Thomas Merton wrote, “Those who are not thankful soon begin to complain of everything.” What I love about this is that he takes thankfulness for granted. He assumes it. It’s such a hopeful expectation for human being: thanksgiving as our…
On one of the social media platforms, a woman posted: “One time my dog found a discarded chicken sandwich in a hedge while we were on our morning walk. So every day since, for the past 10 years, we have…
I came across an article from a few years ago, by designer-writer-consultant Paul Jarvis. I saved this piece because it was provocative and challenging. I used to read Jarvis’s newsletters regularly for encouragement and advice about creativity and organizational leadership.…
Travis and I were sharing a bottle of wine on the outside deck of a tasting room on Stearns Wharf, the pier in Santa Barbara, a couple of weeks ago. It was a perfectly beautiful afternoon, nearing sunset on the…
A few years ago, my friend Denise shared with me a wonderful story about St. Francis of Assisi: The town of Gubbio had a serious problem. An enormous lone wolf was eating the villagers’ sheep. Several people tried to stop…
“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain. And most fools do.” — Dale Carnegie Most advice about complaining boils down to: Don’t. Stop. I found lots of quotes from very smart people counseling strongly against it. Conventional wisdom holds that…
The phrase “God the Father” makes me cringe a little bit. The Patriarchy, Authority, Judgment — it evokes all those things, and that’s just not how I prefer to think of Spirit anymore. I avoid the capitalized, masculine pronoun. Even…
First, an update about mask-wearing at Sunday services… We’ve been feeling our way through this matter for seven weeks now, since our return to in-person indoor gatherings. It seems like it’s time to address it directly again. Oh, how I…
I’m attempting to maintain an even keel, to not flip my lid or totally lose my cool. And I keep catching myself doing so in ways that sometimes feel like a cop-out. To preserve a modicum of mental peace, I…
I got the word “undone” stuck in my head, and now I can’t shake it. Undone seems to be in the air these days. A conversation with Travis is what started me off. We were talking about this complicated, multi-step…