Lord, teach me. . . .

A conversation is a dialogue, not a monologue. That’s why there are so few good conversations: due to scarcity,  two intelligent talkers seldom meet. –Truman Capote Does this ever happen to you? You’re engaged in a Bible study, seriously trying to understand a challenging concept. Maybe it’s the story about the boy with epilepsy, whom only Jesus can heal, even though the other disciples have tried and tried. The father has stepped out in faith to admit: Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief! And as we begin to admit our own fallibility and uncertainties, someone in the group will pipe up: Well, he just needs to believe . Or Well, the Bible says all you need is faith the size of a mustard seed. Everyone falls silent. You could hear a pin drop. Yes, it’s in Scripture. But is it helpful? We allow our vulnerability to show, we confess that we aren’t always sure we have doubt-free belief in God (which, in my opinion, is A-Okay). Comments like this tend to silence the...

Only you can make this world seem right. Only you can make the darkness bright. --The Platters Sometimes it all feels like it’s just too much , doesn’t it? When we have one of those days (or weeks) that feels overwhelming, between job demands, political craziness and worldwide angst, we can feel total insignificant. Worthless. Unimportant. And of course, feeling that way only makes us feel even worse . But time and time again, throughout history, it has been shown that while there may be safety in numbers, the true power of change lies in the courage of individuals who are willing to speak up and take a stand, even when it’s an unpopular one. Language lesson: that word courage has, at its root, the French word coeur , which means heart . Think about it: while the brain allows us to process, to think, to do, it’s the heart that keeps the life-giving blood circulating, enabling everything else to happen. Once you come to understand the direction your heart is l...

You may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down. –Mary Pickford In my community, after several false starts when the summer heat just wouldn’t let go, everyone is finally back to school. The buses rumble down my street early in the morning. Kids, some of them carrying backpacks nearly as big as they are, walk with their adults, many with eyes downcast. After all, summer is over. No more lazy days of swimming and baseball. But I know, as a former teacher, that many of those children are secretly excited to return to school. After all, they’ll probably be in a new class, with a teacher who doesn’t know their story—so they can tell it themselves. New friends, new learning experiences. What is not to like? Most adults don’t have the clear delineation of summer-to-fall. The older we get, the more challenging it can be to really get excited. After all, to paraphrase Shakespeare, tomorrow and tomo...

There was never a night or a problem that could defeat a sunrise or hope.  –Bernard Williams There’s a story about twin boys who were as opposite as they could be. Even as a child, one was always crying, always angry and sad. The other was the happiest, most cheerful child one could hope for. When the boys were around eight years old, a curious psychologist wondered: How could two children of a single egg, raised in the same home, become so different? He decided to try an experiment. He took both boys to a barn. It was a pretty typical barn, filled with hay and the unmistakable scent of horses—and their “byproducts.” He turned the boys loose and told them he would return in a couple hours. Then he watched. The one boy immediately began crying and screaming. What have I done to deserve this? I hate this! Get me out! But the second child? He got a big grin on his face and began running around the barn, burrowing under the hay, searching every possible corner o...

To be happy, it first takes being comfortable being in your own shoes.  The rest can work up from there. –Sophia Bush I have a confession: when it comes to shoes, it’s all about comfort. It’s got to be a mighty special occasion if you see me wearing heels. I can do it; I just don’t choose to wear fashionable, uncomfortable shoes if I can help it. It just makes walking and being about business too hard . How often do we decide what a person is really like , based solely on appearances? It’s virtually impossible not to; after all, the heart is easily concealed, but shabby footwear. . . . Maybe, if we opened our eyes and wondered , instead of judging , we might actually gain insight into the heart. Maybe, if we can come to understand how those shoes became worn and ragged, compassion might come more easily. Are those shoes tired because their wearer can only afford one pair? Or chooses these as their favorite? Are those shoes worn out in Love, or worn out ...

Everybody’s got somebody to lean on. –Traveling Wilburys Recently my life took a tremendous turn in a new direction. Out of the blue, God opened doors (and I had sense enough to walk through them) that led to me leaving the church I had served for over five years as Minister of Pastoral Care, for a new church, in a new denomination, in a new city. I’m now serving as the permanent, settled pastor to a United Church of Christ—and it couldn’t be a better fit. Big change over the course of a year. But the truth is, nothing’s changed at all. And I had that affirmed a couple weeks ago by my new congregation. When the official vote on my being called was complete, someone gave me the greatest compliment ever. The vote feels like just a formality , he said. You’ve felt like my pastor from the very first day you arrived [ten months ago]. And I felt the same way. We can dicker and argue over stuff that doesn’t matter, like denominations and job titles. At the end of t...

No one really has a bad life. Not even a bad day. Just bad moments. –Regina Brett, survivor Some days (weeks?) are like that. It seems as if nothing is going the way we would like it to go, in big ways and small. Everyone has those days; yet, somehow, we take little consolation in that fact. Misery may love company, but right now—just leave me alone and let me stew. . . . One of my favorite children’s books is called Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day , by Judith Viorst (New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1987). The unfortunate protagonist’s day begins with gum in his hair, and it goes downhill from there: he drops his favorite sweater in the toilet, and at breakfast, when everyone else finds a super duper decoder ring or some other fancy schmancy toy in their breakfast cereal, all Alexander finds—is cereal. And it doesn’t get much better. Everything, it seems, goes wrong. The entire universe seems to be conspiring against him! An...