Category: Mind

Professor of Love

Over the years, the faith formation program I coordinate at my church has become known as a place where children with special needs are welcomed and nurtured. I remember it was about seven or eight years ago that a parent called me asking if we could help her son. She explained that the church they had belonged to felt they weren’t equipped to help kids with special needs, and basically rejected them.

I will never forget the morning I sat in my pastor’s office to ask him what I should do. Leaning back in his chair, he said, “Isn’t it ironic that the Gospel reading for this morning was, ‘Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them…'” (Mt. 19:14).

Into The Light

I hope you had the chance to follow some of the rescue efforts at San Jose Mine in Copiano, Chile that are taking place today. After 69 days underground, miner after miner was hoisted up nearly 2,000 feet of rock and into the sunlight, fresh air, and the waiting arms of loved ones and rescue workers.

These thirty-three men are being rescued from the longest underground entrapment in history. It is nothing short of a miracle. Over the weeks ahead, we’ll learn their tale of survival. What sustained them?

Blogging diabetes Inspiration Mind Prayer Spirit type II diabetes

A Very Good Day

Thanks for everyone who was praying for our Faith Fights Diabetes meeting this morning. To say that it was a success would be an understatement. I don’t know how many people will ultimately sign up to help with this initiative, but there is no question in my mind that our message resonated with the nearly sixty people who came.

The statistics are simply too hard to ignore. I talked about some numbers yesterday, but there was one slide that was shown today that took my breath away. According to the American Diabetes Association, one-third of all caucasian children born in the United States after the year 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime. For ethnic children, the number jumps to fifty percent. That’s either one out of three, or one out of two. Absolutely staggering.

Inspiration Italy Mind Travel

Don’t Stop Dreaming

Where’s your happy place? When I’m having a tough day, I close my eyes and think about Tuscany. Over the last twenty years, I’ve had the great blessing to visit this wonderful part of Italy many times. If I were rich, I’d have an apartment in Florence overlooking the Piazza della Signoria. Almost always noisy and crowded with tourists, I’d love to set my alarm to go off in the middle of the night.

Inspiration Mind Prayer Spirit

The Holy Grail

I was recently began reading a daily devotional on male spirituality entitled On The Threshold of Transformation, and on one particular day the reflection was on the search for the Holy Grail.

The hunt of the Holy Grail has been to told and re-told in various cultures for centuries. The story’s appeal hits at the heart of one the deepest desires of all people, that being union with God. The original story has Joseph of Arimathea bringing a cup in which some of the blood of Jesus was saved before he was buried to Britain. The legend flourished in the twelfth through fourteenth centuries and continues even to this day, as the 1989 movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade shows. So, what makes this story so alluring?

Inspiration Mind Prayer Spirit

Good Friends

A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter; he who finds one finds a treasure.

A faithful friend is beyond price,no sum can balance his worth.

A faithful friend is a life-saving remedy, such as he who fears God finds.

For he who fears God behaves accordingly, and his friend will be like himself.

Sirach 6:14-17

I had the chance to go out to lunch with some friends today. It was good hanging out with them, enjoying a good meal and laughing a lot. I hate to admit it, but I don’t spend enough time with my friends. It seems like we’re all so busy that we end up too tired to make the effort to get together. Of course, this leaves us disconnected from the people we want to associate with, which leads to frustration and discouragement. Can this be good for us?

Blogging Inspiration Mind Spirit

Perspective Makes A Difference

Post author By seedthrower1
Post date 09/29/2010
No Comments on Perspective Makes A Difference

Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on my posting Change Your Perspective I put up last week. A lot of people have said that the story about the conversation between a pastor and parishioner really resonated with them. If you missed it, just click above.

Isn’t it amazing how quickly our attitude can change from bad to good by simply seeing things in a different way? As I wrote in that posting, our circumstances may not change, but our perspective can. I was speaking to a young man tonight who really liked this message. He talked about his own circumstances, which can sometimes be overwhelming.

Catholic Church Inspiration Mind Prayer

Fourth Grade

We’re looking at a new textbook series at work, and I decided that, if we were to switch, it might be a good idea for me to get back into the classroom and try it out myself. So, this year I’m going to teach a 4th grade class. Today was our first session, and I’m whooped. I forgot how much energy kids this age have. Trust me, it’s a lot 🙂

That being said, they are fun to be around, and me and my assistant can’t wait till next week. I know I’m going to be a bit more prepared. Anyone who works with this age group knows you can never have enough activities to satisfy them. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to being with them this year. I know I’ll learn as much as them.

Inspiration Mind

Be Happy

Most people are just about as happy as they decide to be.

– Abe Lincoln

It seems like I’ve been talking to an awful lot of unhappy people recently. Young and old, working and unemployed, healthy and ill, it sounds like everyone’s in the same boat.

As a co-worker pointed out to me today, it’s almost a shock to your system when you encounter someone who is upbeat, positive, and well, happy. Folks, it’s not supposed to be like this.

Continue reading “Be Happy”

Catholic Church Ignatian Spirituality Inspiration Mind Prayer Spirit

Use Your Imagination

I know, it’s a bit early for Nativity scenes, but let me explain 🙂 Use of our imagination is a key component of Ignatian Spirituality. It’s funny, as we get older most of us don’t daydream like we used to. Remember when you were a kid, and you could close your eyes and instantly transport yourself to some epic event, with you playing a key role? I’m not sure how it happens, but it seems to me that we become so focused on the reality of our lives that we stop dreaming.