It is worthy to note those things upon which we wage war.  There are those completely virtuous and entirely untainted causes that are birthed at those seminal moments when the very foundation of the whole of our existence is suddenly teetering on some precarious precipice.  Indeed, in every generation there are those utterly horrifying moments when … [Read more...]

Christmas . . . what do you visualize when you think about Christmas?  Dancing lights, shimmering bulbs, air thick with the delicate aroma of turkey; wisps ascending from frothy cups of hot chocolate.  Maybe your mind races warm with thoughts of carefully selected gifts, sugar cookies rendered brilliant by colored frosting and a dash of sprinkles, … [Read more...]

Sometimes life is much more about reflection than solving problems.  Sometimes it does us good just to watch, and in the watching discover the undiscovered.  In the discovering, to then savor what we discovered.  Sometimes we would do well to simply soak up this thing we call "life" rather than dissect it, attempt to control it and in doing so both … [Read more...]

Speaking to Our Deepest Humanity Christmas and New Years are both rich with meaning and filled with ornate tradition.  Christmas beautifully embodies and subsequently displays a desperately needed hope that something bigger is with us, that ‘God is with us’ despite how terribly difficult our journey might be, how terrifyingly lonely we so … [Read more...]

The holidays bring people together.  Parties, various celebrations, innumerable gatherings of various kinds all present us with opportunities to warmly engage people we rarely see throughout much of the year.  Indeed, it is a natural time of joining and rejoining. Yet, in all of the merriment and festivities, old issues are given renewed space … [Read more...]

Christmas was an intentionally intentional decision of the most magnificent design.  It was a decision wrought from an angst borne of incomprehensible love, wholly tempered by an inconceivable and unsullied forgiveness, and it was relentlessly energized by a relentlessly infinite compassion.  It was the greatest, most intricate, most ingenious and … [Read more...]

I started delivering newspapers when I was a tender nine years of age.  Had I been an adult looking at the nine year old that I was at the time, I probably wouldn’t have let myself take on the job at that age.  In fact, I might have thought such as idea as skirting the periphery of the insane.  But with my parent’s blessing, I started delivering … [Read more...]

Thanksgiving is an incredibly rich time.  It affords us the opportunity to reflect on the transformational power that an attitude of thanksgiving delivers into our lives.  It likewise prompts us to move away from all lesser tendencies that tend to woo us and instead embrace this vitally important attitude. As a ‘thank you’ to my readers, I’ve … [Read more...]

As a kid, I remember the geese.  Living along the Atlantic flyway, we had front row seats to nature on a grand quest.  Nature’s dazzling palette had liberally painted the forests in burning reds, sizzling oranges and electric yellows as if nature had unleashed the whole of its artistic abilities in some massive brushstroke.  Cascading off every … [Read more...]

It seems that Thanksgiving; at least the meaning of it all is being lost somewhere.  In many respects we’ve traded it wholesale for football, turkey, an insane variety of foodstuffs and an excuse for a four day weekend.  In a lot of ways it’s become more the starting gun to Christmas; a brief celebration with a built-in justification to gorge … [Read more...]