Just to boogie
I was born and raised Baptist. The kind of Baptist that flinches when the words ritual or sacrament are mentioned, tainted as they were, by profane Catholicism. (But then again, we didn’t know what the words meant, only that anything…
Where is your sacred place?
It's déjà vu all over again. I just came in from watching the sunset. I'm in Englewood Beach (on Florida's west coast on Manasota Key), where I return every May to spend a few days with some old friends. It's a ritual. And…
Your name and wardrobe
A Nigerian woman, a physician at a teaching hospital in the United States, attended a Gordon MacDonald lecture. After, she approached Gordon, to offer kind words of affirmation. She introduced herself using an American name. "If I may ask," Gordon inquired, "what's your African name?" The woman…
The artist inside
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson began her career as an accomplished viola player. While on tour in Europe (in the late 1980s), her viola was stolen. She could have replaced it. As would be imagined, the theft threw her into a state of feeling lost…
Give me the diamond!
The sannyasi (a Hindu holy man) had reached the outskirts of the village and settled down under a tree for the night when a villager came running up to him and said, "The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone!" "What stone?" asked the sannyasi. "Last night the Lord Shiva appeared to…
Living Wholehearted
Walking the beach one day, Gunilla Norris sees a young child run---determined on very unsteady legs---into the water. The toddler’s intensity is palpable. The mother sits some distance away, outwardly comfortable enough about her child's safety not to interfere with his adventure. With a wet sagging diaper, the young boy runs into the water with the half-weaving, half-stumbling motion of toddlers who have just…
More fun to keep going
No travel for me this week. So I let the garden work it’s magic. My face is healing, and my spirit. It could be worse, one guy saw my black and blue and asked, “Did you fly United?” A blessed Easter and…
Black eyes and Blessings
I woke up on the floor of the hotel foyer. I saw a lot of blood. I didn’t remember falling. Let’s just say that my week didn’t go quite as planned. Brandie and Della had dropped me off, after a…
Harness the Power of Pause — eCourse
It is easy to lose a sense of self in a world of hurry and distraction and anxiety. Have you ever felt overwhelmed, only to add one more thing to your to-do list? Have you ever wished for an extra…
With skin on it
A young boy had nightmares. The kind that make you go to mom. (No use going to Dad, who will tell you, "Go to mom.") "Okay," the mom tells the boy. "Go back to your room. Kneel down by your bed. …
