blessing the boats {Lucille Clifton} (at St. Mary’s) may the tide that is entering even now the lip of our understanding carry you out beyond the face of fear may you kiss the wind then turn from it certain that it will love your back may you open your eyes to water waterContinue reading “Poem for a Sunday Morning”
Tag Archives: connection
Poem for a Sunday Morning
from “Vacillation” {W.B. Yeats} My fiftieth year had come and gone, I sat, a solitary man, In a crowded London shop, An open book and empty cup On the marble table-top. While on the shop and street I gazed My body of a sudden blazed; And twenty minutes more or less It seemed, so great myContinue reading “Poem for a Sunday Morning”
‘Essential’ is a Choice
Most of us don’t meet the government’s definition of “essential” when it comes to working the front lines of the response to the novel corona virus. Most of us, that is, are deemed “non-essential.” And we who are “non-essential” have been given a very short and manageable to-do list: wash your hands, stay at homeContinue reading “‘Essential’ is a Choice”
50 Ideas Worth Fighting For
I am happy to share the complete list of my “50 Ideas Fighting For,” that concluded today. I trust that these perspectives will be a valuable resource for you – a spark to inquiry and to conversation – and that you will pass them along to others who might benefit. I am thankful for yourContinue reading “50 Ideas Worth Fighting For”
#50 – Forgiveness
The Prodigal’s Mother Speaks to God {Allison Funk) When he returned a second time, the straps of his sandals broken, his robe stained with wine, it was not as easy to forgive. By then his father was long gone himself, leaving me with my other son, the sullen one whose anger is the instrument heContinue reading “#50 – Forgiveness”
#43 – Compassion
Pandemic What if you thought of it as the Jews consider the Sabbath— the most sacred of times? Cease from travel. Cease from buying and selling. Give up, just for now, on trying to make the world different than it is. Sing. Pray. Touch only those to whom you commit your life. Center down. AndContinue reading “#43 – Compassion”
#39 – The Real Conversation
Open. Authentic. Honest. Vulnerable. Expressive. Sometimes painful, always a catalyst for new learning. The real conversation is the one below the surface of the one that is familiar and comfortable. It is the one hinted at but only entered into when two people agree to ask the un-askable questions give the un-giveable answers. I amContinue reading “#39 – The Real Conversation”
#38 – Competence
It’s worth fighting for more competent leaders. You don’t tolerate incompetence from your doctor or your accountant but do you feel the same about your leaders? Maybe you think that effective leadership is that much harder to measure than the successful treatment of an illness or the filing of a tax return. I don’t buyContinue reading “#38 – Competence”
#24 – Empathy
This is #24 in the series, “50 Ideas Worth Fighting For.” Here’s another one you might like. “So compelling is the evidence of our own eyes and ears, so swift is your mind to assemble your own version of the story, that one of the hardest things in this world is to understand there’s anotherContinue reading “#24 – Empathy”
#21 – Simplify
This is #21 in the series, “50 Ideas Worth Fighting For.” You might like #10, also. Here’s a sentence I read recently: “As brands grow they can sustain a certain growth rate; forcing higher growth unnaturally simply consumes capital unnecessarily.” It’s a terrible sentence. It’s terrible because it’s complicated and excessive. It’s terrible because itContinue reading “#21 – Simplify”
RULE13 Learning 