Wages vs Expenses

Our response shouldn't be, "as long as I can (cover it), it doesn't matter to me...".

The Factories

'Poem for the week' -- "The Factories":

I have shut my little sister in from life and light
   (For a rose, for a ribbon, for a wreath across my hair),
I have made her restless feet still until the night,
   Locked from sweets of summer and from wild spring air;
I who ranged the meadowlands, free from sun to sun,
   Free to sing and pull the buds and watch the far wings fly,
I have bound my sister till her playing-time was done—
   Oh, my little sister, was it I? Was it I?

I have robbed my sister of her day of maidenhood
   (For a robe, for a feather, for a trinket’s restless spark),
Shut from Love till dusk shall fall, how shall she know good,
   How shall she go scatheless through the sin-lit dark?
I who could be innocent, I who could be gay,
   I who could have love and mirth before the light went by,
I have put my sister in her mating-time away—
   Sister, my young sister, was it I? Was it I?

I have robbed my sister of the lips against her breast,
   (For a coin, for the weaving of my children’s lace and lawn),
Feet that pace beside the loom, hands that cannot rest—
   How can she know motherhood, whose strength is gone?
I who took no heed of her, starved and labor-worn,
   I, against whose placid heart my sleepy gold-heads lie,
’Round my path they cry to me, little souls unborn—
   God of Life! Creator! It was I! It was I!

-- Margaret Widdemer

Sometimes it is a poem that can pierce you like nothing else.

Megaphone

Your work is your own private megaphone to tell the world what you believe.

-- Simon Sinek


So, what am I working on? What are you working on?

One of the Great Ironies

One of the great ironies of life, it seems to me, is that growing old (or dying) often becomes about waking up.


The gospel of the day is not about the poverty of flesh, so much as it is about the holiness of ashes.

-- Barbara Brown Taylor

Space To Change

The agency of change is not coercion, it is space.

We can even be some of the space, for someone else, that allows them to change.

Damage

I've noticed...that, in general, I am fascinated by people.

The exception being, of course, those who hurt me (at the very least, fascination may not be the first word I would use). But even there, I feel like I am turning a corner; because any damage caused me by another person, is never as great as the damage to the one who is doing it (easier to believe, at times, than it is to feel).

And, knowing that sometimes I am that person, I have growing compassion for the pain that often creates that impulse.

To Be A Priest

To be a priest is to know that things are not as they should be and yet to care for them the way they are.

-- Barbara Brown Taylor

On the Lighter Side: So I Can Sound

On the Lighter Side:

Sometimes I use words I don’t understand, so I can sound more photosynthesis.

-- Anonymous

Not Your Enemy

Instagram: bobgoff

A setback isn't your enemy; it's your teacher.

-- Bob Goff

I Cannot Sing

'Poem for the week' -- "I Cannot Sing":

I cannot sing, because when a child, 
   My mother often hushed me. 
The others she allowed to sing, 
   No matter what their melody. 

And since I’ve grown to manhood
   All music I applaud, 
But have no voice for singing, 
   So I write my songs to God. 

I have ears and know the measures, 
   And I’ll write a song for you, 
But the world must do the singing 
   Of my sonnets old and new. 

Now tell me, world of music, 
   Why I cannot sing one song? 
Is it because my mother hushed me
   And laughed when I was wrong?

Although I can write music, 
   And tell when harmony’s right, 
I will never sing better than when 
   My song was hushed one night. 

Fond mothers, always be careful; 
   Let the songs be poorly sung. 
To hush the child is cruel; 
   Let it sing while it is young. 

-- Edward Nathaniel Harleston

Place of Conversion

Solitude is a place of conversion, the place where the old self dies and the new self is born, the place where the emergence of the new man and the new woman occurs.

-- Henri Nouwen


For me, solitude is one of the best ways to create the space to reconnect with myself and God (usually in that order)—in other words, to be converted again...and again, and again.

Disconnected

I've been feeling disconnected lately.

Every time I feel disconnected and seek connection externally, it never seems to really work.

I am starting to know, really know, how disconnection is most often a result of something internal—that is happening or, perhaps more likely, not happening.  To say it another way; it is rarely external, even if true realities exist there as well.  It is endlessly easy to believe that a re-arrangement of external realities (i.e., something in people around me) will resolve my sense of disconnection.

The truth is, our deepest connection is internal; with who we are, and with the source of our identity.  When internal connection happens or is maintained, external connection or disconnection is simply a bi-product of whatever else is going on—in my life or in the life of others around me.  We, more often than not, cannot control those external realities.  But, when we slip into believing that these external connections are more important (necessary) than the internal ones, we find ourselves on a road that leads nowhere.

In my experience, it has often taken a painful recognition, of one kind or another, to expose this kind of slide into disconnectedness.  Though inconvenient, and sometimes frustratingly repetitive, I am thankful for the mechanism of this dynamic which reminds me about where to look for the source of life—where to seek and maintain connection.

We Aren't Really Living

If we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.

-- Anatole France


OK—we get it!  At some point, this is just too hard to dismiss; it is easier and easier, at the very least, to acknowledge.

So, why then does it seem like there is often such a rub, when it comes down to actually accepting it or doing it?  More specifically, why are people so adverse to others who are moving change forward?

Anonymity

I'm wondering...who am I, in anonymity?

In other words, how much is my sense-of-self predicated on acceptance, not to mention approval, from others?  Does my answer still work when I am (or feel) anonymous?

Part of Something More Than We Are Observing Something

The Perennial Tradition constantly recognizes that we are part of something more than we are observing something. Read that again: we are part of something more than we are observing something. How does that feel to you? From the perspective of participation, we can recognize that most of religious and church history has been largely preoccupied with religious ideas about which we could be wrong or right. When it is all about ideas, we do not have to be part of “it”; we just need to talk correctly about “it.” We can avoid actually living out our beliefs and walking our talk.

-- Richard Rohr

Chroning

From Michiana Chronicles:

I can pinpoint the exact moment when I realized most American women of a certain age dye their hair. I was a guest at a Unitarian church, sitting in the back pew. Scanning the room, I realized I’d never seen so many middle-aged gray-haired women. Huh.  Did I miss a memo stating that graying women must become Unitarians?  No … a lightening clap of understanding broke across my brow.  It was simply that Unitarian women — this group, anyway — were less likely to dye their hair. That truth revealed an even more shocking one.  Most women in the US DO dye their hair rather than go gray naturally— somewhere around 75%, as best the record-keepers can tell. 

Now, I celebrate humanity’s penchant for self-decoration. Our own children spent many years mixing up gloppy hair dye in every psychedelic shade from Manic Panic pink to cobalt blue. I even Vaselined a few ears along the way, as the willing assistant. 

But many women in our youth-focused culture dye their hair not for fun or pleasure, but to hide the gray — an act that also, I’d argue, hides their experience and wisdom.  

...

I went to see Senator Elizabeth Warren this summer when she spoke in Elkhart at the RV Hall of Fame. She raced from the wings, high-fiving folks and bounding onto the klieg-lighted stage. I was both impressed with her youthful energy … and a little bummed by the necessity of the performance. Must she bounce and smile to please us? Aren’t her years of study and experience enough? Can’t we focus on her plans instead of her self-presentation?  Based on this campaign cycle, I’d say: Not yet. 

Perhaps this ruffles my silvering feathers because I’m leaning into croning pretty hard these days. I like the definition of the crone as a powerful, wise woman. And I like the idea of electing one for president.  However this election turns out, I hope we’re sailing toward a moment when women candidates — and women everywhere — can simply be themselves, with all their wisdom, undisguised, on full display. Continue here....

-- April Lidinsky

Visual: Loaded Down

Visual - "Loaded Down":

Winona Lake, IN

Loaded down 
feeling of cold
nothing seems
alive
except the memory
of your vibrant
branches

The snow knows 
tho
What the eye
cannot see

Afraid To Lose

The more you have, the more you may be afraid to lose.

This is not only true for our material lives; it is true for our social and political lives as well.

In fact, we are impacted spiritually, too, by all of our more.  And, this is the where the cost of our fear can be the greatest—it's impact on how we view others and the systems we use to protect ourselves and what we have.

The Loyalty Card

Ever noticed...when loyalty is weaponized—usually used to pit something (or someone) against...something (or someone) else, not to mention unabashed retribution?  It seems like there is a willingness to play the loyalty card at nearly any level—nationally, locally, and in inter-personal relationships.

A test for this is the level of genuine curiosity there is about the party whose loyalty is being maligned.  Is there real interest in what another party is experiencing?  Or, is it just too easy to broad-brush them with a label, like disloyalty?

Why wouldn't there be genuine interest in a possibility that is different than how the loyalty player is imagining or that someone is actually growing or changing?  Don't we want that for people? Or, is that only good if it is subordinate to something else, like loyalty to 'our' group?

Lack of curiosity reveals the weapon that loyalty can become.

...it also reveals that there is another problem; one that exists long before the loyalty card actually gets played—one that is really about ego (power, control, and fear).  Loyalty card plays are often just a pre-emptive disguise for these darker realities.

Perhaps talking about why loyalty card plays are so handy would be a good start toward disabusing its usefulness.

Any System That...

You are meant to grow, change, and adapt.  You are not meant to wear the same shoes you did at 15, or 30, that you did at 5.  The same is true of ideas, beliefs, and ways of seeing the world.  Any system that won't allow you to develop is a barrier to health.

-- Hillary McBride

Accessible Through

I've noticed...as a 9 on the Enneagram, I don't tend to believe (operate) that truth is as much resident within me, as it is accessible through me.

This has been both disappointing (ego) and exhilarating (flow).

God's Seed

God’s seed is in us. If it were tended by a good, wise and industrious laborer, it would then flourish all the better, and would grow up to God, whose seed it is, and its fruits would be like God’s own nature. The seed of a pear tree grows into a pear tree, the seed of a nut tree grows to be a nut tree, the seed of God grows to be God.

-- Meister Eckhart

Gloaters

I suspect if you asked, most people would say they hate gloaters. Those people who, fresh off some kind of apparent victory (or even success), proceed with endless self-congratulation and, even worse, demonization of their now 'defeated' opponent.

Unless, of course, the victor is on your team or you envision yourself on theirs. Then, we don't call it gloating.

Which gloater do you hate more—theirs or yours?

Disney+

Facing Our Fears

That’s unlikely.

If I’m lucky, I can glance at them.

But just for a second or two.

Our fears burn so bright that if we truly face them, we think we might be blinded.

Of course, we may think we’re looking at our fears, dead on, but it’s more likely we’re just seeing a distraction, a shadow of what’s actually holding us back.

Because once we’re truly clear about the fear, it fades. It might even disappear.

-- Seth Godin, Facing our fears

Possibility Gets Planted

As I’ve come to understand that life “composts” and “seeds” us as autumn does the earth, I’ve seen how possibility gets planted in us even in the hardest of times. 

-- Parker Palmer

Boredom Is Like Soil

Sometimes, albeit not too often, I get bored with the way I think. Does that ever happen to you? Do you ever get bored with what you think about or how you tend to think about it?

I’m not sure why at times I am bored with the familiarity of what I think about or how I think about it, while at other times, I don’t feel that way.   So, it makes me wonder why do I feel about it the way I do one time and why, at another time, I feel differently about it.

One of the words I've noticed I use to describe this is boredom.  What does that tell me?  Is that a clue?  I wonder, is boredom a kind of soil, out of which something can grow, at a later time?

Most Creative Ideas

Our most creative ideas don't tend to come when we're consciously focused on the problem.

-- Scott Barry Kaufman

In All Flairness

I've noticed...when someone adds a little something extra to what they're doing, it moves me.

Recently, I saw someone do this on a piano and I was surprised by how much it affected me.  It was not meant to draw attention to the person playing the instrument; it was just meant to add something to the situation going on—nothing particularly necessary, just a little extra flair.

Something attractive happens when people add a part of themselves in this way.

We all have the chance to add our flair to things.  And, I think we need to because when we do, it awakens something in ourselves, and in others.

You don't need to do this everywhere or every time; just find one thing and add your unique flair to it, especially when you just want to.

In all flairness, it is one of your gifts to the world.

Any Single Theological Container

Instagram: aaronieq

As I stumble out of the certainty & fear of overly-conservative faith, I'm praying to stay clear of the certainty & despair of overly-liberal faith.  Instead of choosing one side, I long to let go and get swept up into a bigger, more beautiful Story.

The Creator is neither the Christian mascot that we control with good behavior (as I formerly believed), nor an impersonal force mostly irrelevant to real life (as some ex-fundamentalists choose in response).  Or maybe God is partially reflected in both.  However, the Loving Ground of our Being—fleshed out in Christ and his Body—is surely beyond any single theological container, and you and I have been graciously invited into this great Mystery.

Thanks be to God.

-- Aaron Niequist

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