What makes my heart sing?
In the beginning, God didn’t make just one or two people; he made a whole bunch of us. “Because” he said, “you can’t really have a lot of fun—taking delight and savoring life—unless there’s a whole bunch of you.”And he…
Peace is our gift to each other
I write this sitting by the fireplace, savoring the dancing flames. The Advent candles are lit, and Silent Night is playing in the background.A settled stillness. And deep breaths for this gift of enough. Smiling about the magical power of…
The gift of hope
This morning, on the first Sunday of Advent, I lit a candle in The Porto Cathedral, where my Camino began almost three weeks ago. And began to walk north again, on the Camino route for just the first stage, as…
The gift of sufficiency
On Christmas Eve, a young father watches his 3-year-old daughter do her best to meticulously wrap a present. And she feels old enough to do so, without any help from a parent. (Remember that phase?)Choosing a roll of expensive gold-foil…
Let your arms down
There was a farmer who had a lot of fields, and he kept all the birds and creatures away from his crops with traps and fences. He was very successful.But he was also very lonely.So, one day, he stood in…
A Place to Watch the Rain
Rabbi Albert Lewis tells the story of a man seeking employment on a farm; he hands a letter of recommendation to his new employer that reads simply, "He sleeps in a storm." The farmer is uncertain what to make of…
Music as the hands of grace
I believe in the healing power of revisiting. Returning to stories—in books and movies and parables—that have reminded us that hope and joy and renewal are alive and well. Stories that ground us in the gifts of sufficiency and wholeness.…
Our inherent beauty
A family went out to restaurant for lunch. The waitress arrives. “What’ll you’ll have?” She asks.The husband gives his order, and then says, “And the wife will have…”The waitress turns to the five-year-old daughter, “And sugar, what’ll you have?”With a…
Permission to let go
I just finished a weekend in Anaheim, CA at the Religious Education Congress. Hugs from a few thousand of my closest friends. And I talked about the permission to slow down long enough to savor the moment. But that’s not…
Invitation to be here now
Uncertainty doesn’t feel like a fun thing. And we like to think we’d recognize the stuff that may unravel us, but are routinely surprised. So, it is no shock that we yearn for more certainty, you know, to enable us…
