We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
00235 – Getting vs. Giving
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00229 – Joy Even When Life is Hard
If happiness is what we feel when we think we’ve got what we want, then joy is what we feel when we discover we already have what we most need. Joy is still present when life is hard. Christ comes for grieving people with broken homes and broken hearts. Christmas is...
00220 – Gratitude and Grace
The foremost quality of a trusting disciple is gratefulness. Gratitude arises from the lived perception, evaluation, and acceptance of all of life as grace—as an undeserved and unearned gift from the Father’s hand. Such recognition is itself the work of grace, and...
00217 – Being True to Our Gifts
Because our gifts carry us out into the world and make us participants in life, the uncovering of them is one of the most important tasks confronting any one of us. When we talk about being true to ourselves—being the persons we are intended to be—we are talking about...
00216 – It’s All Gift
Ironically, the more we grow in the spirit of Jesus Christ, the poorer we become. The more we realize that everything is gift, the more the tenor of our life becomes one of humble, joyful thanksgiving.
00211 – The Real Purpose of Life
The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.
00205 – Let Go of the Lie
The truest, most beautiful life never promises to be an easy one. We need to let go of the lie that it’s supposed to be.
00199 – Right Past Jesus
The problem with spending your life climbing up the ladder is that you will go right past Jesus, for he’s coming down.
00197 – Can’t See, Can’t Think
The greatest need of our time is to clean out the enormous mass of mental and emotional rubbish that clutters our minds and makes of all political and social life a mass illness. Without this housecleaning, we cannot begin to see. Unless we see, we cannot think.
00196 – New Way to Write Headlines
Sometimes I just want it to stop. Talk of COVID, looting, brutality. I lose my way. I become convinced that this “new normal” is real life. Then I meet an 87-year-old who talks of living through polio, diphtheria, Vietnam protests and yet is still enchanted with life....