Lord, teach me. . . .

A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. –Lao Tzu The Summer Day (Mary Oliver) Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is eating sugar out of my hand, who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down- who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes. Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face. Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away. I don't know exactly what a prayer is. I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down into the grass, how to kneel in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and precious life? It’s never too early. And...

When you get to a place where you understand that love and belonging, your worthiness, is a birthright and not something you have to earn, anything is possible. –Brene Brown We have become a deeply consumer-driven society. We are convinced that money can buy happiness—or at least, money can buy more stuff, which is supposed to make us happier. Everything seems to come with a price tag. And on top of that, we talk about love as if it, too, is something we can purchase. It’s become a cheapened emotion: We love our car, we love that new café on the corner. And we simply love what you’ve done with your hair! Now seems like the perfect time to remember that nothing you can buy, nothing you can say (good or not so good)—nothing you can do with your hair changes God’s Love for you. Nothing. In the eyes of the Almighty, you are absolutely perfect, just the way you were created. And as soon as we internalize that message and believe it for ourselves, we change. We begi...

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination. –Nelson Mandela God, grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, which is pretty much everyone, since I’m clearly not you, God. At least not the last time I checked. And while you’re at it, God, please give me the courage to change what I need to change about myself, which is frankly a lot, since, once again, I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect. It’s better for me to focus on changing myself than to worry about changing other people, who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying, I can’t change anyway.   Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter than everyone else in the room, that no one knows what they’re talking about except me, or that I alone have all the answers. Basically, God, grant me the wisdom to remember that I’m not you. Amen. (“A New Serenity Prayer,” from James Martin, SJ, via The Jesuit Post ) Monda...

Make an empty space in any corner of your mind, and creativity will instantly fill it.  –Dee Hock What’s the most important part of a book or newspaper? The words, right? The story being put forth. The message being offered. But what if . . . whatiftherewerentanyemptyspacesatallbetweenthewordsandnoplaceforyoureyetogototakeabreak? What if there weren’t any empty spaces at all between the words, and no place for your eye to go, to take a break?   Suddenly, it becomes abundantly clear that emptiness can be just as important as fullness or busyness. It’s the same with our lives, as well. We need white space , empty time where we can pause, sort things out, process what’s come before and what lies ahead. Our spiritual lives need white space , too. Besides making time to read Scripture or devotional materials, we need “down time” to meditate on such things. Besides attending worship for the music and message, we need white space to allow ourselves t...