Found this among my drafts, thought it worth posting

A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair.

New York Journal-American, April 5, 1963

To be of service

This Thanksgiving, I want to share something deeply personal.

I've written about it before, and I'll write about it again.

It may cause some people to think I've got my priorities mixed up, others to think I've got life mixed up, and others to just not get it.

I want to say how thankful I am for the work I get to do.

I work in a helping profession. I work with people who use their brokenness to heal others. I work with data and research and building connections. I work with kids. I work with so much laughter.

And I work with a mentor who is living this life:

Most people who were alive 50 years ago today remember exactly where they were when they got that awful news that President Kennedy had been assassinated, and I mean most people all around the globe. Our international standing was very high then, and he was a supernumerary hero to a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-national world.

I was in Philadelphia recruiting for Peace Corps Volunteers at Penn, Temple and Drexel. Upon learning of the tragedy, I immediately checked in to the office in Washington, and was instructed to return as quickly as possible. Sargent Shriver, the Peace Corps Director and brother-in-law of President Kennedy, was to be in charge of the funeral, we learned a little later, and would need all the help we could give him.

At the time, my role on the Peace Corps staff was as an assistant to Bill Moyers, the Deputy Director. Bill was in Texas with the Presidential entourage, having been a protégé of Vice President Johnson. Upon returning to Washington with the new President, Bill went straight to the White House and never returned to work at the Peace Corps.

In the late 1950s, while serving on the US Army East-West German border patrol, I read a book, “The Ugly American,” a Eugene Burdick novel that depicted our countrymen who did business and vacationed abroad in a less than positive manner. I saw a lot of that, which I considered disgraceful, among our occupation forces in Europe. I came home determined to spend my life in active amelioration of that problem.

Hence, when Presidential candidate John Kennedy first spoke about the idea of the Peace Corps, I was hooked. I went to Washington on his inaugural day and stayed, eventually landing a spot at the Peace Corps after it was formed. I am very proud to be a part of the “Ask not…” generation. Sure, we were somewhat naïve in thinking we could save the world.

But, even though those of us in that band “lost our innocence” that day, the spirit of service that was born in me during those early years still lives on, albeit in a much older carcass. I am so happy to be able to continue to serve a cause larger than myself, and I am grateful to all of you for helping me do that. We do it well!

Peace

Today, as I sit down to be with my family, to give thanks through a shared meal and a day off, I want to let it be known - I work with the best people on the planet, and if I can be half of what they are at what they do, then maybe I can make a start at paying back the gift of work.

Slumpsville

Whenever I am in a slump, I think I shall pull out this list and discover what for.

Then I shall stop being stupid and proceed with the following:

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone. We have life and love to celebrate. This is serious business. Let's get to it.

Sometimes it's good to remember

When we want to honk at people in traffic (or, okay, run them over)

When we want to isolate and tell no one we're having a bad day

When we want to refrain from that compliment or tenderness out of comfort

That this is where we come from.

Convinced

As we head into Thanksgiving week, I have something to say.

I'm not a big instigator or aggressor, but reading this sign, as opposed to some of the many platitudes I've been hearing about making the holidays "count," really brought things home for me:

I do not need more stuff. We do not need more stuff. I need connection, tenderness, laughter, playfulness, security and love around the holidays from the people I'm blessed to share them with. I want to give hope, joy, peace and comfort to my family and friends during this time. I'd like humanity to learn something about what real generosity means from Jesus Christ, and I'd like that to change the way we behave toward one another. I'd like us to see that the way of true abundance and sharing is diametrically opposed to the words on this sign and the reality behind them.

Don't give stuff. Give yourself to those you love. Love as you have been loved by the Spirit who's set our lives in motion. Be of good cheer. And especially at Christmas, keep fighting the good fight.

The three silences

Grateful

I am thankful for my family today. In a week, we'll be able to spend the whole day together, just us, on a lazy Saturday. It's been forever (or at least it feels like it), and it will be the first weekend spent in their lovely new home!

That we have a space and time to share together is a sweet, sweet thing.

Strike

Strike a match.
Play it loud.
Giving love to the world.

Mags. All I care about is waking, working, and seeing Mags in the arena tonight.

 

All of these things all of the time

http://elitedaily.com/life/20s-things-you-need-to-let-go-to-live-happy-life/

Grand Canyon at Sunrise Spring 2013. An Exercise in 17.

Seriously. These things, plus work, laughter, art, movement, sleep, faith and food, and I'm really, really, really good.

Advent

I'd like to read through this list several times a week as we approach what has to be a holiday season I am looking forward to more so than any in recent memory.

I'd ask God to place these items on my heart, to remember them, or to find them waiting for me when I am neglectful of my duty to live for my maker and to live in the life with which I was so graciously provided.

http://thoughtcatalog.com/brianna-wiest/2013/11/18-things-everyone-should-start-making-time-for-again/

Happy almost winter, almost Thanksgiving, almost Advent.





And almost Catching Fire!

Passion and dreams

You know you're a real adult when...

 

...you have a food board on Pinterest. 

Baby steps to domesticity.

Deconstruction

As per usual, I don't agree with all of this. But I am going to point out (as per usual) what really makes my heart sing, what makes me see our God when I hear these words, and I'm going to hope that others leap and do the same.

"...God is present in...challenging interactions."

"'This isn’t supposed to be the Elks Club with the Eucharist'...Religion should be 'something that’s so devastatingly beautiful it can break your heart.'"

"'God is not distant...God is there in the messy...middle of it...'"

"'Christianity...[is] always putting me into something new.'"

Bolz-Weber’s liberal, foulmouthed articulation of Christianity speaks to fed-up believers

 

Credit

Mondays after Sundays are Humbling

Dear unknown person at work whose leftover yaki udon chicken I: 1) mistook for my yaki udon vegetable, 2) prepared, 3) partially consumed, 4) realized was not mine, and 5) replaced -

Thank you for understanding.

Hearing it

How I feel about my relationship with God.

And to what I want to West Coast Swing.

Unsinkable Molly Ortwein

Even though it's the headlining element of the story, the tattoos featured here have their show completely stolen by Molly.

What a woman - in one short chronicle we see her commitment to her health, her love of nature, her connection to her family, and her indomitable will, which refuses for even a second to consider victimhood.

I pray we can all be that heroic in the face of our own adversities.

...and Honesty

LISTEN

She told me she wanted me to listen…so I said to what?
She said listen to the heartbeat of all the memories of my failed relationships
and then love me like the cure for cancer.
Answer the questions of my life with silence and sometimes “just listen.”
You don’t wear a halo and I don’t need a saving grace,
just embrace my pain enough to feel it.
You don’t need to illuminate my problems and make my wrongs right.
Even the sun must let the earth sit in darkness at night.
I can shine on my own, I just need you to be there. Be there like air.
Even present when I don’t know it, be the silent foundation of my life. Support me.
Be my pulse, invisible to those around me but still real. Real cause I can feel you.
She said, sometimes, I just want to know I can count on you.
Add you like math to the equation of life.
Be my quotient, the sum of my parts, beat with my heart, be in sync with me.
Co-write the story of my life as if you were inked with me.
Tattoo yourself to my hope so I can carry you into my dreams.
Sleep with me so we can share the same dreams and then seam our souls together.
Stitch me into the fabric of your fantasies and once again answer me with simple silence.
She said just listen.
Send me a silent stare, talk to me with a kiss, miss me when I’m still with you.
Resist the temptation to touch me and yet still caress me.
Bless me, treat me like a temple.
Worship within my walls and fall into my future.
Suture away my wounds and heal me.
Stand in the next room and still feel me.
She said, be the center of my universe.
Rehearse me like poetry. Speak me into existence.
Make me your adjective and describe us.
Trust me enough to show it, show me enough to know it, know it enough to believe it,
relieve me of the wonder and understand it.
She told me she wanted me to listen…so I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mnp5eArXCXs

Yup. Still want to get to the Kentucky Derby.

This one's for you, Special K!

The Wicker Man: 1973 vs. 2006

The Original: A creepy, thoughtful, complex exploration of the intersection between sexuality and religion.

The Remake: A movie about Nicholas Cage dressing like a bear.

I've met my 5-year-old counterpart

Oh yes.

This is how dancing should be done.

That we would all be full of such joy in the moment.

Happy Monday!