Gratitude and Grace
Recently I went to an outdoor memorial to celebrate the life of a friend. She had multiple interests and participated in several different groups. Hearing different people speak about her life, I marveled at how she had the gift of cultivating community wherever she went. Sometimes a sense of community develops quickly among people with…
Read MoreThe diagnosis of breast cancer came as a shock. It took several weeks before that wore off, and it occasionally returns at new bends in the road. But the cancer was caught very early and after surgery remained at Stage 1. Even so, there’s radiation ahead (gratefully missing out on chemo) and hormone therapy for…
Read MoreI’m intrigued as I write the chapter on “Growing as Becoming” for my next book, Growing a Generous Soul. People can measure growth in many different ways, but how do you measure growth in faith? Faith is not a static trait or characteristic. Neither is it a set of beliefs, as in faith in someone…
Read More“Look ahead but don’t anticipate.” When we’re riding horses, that’s an important lesson to teach. You want the horse to look ahead for what’s coming next, but not to assume he or she knows what you’ll ask for next. One mistake a lot of riders make is practicing a succession of moves so many times…
Read MoreOne of the joys in life for me is learning from The Teaching Company (www.thegreatcourses.com). The folks at The Teaching Company provide scores of college-level courses in audio and video formats in a mind-expanding range of subjects, taught by professors from all over the world who have been awarded for their teaching style. My brother…
Read MoreToday is my birthday: a watershed year. I have gone through several stages to get used to the thought, but now I’m beginning to embrace it. It has taken a while to acknowledge that television personalities and company executives are usually younger than my husband and me. Our “kids” not only became full adults long…
Read MoreMultitasking is something much of our North American work world takes for granted. I used to be proud of how much of it I could do, in my ministry and in the family. (What can I say? I’m an unrepentant “J” in Myers-Briggs language.) I even excelled in doing it mentally. I used to say,…
Read MoreThere’s no such thing as perfect balance – for human beings, anyway. Some Olympians or other world-class performers may be able to achieve perfection for a single routine, a crystalline moment. But we cannot live in an exactly balanced state. It’s always an active rebalancing, one step this way or that. It’s true with ethical…
Read More“Gratitude has the power to heal, to energize, and to change lives,” said researcher Robert Emmons at the June 7th Greater Good Gratitude Summit. “We’re here to celebrate the science and the spirit of gratitude.” While gratitude may be a familiar topic in religious circles, these comments came from a professor of psychology at U.C.…
Read MoreThe Gold Country Book Festival, in Auburn, California, was a great experience of community. Writing can feel like a solo occupation, so it’s wonderful when writers and readers get together to celebrate the written word. On Saturday, May 17th, the Placer County Library hosted 35 of us local writers in its leafy courtyard throughout the…
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