and over again and getting the skills to get at the seed.  What I have learned to fool them--and what does it tell me about people?

The way to fool squirrels--and I cannot patten this--is to frequently set up a different challenge. This starts their learning process over. For example:  I constantly change the location of the feeder by just a small distance. Or, I add a different cover, like a pie plate or buy the squirrel baffler plexi-glass cover to hang on the top of the feeder.    That sounds like a pain in the you know what--but it works--and it takes so little effort. 

What does this say about people?  First of all that we have our obsessions to prevail in the animal kingdom! Frustration drives us to any limit to out-wit squirrels.  Second, that we too learn by trial and error. Those who do not understand the past are bound to commit it over and over again. How often do we become trapped by ourselves in the way we do things? Insanity has been defined as doing the same thing and expecting a different result. 

HOWEVER...if we truly wish to learn and develop ourselves, then the best way to do it is to change our routine--try it a different way and see what way we can find for a new path.  We fool squirrels by changing the location where they feed.We fool ourselves by not changing the way we do things and then we wonder why we do not get more out of life!


From the Wisdom of Winnie the Pooh...

Here is Edward Bear, coming down the stairs now, 
bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, 
behind Christopher Robin. 
It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, 
but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, 
if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it

The Way out of Hell

"Is the Dream Big Enough?"  

 Is the dream of Martin Luther King Jr. big enough for freedom? 

I think so. That seems like an obvious conclusion.  I am not sure we recognize what it really means.  Was Dr. King talking only about freeing the Black people or was he also talking about freeing the White people? 

That is a very difficult concept.  Shackle a person and shackle yourself. Free a person to find freedom.  We are all connected in this human family that unless children cannot walk together, we are all in bondage.  

 His dream was about children of all races walking together. He was pointing to a generation beyond his own age because he knew it would take time.  However, in the image of “Black and White children walking together”—for me, it points to both being free.  In other words, until the Black child is free—the White child is ALSO in bondage

I know a quotation from the film Ghandi—not too far off in the use of peaceful resistance, non-violence.  It is one of the most powerful I have ever watched.

 

Nahari: I'm going to Hell! I killed a child! I smashed his head against a wall.
Gandhi: Why?
Nahari: Because they killed my son! The Muslims killed my son!
[indicates boy's height]
Gandhi: I know a way out of Hell. Find a child, a child whose mother and father have been killed and raise him as your own.
[indicates same height]
Gandhi: Only be sure that he is a Muslim and that you raise him as one.

The Inauguration's Real Message

Official Inaugural Photo

Second Inaugural Fanfare after the Fact 

Barack Obama will take the oath of office on Sunday in a private ceremony to fulfill the Constitutional requirements for the January 20th date.  Funny thing--it will then be restaged on the Capital steps with the 21 gun salute and full fanfare. 

So he's already sworn in as President--but we have to act this drama out?  You bet!  And for the same reason that Lyndon Johnson was sworn in after the Kennedy assassination. He was already President upon the death of the President.  The Vice President's oath conveys to the Presidency automatically.  But Johnson's was done aboard Air Force One to demonstrate that the office had in fact been conveyed--and done so with poor Jackie standing there as if to acknowledge her husband's death--with blood stains on her dress.  The greatest drama in history takes place with the Presidential Oath--with no revolution,a the office and mantra of our nation passes on. 

Lincoln's Second Inaugural

It is said that the most profound Second Inaugural Address came from Lincoln.  The Civil War had ended and he called a nation to bind up its wounds.

About a month later Lincoln would be dead. Some said his dream died with him--"charity for all."  But his dream of the Union did pass on with his death to his successor to the President we inaugurate today.  

 With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Bare Bones of Life

Dying, We Live...

The dog was walking me this morning in early hours, and a vulture flew directly over my head. Besides wishing for an umbrella, I also wondered what had died.  Vultures are the world's undertakers!  I did not have to wait long. There in the woods was another vulture at work on a partially eaten deer carcass.  As it took flight, I could see the rack of bones, bleached white against brown leaves.  I did not ask with Ezekiel if these bones could live?  But they stood out as signposts announcing mortality for every living thing.

Did Bernie Siegel get it right in Love, Medicine and Miracles that the more we confront death, the more we live? Now look at the vulture.  It literally lives by eating carrion--death!  What do you think?  Parallel?  The Medieval theologians talked about Christ swallowing up death.  Even in the Men in Black, what happens?  The agent is swallowed up and thereby lives! 

Yes. Our bones carry death.  But death is swallowed up when we confront it--then we live!  Over and over, I have heard terminal patients say that facing their deaths, they live into the moment as never before. One person I heard say this:  "I'd never go back.  Living like I was--denying the reality of death, I did not really live." 

I do not want to change places with somebody who is terminal.  Can't I live with that knowledge now?  Get Siegel's book if you want to follow his thinking. Live into your death to find life!  Asw St. Paul has said--"Dying, we live!" 

God's Grandeur

Lobster boat off Southport, ME

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

    It will flame out, like shining from shook foil; 

                                                                                                           Gerard Manley Hopkins 

     I love to chase the sunrise.  It pulls me out of bed!  I will be lying comfortably in the sack, and then the alarm goes off inside--and I am out on the rocks breathing int he cold salt area waiting for the sun to rise.  And I wait with everything else that breathes in the new day. What tells the birds that the light is coming? Among all the sounds--there is that one voice that wakes up and knows that something miraculous is on the way--the new day.  Then as the light rises on the horizon, the golden highway spreads across the water -- you could walk on it!  The lobster boats come into view out of once what was darkness--life is now more than stirring but very much alive.  There on every living thing is the light of Light.  We are made to reflect it--to show it forth as God's epiphany in the world.  And what greater grandeur can we receive, to what deep darkness do hearts still prefer?  Each day moves in the heart and asks which we will choose. 

Seize the Moment!

 Seize the Moment! 

"I wanted to seize the moment," Douglas said. "I don't think it has all sunk in yet. Team finals hasn't sunk in yet. But it will." Douglas wins second Gold Medal at Olympics. 
  

This is the cover of Gabby Douglass' book, Grace, Gold and Glory: My Leap of Faith.    Hers is indeed a leap of faith from being homeless and abused by racism, this is the remarkable story of 16 year old Gabby Douglass' journey to the Gold Medals (mark that plural!). 

The point is that her giant leap began with many leaps of faith.  Such as turning aside a well paying waitress job--and she needed the money!--to go into training sponsored by someone else.  How did she overcome the fear of being dropped again--which originally made her homeless?  The above photo shouts grace, glory and gold.  However, it came about because she learned along the way the small steps of believing in herself and trusting others. 

I think that is how I react when I read the inspirational quotation below. You can feel the action alright.  But the miracle comes first.  One foot in front of the other.  Then quicken the pace... and you are off to your life which must be secured each step of the way, regardless of the gold and glory. 



 Infuse your life with action. Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. Make your own future. Make your own hope. Make your own love. And whatever your beliefs, honor your Creator, not by passively waiting for grace to come down from upon high, but by doing what you can to make grace happen.

Bradley Whitford
American Actor

When Miracles Happen

Children’s Hospital

Philadelphia

October 2006

I know a miracle when I see one;

No explanation needed,

Not the one where the surgeon,

Added an extra ventricle,

For a heart the size of a walnut.

But rather the miracle,

of trust when the mother gave 

her baby to the surgeon and said

good-bye.  

Some friends had wanted a baby in the worst way.  Finally, the magic numbers lined up and we all shouted for joy when the baby was born.  All of us were numb when we learned shortly after the birth that she was lacking a ventricle. A physician described it for me this way: "These were the kinds of babies we sent home for nature to take its course."   On the surgery day, I was there when the mother slowly, carefully placed the baby in the surgeon's arms and said goodbye. Through 7 hours of anxious surgery...mother and and father and God sat there in that waiting room.  This was about the 500th time of doing this surgery--total! Two surgeons flew from England to observe. Every half hour somebody updated us.  Six years later, I look back to the real miracle--the miracle of trust when mother gave baby over into the surgeon's arms.  Isn't that something we do we every life--including our own?  We hand our lives over to somebody else in the most profound act of trust.  

Miracle Staircase

One of the Great Wonders 
of the World!

Before I start this story--let me be very clear: been there, seen this, it's miraculous no matter how it got there! 

Now the story...

In Santa Fe, NM, there is the Loretto Chapel which looks more like a cathedral.  It was built in 1877, but the architect and chief builder died in the middle of construction leaving no way to get to the choir loft. As you stand in the sanctuary and look up at the loft, you have got to wonder how anyone would have the skills to build even a basic structure without a long intrusive incline.

Here is the story they tell:  


 
Needing a way to get up to the choir loft the nuns prayed for St. Joseph's intercession for nine straight days. On the day after their novena ended a shabby looking stranger appeared at their door. He told the nuns he would build them a staircase but that he needed total privacy and locked himself in the chapel for three months. He used a small number of primitive tools including a square, a saw and some warm water and constructed a spiral staircase entirely of non-native wood. The identity of the  
 

Loretto Chapel, Santa Fe

carpenter is not known for as soon as the staircase was finally finished he was gone. Many witnesses, upon seeing the staircase, feel it was constructed by St. Joseph himself, as a miraculous occurrence.

The resulting staircase is an impressive work of carpentry. It ascends twenty feet, making two complete revolutions up to the choir loft without the use of nails or apparent center support. It has been surmised that the central spiral of the staircase is narrow enough to serve as a central beam. Nonetheless there was no attachment unto any wall or pole in the original stairway, although in 1887 -- 10 years after it was built -- a railing was added and the outer spiral was fastened to an adjacent pillar.^[4] Instead of metal nails, the staircase was constructed using dowels or wooden pegs.^[5]
The legend claims that the mystery had never been satisfactorily solved as to who the carpenter was or where he got his lumber, and that there were no reports of anyone seeing lumber delivered or even seeing the man come and go while the construction was being done. Since he left before the Mother Superior could pay him, the Sisters of Loretto offered a reward for the identity of the man, but it was never claimed.

Look...
I am not trying to solve this mystery.  I saw it.  All I can tell you is that a structure like this one built entirely with dowels and from non-native wood is truly a masterpiece.  Personally, I do not believe that God goes zap and just takes the place of people.  God has this thing for using people.  The incarnation--God becoming a human being in Jesus-is the master-work.  Everything else derives from that ultimate reality.  So I do not have to argue if Joseph the Carpenter arrived--somebody did craft a magnificent work and it alone testifies to the ultimate Creator.  

What structures does God build in the world through our lives through words of grace, hope, forgiveness and love?  Isn't this truly incredible work of a staircase one way of looking at what you and I build in the world through the work of God in us? 

Galileo Reborn!

Galileo Rewritten!

There is nothing like the birth of a baby to reorganize a couple's life.  The center of the universe changes--things revolve around the baby.  It is just like Galileo's discovery that earth is not the center but rotates around the sun.

Then I thought of the discovery of the Magi of the Christ Child.  On that day, the center of the universe changed for them.  TS Eliot, in the Journey of the Magi, describes the Wisemen at the manger and discovering the real implications of taking Jesus into their lives--"Ishould be glad of another death."  In other words, physical death is nothing compared to the death of the ego which gives birth to the Christ Child. The question is this: are we prepared to bring this Child into our lives when we consider the change in our lives?  Or, are we willing to change ourselves for the Christ Child in the same dramatic way as we did for one of our babies?



The Journey of the Magi
TS Eliot
stanza 3

Were we led all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly
We had evidence and no doubt. I had seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.

Stoking New Year Coals

Stoke the Coals!  

I love nothing more than an evening fire place ablaze.  Something in the dance of the flames settles me at the same time it stirs my passions. 
The release of the energy in the fire FIRES me--infuses me with peace and passion.  If that is not enough--then why not--I also light a large Yankee Candle for aroma.  Fill the senses with the fire of life. 

Of course, there is the link with fire and the Divine Presence--with Moses and then the Day of Pentecost. New life is infused, passion for something greater afoot, and a peace that passes all understanding glows.  But there is more here!

The morning after my last fire, I saw sparks and the crackle of wood still burning.  I stirred the coals, bunched them up, and with some short breaths--it burst into flames again. Oh, it needed some fuel...some careful setting of kindling--but that fire was alive. 

I wonder how many of us see sparks, hear crackles of flames long past in our lives--which maybe, just maybe we can stir up into new fire.  Oh, don't forget how careful the process must be--sitr, just enough breath, and--new fuel. 

I read many articles from the Harvard Business Review (Rekindling Passion for your Work) or Leadership Journal (When your Vocation Burns Out)--and all of them require going back over old ground to find the way forward--to ignite new fires with new fuel. 

And by the way, I would not leave out the source of fire that Moses discovered or the disciples found on the Day of Pentecost. 

Putting the Puzzle Together

Jig Saw Puzzle Parts 

Putting the Puzzle of Life Together

I attended a funeral recently, and while I was there, I kept seeing this gentleman in a full leg stabilizer--and just could not place him.  Something in his smile said I knew that person.  So during the reception, I made my way over and introduced myself. Once I heard the name--it was so very familiar, but I still could not place him. We sat at a table, and without trying to pry, I asked him all the "small world questions."  Eventually, we discovered that we had met 28 years ago at a wedding in New York City.  My goodness!  That's a lot to piece together--how did I dredge that one up? 

Psychologists call it the "aha experience."  Our minds assimilate billions of information over a lifetime.  Any event or situation--like being at a religious service--can suddenly tie the big picture together.  Where have I seen you before?    Granted that this is an inductive process.  You take one small bit of information and reason from there into the whole picture.

What if we play our cards another way?  

 

What if we begin with the large picture--like the box cover for the puzzle?  If you can see the big picture, then you can begin to look for certain parts that go together until gradually the puzzle is complete.  The key to the puzzle is the picture on the cover of the box! 

I do not want to be overly simplistic--but I think that most people live their lives with the box cover and then look for the parts to fill in.  All kinds of things contribute to the box cover--values, beliefs, convictions on all levels, self-image.  Then we look for the parts to fill in the puzzle.  The only question is this: what have you chosen for the top of your box?  What dictates your selection of the puzzle parts?  

Stand Tall like a Redwood

The Secret About Redwoods 

Redwoods are nearly the oldest trees on the plant and certainly the tallest.  They live on average 500-700 years.   But do you know their secret?  Redwoods stand tall because they intertwine their root system.  Rarely do they stand alone.

Last fall, Hurricane Sandy blew through our area on the way to the northeast.  Our beautiful Plum Tree was literally pulled up out of the ground!  The tree stood by itself in the center of the yard without shelter or support. With all of its leaves, the storm turned it inside out like an umbrella and pulled it out of the ground!  We replanted it by staking out the four corners. 

And the moral of the story?  Resolve to stand tall like a Redwood.  Connect with others.  Find shelter when needed. Get nourishment.

Back to my favorite picture of posts (1/7,8).
Look at the inter-connection!
Can you feel the strength within this group?


‘I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. ⁴Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.      John 15

Resolution to Resolve!

The Resolution to Resolve 

I wanted to follow-up from yesterday's post about New Year's Resolutions.  You can make a resolution any time during the year.  What's so special about January 1st?  Maybe that's just another way to start afresh. But what we have learned is that chance of success in any resolution depends on who you include in it.  Richard Wiseman at the University of Bristol studied 3000 participants and found that 88% failed in their resolutions.  The number dramatically increased as they made the resolve to take just one step--a one time step toward change which involved somebody else.  Then work out the plan for change with that person or persons.  Invest money and your chances go higher. Invest a professional who will follow you -- better still.  But you get the idea.  Look at the picture above. It may be a huddle of some sort--or a circle of friends--but they are going some place together.  Or for at least one moment they are tapped into each other. 

Best New--New Year's Resolution

What is the Best New--
New Year's Resolution? 

The top Ten Resolutions for the New Year--but the best one is not listed.

Actually, there are some good ones in this top ten list.

The best New Year's Resolution that is New--not on the list is this one:

Resolve to be your own best friend!

Look at the picture--being your own best friend means staying connected in every way.  At the deepest part, it is the connection with your inner life...where the Christ Child is, the Kingdom--the place where the universe comes together and You are You.  From that point comes the care, compassion, and passion for life which you would show your best friend.  Now offer it for yourself. 

If you are really going to try this one.  I suggest the following practical step. Get a 3x5 card--a whole stack of them.  Start your day by writing out what you want to give yourself.  Then carry the card around. You can get really detailed by writing one thing on it at the end of the day in which you actually did offer yourself friendship--when you gave yourself a break, when you intentionally tried to connect with somebody, you get the idea...then save those cars.  When you are really down, take one out and read it...read them all.  That in itself is being your best friend! 

1. Spend More Time with Family & Friends

2. Fit in Fitness

3. Tame the Bulge

4. Quit Smoking

5. Enjoy Life More

6. Quit Drinking

7. Get Out of Debt

8. Learn Something New

9. Help Others

10. Get Organized

Epiphany Geese

Epiphany Geese

I stepped outside very early this morning to the honking of geese--lots of honking and many geese! It's also 12th Night--the Feast of the Epiphany--the arrival of the King's at the manger and the showing forth of the Christ Child to the world.  Funny that for me, the Epiphany would come from geese resounding overhead with honking to wake me up to the new day. 

It was a reminder from Mary Oliver's poem, "Wild Geese," that they fly overhead and announce our place in creation. 


Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things....

For Christians, the Epiphany shows forth the Christ Child, and God announces in him "your place in the family of things."   He is the Son because he lives his life and lays it down for the Father. We are God's children, in "God's Family" of things--all creation--because we give our lives to Jesus Christ.  

I read the poem "Wild Geese" at the funeral of my sister-in-laws" husband--who was killed in a tragic car wreck just 2 weeks after my son's wedding.  So the whole family gathered to celebrate his life.  When I read this poem, the power came home to me of being in more than the family of things--but of God's creation in which nobody is ever lost.

Wild Geese

by:  Mary Oliver

You do not have to be good.
You do not have to walk on your knees
For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.
You only have to let the soft animal of your body
love what it loves.
Tell me about your despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.
Meanwhile the world goes on.
Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain
are moving across the landscapes,
over the prairies and the deep trees,
the mountains and the rivers.
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting --
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.

Into the New Year

Taking Christmas 
into the New Year

Henry Van Dyke was truly "a man for all seasons."  He was a prolific author and composer; he wrote that well known story, The Fourth Wiseman, and the words to Beethoven's Ode to Joy.  He was also a skillful fly fisherman, which tops the list for some of us.

Not as well known, but just as poignant were his lines composed "Keeping Christmas." As we we leave the Season of Christmas behind, then why not take the Christmas spirit with us? 

 The rather lengthy list of attributes for the Christmas spirit boils down to his last line:

 Are you willing to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world -- stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death -- 

and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem 

nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of Eternal Love?

Then you can keep Christmas.   

And if you can keep it for a day, why not always?

Something Discovered this Year

What do the 12 Days of Christmas 

REALLY Stand for?

I have now had more years of Christmas than I care to count--and never did it click with me until now what the symbolism means for each day.  You would think that I would have picked that up some place.  As much as we sang it in grade-school, well, I guess they did not want to get into the meaning behind the lyrics.  Even the other night when I sang the song with the Washington Chorus, it was never explained.  All we were told is which verse to join in on! 

Do you suppose that there's alot of life in all of that--reciting a script but not knowing the meaning? Or, penetrating to the real meaning ourselves?  All I can say is that we journey through this life and we should do more than just stop to smell the roses--we should know something of what that moment, that rose, that time means for us.  Here's the list of the symbolism--now sing the song! 

• A Partridge in a Pear Tree - Jesus Christ
• Two Turtle Doves - The Old and New Testaments
• Three French Hens - The three virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity
• Four Calling/Collie Birds - Four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John
• Five Golden Rings - First five books of the Old Testament
• Six Geese-a-Laying - Six days of creation before God's rest on the seventh day
• Seven Swans-a-Swimming - Seven gifts of the Holy Spirit
• Eight Maids-a-Milking - Eight Beatitudes
• Nine Ladies Dancing - Nine fruits of the Holy Spirit
• Ten Lords-a-Leaping - Ten Commandments
• Eleven Pipers Piping - Eleven faithful disciples