These are articles that relate to self-actualization, destiny, cause, calling or appeal to elements of the greater good.
There’s a reason I take a shower every day – I collect and produce things that really don’t need to stay with me. Some things are so bad, I can’t wait for a shower and decide to wash in the sink instead.
Work is a lot like that – at least the part about collecting things that really don’t need to stay with us. That rude email from someone on the 2nd floor, or that knife twist in our back at the staff meeting sticks with us for a long time.
Have you ever had someone do something outrageously cool for you? Not just “made me breakfast in bed” kind of cool but seriously outrageous?
I am blessed in that I get to see cool in action almost every day. I have awesome friends. But it wasn’t until my 50th birthday that I felt it to the outrageous level. Sure, there are lots of surprise parties in the world, but the stories behind this one were over the top. Whether it was Paul & Carrie driving 400 miles just for the event, or listening to John Carrozza behind my mother-in-awes piano, everyone had a beautiful part. I enjoyed the party for weeks afterward, listening to the stories describing all the tiny miracles that Beth and her cohorts pulled off.
I have no idea what my face looked like when I saw everyone in the house, but I suspect it looked something like Caine Monroy’s. Caine is a 9 year old boy that has become the talk of the internet recently. Take a look at why… Continue Reading…
As this year closes out I have a very simple wish for each of you. I pray that you may have hope. Great hopes. The kind that you can’t tell anyone for fear of sounding like some kind of nut job.
I am not praying that you get what you want. Looking back there are a lot of things that I wanted that I am glad I never received. I want you to have more.
I want you to believe in something; to have hope that something that seems so far fetched right now is possible.
I wish for you a drive to do the unexplainable in the name of the impossible.
You know those days where you are in a real funk and everyone knows it but you just don’t know why? I’ve had a few of those this past month.
What makes it worse is when your friends and family all try to help you “perk up” and it just doesn’t work. It’s like spinning your car tires in the ditch. You love them for their effort but only a snarl comes out when you say thank you. Continue Reading…
I love the moon. There are so many amazing sights in this world but nothing stops me in my tracks like a huge, glowing circle of orange light sitting on the fall horizon.
Not only is it beautiful, it often feels so close that you could actually touch it – and we did back in 1969. We will not be able to say this about any other celestial object in our lifetime.
This neighboring orb has always fascinated me. Many times I’ve pulled over on the side of an empty road with its radiant light directly in the center of the windshield (yes I get up early). It was always the perfect, solitary moment to sit an offer a prayer of thanksgiving. Continue Reading…
Dear Friends,
I write this column with a very heavy heart as yesterday I learned that the most gentle, kindest friend I have ever known took his life.
I can’t pretend to comprehend how such a thing could happen to such an incredibly smart man except to note that life is beyond the grasp of intelligence.
I can’t comprehend how someone so kind to life could have life be so unkind to him except to discover that the Beatles were wrong and that we aren’t guaranteed to receive all that we give.
I can’t comprehend how someone that sought with all that he was to rediscover his faith would ultimately lose faith in himself.
Life cannot be described any better than what you believe in. We all believe in something, even if it is that life has no meaning. It is in that belief that forms all of our hopes or anguish.
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Dear Martin,
I was thinking about you this past week, being your birthday and all and wanted to thank you for one of the many great life lessons you taught me.
You once wrote
While I love the concept and try very hard to incorporate it into my life, it has been a struggle. I still fail often despite my best intentions.
The problem is that it is so much easier to muster up the energy to fight a bad idea when I can put an enemy in front of it. Hating an idea is so much easier when I can see Glenn Beck or Bill Maher’s face. It’s personal then and when it gets personal I have more fight in me.
Continue Reading…
