It Is Christ Himself

The Church, like a mother, accompanies those who are walking. Where the world sees threats, she sees children; where walls are built, she builds bridges. She knows that her proclamation of the Gospel is credible only when it is translated into gestures of closeness and welcome. And she knows that in every rejected migrant, it is Christ himself who knocks at the door of the community. 

-- Pope Leo

3 Observations & A Question

When you maintain superiority over others, you end up with distance from others. 

Giving without demand or expectation of return opens the possibility for the joy of true receiving. 

 

You really do have to get used to not knowing…especially about the future (to what any new day will bring).

 

When do we become aware of the perception that other people have of us (is prior to that point what we call the age of innocence)?

 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

ICE Spent $700M & ...

New York Times

AXIOS

The problem isn’t elections. We won the damn elections!

-- Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY)

Healing Also Means

Healing also means taking an honest look at the role you play in your own suffering.

-- Unknown

Legislating Morality

Legislation is not very effective when it comes to morality; it is much better suited as a supplement.

I was thinking about this after noticing a sign on a recent morning walk. The sign was for a conference by the Association of Christian Librarians.

For a minute or two, I thought that was a rather novel concept. Until I considered that something about books has been used for a long time to organize thought around areas like morality (among other things, of course). And, the very idea of having a conference for Christian librarians reflects this reality. My mind went, of course, to the current efforts, by our government, to control what books are available in the public sphere (often under a banner of something called Christian). Like many things, it feels like such identities emerge, when something feels threatened, whether we’re talking about something governmental or Christian.

Published material plays an important part in culture (or at least often it does). And, therefore, in morality. Often, organized efforts around something like morality beg the question of what it actually is in the first place. And, while I’ve discussed this before, it seems that when it comes to morality, there are many common themes throughout time and spaces where people exist. I think it must be noticed, however, that there are also some significant divergences (which again should beg the question about the existential nature of it). And, because morality seems to be a construct of larger notions about what it means to live together as human beings, it would appear that those are hard to completely capture in something that can be legislated. In other words, the idea would seem to be that morality is larger than something than only words can describe (although I think we should be grateful, in most cases, for the attempts those words make).

Back to the question of legislation. It appears that legislation is often an attempt to codify something at the very least and, in particular, in relation to morality. Because it not only tries to describe what it is or what it should be, but it also reaches towards trying to dictate what it is or should be. And, invariably it seems (especially in this context), it is difficult to avoid being dumped off on the doorstep of censorship. Somebody or something (or a group of either) is often attempting to determine what needs to be included in the space the words take up as a means of controlling for the things that should be included, as well as the things that should be excluded.

This dynamic is not particularly confined to something like morality, as it is involved in many scopes of reality. The Bible, for example, was largely constructed from this dynamic as men (and some women) debated what was the most appropriate to include and what to exclude. Perhaps, this is just a human thing we do and it, in and of itself, is not inherently bad. But it can be. Ostensibly, legislation is often an attempt to distinguish when it is and when it isn’t.

The legislative enterprise is as constructive and fraught with dynamics that exist in nearly any enterprise. But, the making of law is something that should be carefully understood, especially given the range of dynamics involved.

So, am I talking about libraries or books? Or, morality or censorship? Or, legislation and the range of what is true that cannot be codified (but is commonly understood in some innate way by the scope of human experience throughout time and space)?

Yes.

Unexpected

If you do nothing unexpected, nothing unexpected happens.

-- Fay Weldon

Who You Are

One day, if you have a little bit of talent and a lot of hard work, you're going to find out who you are.

-- Massimo Bottura

Gives Us Our Gift

I'm wondering...if what comes most close to killing us gives us our gift to the world.

They Will Know We Are Christians By...

On this Fathers Day, we have an opportunity to reconsider the role fathers have on setting the pace for this:

 

What if we as Christians were known more for our feet washing than our sin bashing?

-- Carlos A. Rodriguez

…because like it or not, we have been (setting the pace) for much of patriarchal human history (in both good and bad ways).

3 Observations & A Question

Every time you say ‘no’ to something (especially if it is unhealthy), you are in a better position to say ‘yes’ to something else.

 

I know that whatever you're doing right now isn't the only thing that is true about you.

  

Our choices affect other people — we can’t just make them and then pray they don’t…we have to make them in the first place because they do.

 

What if you don’t walk at the same pace as someone else?

 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

MOU, U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and Working Parents

 
New York Times

 
AXIOS

AXIOS

Juneteenth, 2026

Nobody’s free until everybody’s free. 

-- Fannie Lou Hame

Dr. Karida Brown, a sociology professor at Emory University whose research focuses on race, said there's no reason to feel awkward about wanting to recognize Juneteenth because you have no personal ties or you're not Black. In fact, embrace it. 

"I would reframe that and challenge my non-Black folks who want to lean into Juneteenth and celebrate," Brown said. "It absolutely is your history. It absolutely is a part of your experience. ... Isn't this all of our history? The good, the bad, the ugly, the story of emancipation and freedom for for your Black brothers and sisters under the Constitution of the law."  Continue...here.

Also:

Juneteenth stands as DEI retreats

Able To Do

The more one does and sees and feels, the more one is able to do.

-- Amelia Earhart

No one is autonomous.

No one is autonomous.

Who said Elon Musk is the one who gets to decide anyway? 

"Well, no one specifically, but he is…".

He is what?

"Well, you know — smart, innovative, a status quo breaker, brought us more things that have changed the world than any other human being, etc.".

So, how do we respond?

The systems driving our economies reward him with unprecedented wealth. And, therefore, power. 

But, why Musk?

Question: is what he has done, good? Answer: well....

Question: is he a good person? Answer: well…based on what we tend to know, probably not.

So, why have we bestowed so much power on him?

Because the right kind of person (Trump), at the right moment and time, can give an Elon Musk unprecedented access (DOGE) to nearly unlimited resources, if that would benefit that person.

One person.

Is that what we really want? One person, with the majority of the power (because he has the majority of the money) getting to decide how that power (money) will be used to organize societies around the world? (What, by the way, does it tell us when that person appears to be developing an exit strategy from the Earth itself? What does he think he knows?)

Is this a good thing? Is that what the rest of us really want?

"Oh, c'mon, he’s just a smart guy. It's just capitalism; he's made lots of money – give him a break."

Really? Our response to the upshot of these realities is…give him a break?

No one is autonomous.

What he is doing is impacting all of us, whether we know it or not.

We need each other. He may not believe that he does; but, we do. The concentration of power / money in one person‘s hands who doesn’t recognize that he needs us should be a frightful thing.

But, it isn’t…for too many of us.

It must be that we think that it's OK somehow, as long as we benefit from an Elon‘s smartness (and money). Perhaps there are some ways that we do. But, after you listen to him talk for a while, and after you look into the ideologies that have shaped what he believes, you start to wonder whether the endgame for him is what we’ve imagined it to be…just more money (doesn't feel like it)?

It has been said that (the love of) money is the root of all evil. That can be understood to mean a lot of things. But, in the frame of what I’m presenting here, we could wonder if the evil involved is the kind of power hidden behind the money.

$1 trillion is more than just a little bit more money. $1 trillion is more than the whole economies of 170 countries. $1 trillion worth is a notable fraction of the whole US economy. (What is a trillion of anything, anyway?)

The likes of $1 trillion got Elon access to our government ostensibly for the purpose of reducing spending (ironically, in a way that would enhance the possibility of Elon‘s particular $1 trillion...which was probably the plan all the way along). Not to mention, among other things, how that money was being used to aid other societies around the world, to aid research that allows the US to aid other societies around the world (not to mention our own society).

No one is autonomous...because nothing is autonomous.

A Long Way Away

MORNING BREW

They Don't Scare You

Most success comes from 50 small things moving in the same direction, not one big thing.

... 

One way to beat fear is with steps so small they don't scare you.

As you get closer to fear, you realize there was never anything there to be afraid of.

-- Shane Parrish

Required Of

I’ve noticed…that I often feel required of.

And, perhaps more importantly, why I can tend to frame it that way. 

Hoarding

If there’s one thing Jesus is opposed to, it’s hoarding—and it’s not just about physical possessions. The ego is the ultimate hoarder. It hangs on to everything. We hoard our entitlements: I am rich, I am educated, I am a person of authority. We hoard our principles and ideologies; we hoard our self-justifications and our resentments. We use all these things to line the nest of our fragile sense of selfhood.  

But Jesus sets himself against any kind of hoarding. He teaches a path of radical non-clinging. He says in effect, “Don’t clench your fist. Open your hands.” The world is abundant and provident beyond belief, and what flows through it is a coherence, a beauty, a life force that is a direct expression of the heart of God.  Continue…here.

-- Richard Rohr

3 Observations & A Question

At the end of the day, you can’t require anyone to take care of you.

 

At some point, we have to acknowledge how our compulsions set us back.

 

Much of the time, just keeping yourself in a position for something to happen is the most important thing you can do.

 

We tend to think if we had more money, we would be able to be more free — but, seriously, how often have you observed that to be the case?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Social Security & Solar vs Coal

 

Robert Reich

 
AXIOS

I Do Not Live By Being Right

I will live by the best I can discern today. Tomorrow I may find out I was wrong. Since I do not live by being right, I am not destroyed by being wrong.

-- Verna Dozier

Another, Seriously — This Is Our President?

Another, Seriously — This is our President?:

If You Thought Tulsi Gabbard Was A Problem:

 

The law that creates the DNI position specifies that the nominee “shall have extensive national security expertise.” Pulte lacks any expertise, let alone extensive experience, which one might think a president would want at a time of international tension and outright war. But he is loyal to Trump, which, apparently, is the only criterion that matters here. Continue...here.

-- Joyce Vance

The Senate Should NOT Confirm This Person

How much more is needed for the obvious, Trump continues to fleece America for his own greatness (as he perceives it anyway)...not America's:

Trump’s interest in profiting off the presidency remains clear. Jonathan Edwards of the Washington Post reported today that 14 of the 27 known donors to Trump’s $400 million ballroom project have won new or expanded federal contracts totaling over $50 billion since they made their donations. Continue...here. 

-- Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American

There is no democracy without journalism.

-- Scott  Pelley

I Rose To It

I didn't fall in love, I rose in it.

-- Toni Morrison

Prescription: Against My Position

I have what I call an iron prescription that helps me keep sane when I naturally drift toward preferring one ideology over another. And that is I say ‘I’m not entitled to have an opinion on this subject unless I can state the arguments against my position better than the people do who are supporting it.’ I think only when I reach that stage am I qualified to speak. 

-- Charlie Munger

If only there were more of us who were willing to take this medicine....

Ineffective

Ever noticed...how ineffective trying to out-yell someone is?

Inflation & Data Centers

 
GALLUP - Front Page

 
GALLUP

Wholehearted Spirituality

Wholehearted spirituality in the freedom of the Spirit gives us courage, courage to bear witness to God’s grace against all odds, courage to speak despite efforts to silence us, courage to act authentically and in ways that encourage and empower the weak and the vulnerable. 

-- Rebecca Button Pritchard

4 Observations (from Others)

We have this habit of thinking that our “current” self is the permanent one.

--  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

 

I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted. 

-- Sylvia Plath

When we open up space for the Spirit and let the Spirit fill that space within us, we begin to change, and we become agents of change.

-- Brian McLaren

 

And now that you don’t have to be perfect, you can be good. 

-- John Steinbeck, East of Eden

Prior 4 Observations (from Others).

On The Lighter Side: But Do Not

 On the Lighter Side:

What Would Emerge?

In an area that I routinely walk, someone recently cleared a bunch of the heavy foliage that had built up next to the path. Just a few days later there were three or four different kinds of flowers that I had never seen before growing in the cleared area.

Which got me thinking — what kinds of things would emerge in my life, if I were willing to clear out of the way some of the things that have grown up in front of them?

Don't Walk Away From

You have to pick the places you don't walk away from. 

-- Joan Didion

LT: Ideas From Others

A good leader is curious to hear ideas from others. A bad leader cares more that others hear their ideas.

 -- Simon Sinek

As A Society

I'm wondering...about what causes us as a society to fall asleep to what is going on around us (or, for that matter, to wake up).

HISTORY: Four Horsemen of Calumny—Fear, Ignorance, Bigotry, and Smear

MORNING BREW

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

June 1 is always an important day; per the above, now as much as ever.

An important historical reading...here. 

5 Truths About Sabbath

5 truths about Sabbath: 

1. Sabbath is not a reward for hard work 
2. Sabbath is a reminder that our work will remain incomplete 
3. Sabbath is a day that moves us from production to presence 
4. Sabbath reminds us that we are not God 
5. Sabbath points us to the deeper rest we need found in Christ

-- Rich Villodas

3 Observations & A Question

What brings them joy can bring you joy.

 

You’re either cooperating with a natural order of things or you’re making it harder to do so. 

 

Maybe we’re all on the spectrum…of a spirit of hoarding (or miserliness) on one end and a spirit of generosity on the other. 

Imagination often comes from context (we rarely wonder about things we’ve never seen) — wouldn’t that make context pretty important, even if simply from an imagination perspective?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Wages vs Profits

AXIOS

The Other Shoe Doesn't Have to Drop

In case you need this today:

I’ve only been fired once.

Here’s the story. I was sixteen years old and worked about ten to fifteen hours a week at the local Dairy Queen. On most evenings during the closing shift, I was left running between the drive-through and the kitchen to cover the needs before closing down for the night. Which was when it happened. This was the point in the day when my friends from school would come through the drive-through to sneak in a hello or just make fun of me for working at Dairy Queen (I had great friends!). One Friday night, however, as my friends drove through, I made the ill-fated decision that would change my life forever.  Continue...here.

-- A.J. Swoboda

What Makes You Vulnerable

What makes you vulnerable makes you beautiful.

-- Brené Brown

Take The Space

One way to respect yourself is to take the space that you need — to make space. To be in silence long enough to hear what is really going on...in and around you. 

After all, it isn’t as much about how much you can take in as it is about the other space you have to create to do something with it.

But, you may have to choose it, intentionally.

Leave your phone some place, rather than take it with you. 

Plan and go for a hike.

Stop being productive for a minute or a couple of hours (...a couple of days would be even better for you).

Find a way to experience some silence.  Unending noise (especially the thinking kind) is not good for you. But, you will have to choose a way to get away from it, otherwise it will just keep you surrounded by it. You may actually have to relearn how to listen to yourself again, to get past the usual tape running in your head.

Taking the space you need is a matter of self-respect, as all care is. 

And, yes, you do need it. 

Ivins, Utah

…from a recent space-taking time for me that was the genesis of this thought.

Experience

Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes.

-- Oscar Wilde

Memorial Day

Memorial Day this year provokes so much we almost feel soul-numb to its import, at least on the political side of things.

Sometimes we just need someone else to verbalize for us what we're feeling...like this reflection on gardening and democracy from Diana Butler Bass:

A Victory Garden for Democracy

She reminded me why I plant flowers about this time every year...the joy of it comes from a kind of hope it represents.

HISTORY: Memorial Day

Memorial Day — a history...here:

Joseph Pulitzer

We know why we need history, right?

If we can’t be honest about the past, how can we build a truly better future?

No Person Can Separate Themselves

The love of God creates in us such a oneing that when it is truly seen, no person can separate themselves from another person.

-- St. Julian of Norwich

3 Observations & A Question

It’s the habits you form while you’re waiting that become critical.

 

You can’t subcontract your own thinking…or shouldn’t. 

People will believe almost anything — that's part of the problem because it is very hard to unbelieve something.

So, what have you discovered that gives your life meaning?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Consumer Sentiment Index

 
AXIOS

INSPIRATION

'Poem for the week' -- "INSPIRATION":

This planet will not
be healed
by powerful politicians
in big cities
who spend trillions
on a global strategy
that never quite begins.
They also burn
much fuel.
Earth will be healed
by villagers
who sing,
by backyard gardeners
like you,
who walk more slowly
right here,
who feel the green
through bare soles,
speaking fewer words,
cradling
each others anger
like mothers,
awakening
the heirloom seeds
of the heart.

-- Alfred K. LaMotte

The Only Safe Thing

The only safe thing is to take a chance.

-- Elaine May

To Be Human Is To Be Vulnerable

Truth be told, even more than success, control or the effective management of ones life, what we really want from other people is their humanity.

And, by humanity, we mean vulnerability.  In fact (if we were really honest), we privately despise the UNvulnerable person, don't we?  We want to be like them...AND we don't.

Let's break this down a bit. 

In our perhaps less thoughtful moments, we love successful people or, at least, we think we do.  But, why then do we also almost fetishize their downfalls (loving that almost more)?

Perhaps this is because we like to think of the possibility of success in our own lives and often live that vicariously through the success of others.  We could be successful, too, IF we really wanted to....  We also know, however, that we are often not what we like to think we are (or even could be).  More often, the best we do is have moments of flashing success.  But, we never sustain it, especially perfectly.  In fact, we have a love-hate relationship with ourselves about that reality — loving the notion of what we could be (and sometimes are) and hating ourselves when we are not that.  

This is both an unfortunate and vicious construct.  The only relief we get from the resulting trauma it often creates is when we acknowledge the both-and nature of it.  And, this happens more often than not when we see vulnerability in someone else first and when that allows us to forgive ourselves for our imperfections.

Even that is a rather silly way of framing it.  But, we still relentlessly drift towards it, don't we?  It must, somehow, be useful to us.  I suspect it's utility is primarily based in its distraction, when it really could much more be the means of being liberated from the tyranny of it.

No one is perfect or successful all the time.  We wouldn't ever publicly admit to wanting to be.  Yet, we do. 

The emotion we often feel when we experience genuine vulnerability is the salve for the wounds we create for ourselves from it.  We see it in ourselves, but are afraid to admit it (out loud).  But, when someone else does, we breathe a sigh of relief as much for our own sakes as anything else.  They are like me.  I am like them.  We are alike, in our vulnerability as human-beings — we call this collective experience our humanity.  Vulnerability reinstates the permission we need to give ourselves to be more fully what we really are...human.  Not things like successful.  Human.  Together.

It is that last notion that really captures the concept here.  Our greatest vulnerabilities are really with each other — our greatest successes and deepest failures...combined.  In spite of some of those who have tried not to be, we by and large are social creatures (what isn't, in fact?).  The isolation we impose on ourselves through arbitrary constructs, like success, is really quite...unnatural.

Vulnerability is like a connector...it connects you to the rest of the world.

-- Phil Stutz

Some of how we can learn to get better at this kind of thing is to develop a better relationship with the false binaries of our discomfort with our knowing and our not knowing — with things like our fears and pain.  In the end, we have to hold ambiguity, inter-dependence, and the unknown in much more healthy ways.  This read about collapse and catastrophe is a helpful consideration.

Most Prepared

The most prepared person in the room usually says the least.

-- Shane Parrish

Another, Seriously — This Is Our President?

Another, Seriously — This is our President?:

Trump’s Derangement on Full Display in Most Unhinged Social Media Night Yet:

 

Oh, and believe it or not:

Trump Just Stole Your Money!

A document—this time signed by Blanche himself—amended the previous agreement to add: “The United States RELEASES, WAIVES, ACQUITS, and FOREVER DISCHARGES” Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization, “and is hereby FOREVER BARRED and PRECLUDED from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims” that, as of yesterday, “have been or could have been asserted” by the IRS against them or “related or affiliated individuals” or companies. In other words, Blanche is asserting a blanket promise to stop all IRS audits of Trump’s taxes and not to prosecute any crimes Trump, his family, his businesses, or his associates might have committed that crossed the IRS.

-- Heather Cox Richardson, Letters from an American

Speaking of corruption (I mean, money): 

Behind the Curtain: Trump's unprecedented profit and protection

It's pretty clear, most MAGA people have no real idea what Trump has always meant by 'great' in his slogan (he doesn't have them in mind at all...other than how he can use them for his own personal gain). 

My Discipline

I’ve noticed…that my discipline is increasingly becoming focused on what I need to pay attention to, in any given moment. 

In other words, what needs my attention now?  Can I pay attention to that later?

Cocodona 250-mile Untramarathon

Morning Brew

Political Changes

We must not imagine that political changes of themselves will ever bring about the goodness, charity, or transformation that the gospel offers the world.

-- Richard Rohr 

A more helpful (and healthy) orientation to change can come from an often uncommon understanding of what is commonly known as the Beatitudes.  'Blessed are the...' meaning not nearly as much a reward as a description of what pathway to flourishing and a genuine state of aliveness really is.  

For example, regarding:  

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

A better understanding would be:

"Flourishing and fully alive are those who have created genuine inner space — who have released the accumulated constructions of the conditioned self and made room for something else to enter." 

If you're curious and open, continue...here.

...quite a contrast to much of what currently seems to motivate political change. 

HISTORY: Brown v. Board of Education

Brown v. Board of Education — a history...here.

3 Observations & A Question

Too often we don’t even know how our fears are operating within us.

  

Few things have happened in my life that have not ended up being repurposed.

 

You should say no to at least one thing fairly routinely — if nothing else, to remind you that you can.

 

At some point, don't you really have to ask yourself why you trust what you trust?

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…

Commencement Address - Arizona State University, Harrison Ford

It's 'commencement' time again:

 

Passion brings you joy. Purpose brings you meaning. 

-- Harrison Ford, commencement address at Arizona State University

Another, Seriously — This Is Our President?

Another, Seriously — This is our President?:

Heather Delaney Reese

This one seems more true than even he knows:

I don't think about Americans' financial situation.

-- Donald Trump 

But, he says all kinds of things that aren't true...so many, in fact, it's hard to know if anything he says is.  More examples:

U.S. Intelligence Shows Iran Retains Substantial Missile Capabilities

Trump is about to pull off the biggest con in American history

DOJ Drops Charges Against 100+ January 6 Defendants

...you just can't unsee this stuff.  But, we can't keep up with all of it either and Trump knows that (which is why his quip above seems more and more true by the minute).

Don't know how directly related this is (but, I'm guessing it might be...): 

Behind the Curtain: Scaling Sin

Endure

Endure, and keep yourselves for days of happiness.

 

-- Virgil

Great Companies

Great companies don't hire skilled people and motivate them. Great companies hire motivated people and inspire them.

 -- Simon Sinek

The More You Have

Ever noticed...the more you have, the greater the tendency to think about what you have to lose?

Image what this looks like on scale (well, I guess you don't have to imagine it; you can just watch it happening right now).... 

U.S. National Debt and Gross Domestic Product

 
AXIOS

Motherhood of God

“This beautiful word ‘mother’ is so sweet and kind in itself that it cannot be attributed to anyone but God.” With these words, Julian offers us an amazing and foundational statement. She is not saying that the most beloved attributes of motherhood can analogously be applied to God, although I am sure she would agree they could. She is saying much more—that the very word mother is so definitive and beautiful in most people’s experience (not everybody’s, I must add) that it evokes, at its best, what we mean by God. This perspective is not what most of the world’s religions have taught or believed up to now—except for the mystics. Among these, Julian of Norwich stands as pivotal. Continue...here.

-- Mirabai Starr, on the medieval mystic Julian of Norwich

You should read that more than once…and let it really sink in.

I am so grateful today to be able to honor the amazing mothers in my life — my own mother, the mother of our wonderful children, and the mothers they now are or that they’ve married.  Like an ever-deepening well, all of you continue to so beautifully give of yourselves to each of your children.  Seeing your collective and unique care is both a wonder and profound joy.

HISTORY: Mothers Day

Mothers Day — a history...here.

3 Observations & A Question

Live like you actually believe it (vs the alternative).

 

Make you sure you notice when you don't think you can afford to give.

 

We are not designed to know everything; that is, we are not constitutionally able to hold knowing all things.

 

Just because you don't know what will happen, doesn't mean it will likely be bad, right?

 

Prior 3 Observations & A Question…