Being spiritual means that we become more than pursuers and purveyors of a system. It requires a total change of heart, a total concentration of mind..... It is the seeking that counts. It's so easy to forget that simple truth in a capitalistic society that teaches us...
01257 – Much of Life is Pure Gift
If we were to accept large areas of life as pure gift, we would be forced to acknowledge that we are not in control. Were we to live as recipients rather than makers, we might feel dependent and diminished, like clients of some cosmic welfare system that demeans our...
01246 – Don’t Misuse John 14:6-7
The claim of John 14:6-7 becomes problematic when it is used to speak to questions that were never in the Fourth Gospel's purview. To use these verses in a battle over the relative merits of the world's religions is to distort their theological heart. It is a...
01245 – Giving: Humanity’s Fullest Bloom
I believe that, beyond all our desires to be appreciated, rewarded, and acknowledged, there lies a simple and pure desire to give. ...Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a...
01243 – Surrendering to Life Just As It Is
How do we come to realize love? By surrendering to life just as it is. Gradually our eyes open. I think of a good friend who buried her young son. Years later someone asked her if she felt that he had been cheated by life because his years were few. Her response was...
01228 – Don’t Quit!
Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.
01226 – Grade-Givers & Worth
When we start being too impressed by the results of our work, we erroneously come to the conviction that life is one large scoreboard, where someone is listing the points to measure our worth. And before we are fully aware of it, we have sold our soul to the many...
01212 – God Loves Us, Period!
When we begin to realize that God loves us with our weakness, with our vulnerability, with our failures, we can begin to accept them as an inevitable part of our human life. We can love others--with their failures--when we stop despising ourselves--because of our...
01207 – Don’t Try to Live Someone Else’s Life
Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma--which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to...