GRANDBOY BAGS

Grandboy bags. Our grandsons each have one...the Silas Bag, the Isaac Bag, and the Jonah Bag. Each time we visit we bring a small gift in them...a puzzle, a tyrannosaurus rex, a book, a hot car (Matchbox-size), a brain game. They’ve come to expect these bags so, within nanoseconds of sharing hugs, they begin hinting...hunting. We, MiMi and Baboo (long story, no time) of course, make a game of it with, “What bags?” or “Maybe we drove off with the trunk open. They fell out!” Or worse, “Oh no, I left them on the porch next to the stuff the thrift store was picking up!”

But they know.

Today, (#3 in my 4-Monday series) I’m focusing our thoughts on the middle three of what I like to call our “spiritual senses”...love, joy, peace, PATIENCE, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, faithfulness, generosity and self-control. (See Galatians 5:22-23.) These nine function in ways similar to our five physical senses but in a beautifully complementary manner. How? Think of it this way: Our five physical senses gather in the information from our immediate and continuous interface with the world. Our nine spiritual senses help us determine what to do with it.

Speaking of grand bags, each of us has one. Got it at birth. If we dig down in our bag we’ll find all nine of these spiritual senses--ready and waiting--for us to draw them out and “play” with them, that is, to focus our rapt attention on them and then use them to bring joy to life--for ourselves and those around us (think globally, please). How do we do this?

TAKE PATIENCE: Ask yourself, “Where would I be if it weren’t for the patience that has been shown to me?“ Now stop. Sincerely answer that question. Think of instances, little or big, when you were the recipient of someone’s else’s--often undeserved--patience. Go ahead. We’ve got time. Just doing this will inspire you to go and do likewise.

TAKE KINDNESS: Who comes to mind when you ask yourself, “Who’s the kindest person I know...and why?” Commit to emulating that person today. ALL day. Watch what happens. I think you’ll surprise yourself (and maybe a few others!)

TAKE GOODNESS: This one gets personal. Ask yourself, “What qualities do I have that I feel really good about?” Here speak the truth in love--about yourself--to yourself--for yourself. This is not for Facebook. It may take a few tears but you’ll know you’ve answered this one well when you’re feeling a warming glow and softening compassion in your heart--toward yourself! The Skin Horse in the Velveteen Rabbit story would say you just became real.

Two things about our grand boy bag ritual make me chuckle. One, they always check the bag to make sure it’s completely empty. Upside-down-shake-it empty. And two, they hand their bag back to us. For next time. What if we approach our senses of the Spirit in the same way? Gifts freely given, always there, ready and waiting to bring joy. All around joy. Why can we expect such wondrous things of the Spirit?

Because we know.

TODAY.
GIVE YOURSELF & THE WORLD A GIFT.
TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW YOU THINK.

SWEEPING THE FLOOR

Here's one I'm pretty sure you can relate to... 


Sometimes when I meditate
something happens.

Some sweet or savory morsel is offered.
A mariners’ bell clanks in the fog,
a solitary candle bursts into flame,
a distant drum is struck,
an apparition of insight appears,
a wisdom from within wiggles free.

Sometimes it comes quickly,
a parade, no two--at the same time!
Coming from opposite ends of Main Street.

Sometimes it comes slow but steady
A stream of leadings
one upon another's shoulders,
building, building, building,
like bricks laid up and up and up
until a grand edifice is finished.

Sometimes it’s an occasional “Aha!”
like the salt that makes the steak,
that carries me through for another day or two.

Sometimes the wait-for-it is long,
like waiting for bread to rise,
paint to dry,
a child to give up diapers.

Sometimes I don’t know how long I’ve sat
after the show was over and the curtain closed,
waiting for more, for yet another encore.

And sometimes nothing comes at all.
I guess I just came to sweep the floor.

SWEET SPOTS

Greetings all.  Here's #2 in my current "Spiritual Senses" series. I hope you find it helpful.


Strolling through Central Park in New York City one sunny afternoon, I heard a cellist playing Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Following sound to source I came upon a college-age woman who wasn’t just smart. She was wise. She’d found the sweet spot just inside the entrance to a ten-foot high pedestrian tunnel where she could hear herself play in “real time” while--due to the echo factor--those of us passing through the tunnel thought we’d just walked into a concert at nearby Carnegie Hall. I was so flooded with an instantaneous wave of emotion (and remember I’m a Norwegian guy whose ancestors were farmers) I had to step aside from the busy path, close my eyes and just listen--chills coursing through my entire body. I could literally FEEL the music reverberating off the walls and passing through me.

Last Monday I began a 4-week series on what I like to think of as our “spiritual” senses...love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, generosity and self-control...Galatians 5:22-23. These nine spiritual senses function in the same way as our five physical ones but on a higher plane. Like the cellist’s placement just inside the tunnel’s entrance, each of them is a sweet spot which can immeasurably amplify and enhance our own (as well as each other’s) daily experience of life--once we learn how to think with and through them. Further, the more proficient we are with them, the wiser we will become and the more reverberating the outcomes will be.

What I’m suggesting is that we consciously choose to use these (typically latent) senses as guides, coaches, mentors, or tools in our daily interface with the world.

Take love: If we ask ourselves, “What’s the loving thing to do in this situation?--regardless of the situation (the more difficult the better, actually)--it does two things: It proactively guides our response to a higher plane of humanness--which can’t help but positively affect our external circumstances. And second, it internally inspires and empowers us to be more of who we really are; lovable and loving beings.

Take joy: If we say, “Today, I’m going to be joy-full no matter what comes at me,” we will start and stay at a much higher level of wellbeing than the usual 10-15% on our happiness meter--just because we gave it some conscious thinking time. And everybody wins.

Take peace: What if we say, “I’m not just going to try to feel at peace all day today (Rather narcissistic, don’t you think?). I’m going to do two things: BE peace. BRING peace.”

If I believed in magic I would say these powers are magical. Not sure about magic, but I’m convinced people can--and do--change. I’ve witnessed huge transformations--including my own--and I do believe each of these nine spiritual sweet spots is given to us for that very purpose: Transformation. Like our physical senses, we just need to learn to trust them. In short, to let them lead.

TODAY.
GIVE YOURSELF & THE WORLD A GIFT
TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW YOU THINK

THE SAME WELL

I began my morning by reading John O'Donohue's lovely poem “For Light” from To Bless the Space Between Us. My first thought was, “How beautiful!” A second, louder thought blurted out, “I’ll never write like that!” Then, thankfully, a third gently eased the second aside, whispering, “We all draw from the same well.”


We all draw from the same well.
In its shallows there is a clouding differentness,
but the deeper we go the more same we see.
Somewhere down under even the slightest
of our separateness clears.
Then a deep knowing comes:
When we draw of these waters
--cool, crystalline, creedal--
we all draw upon the one and same source.
And what each of us brings to the surface for all to see
is our beauty at its best, beheld as it alone can be,
catching the breath of the insightful eye,
astounding the outer orbits of the mind,
and delighting the sensors of the spirit.

This is where art begets art.
This is where beauty becomes beauty.
And here, regardless of continent or covenant,
we all recognize this truth for what it is:
A sensual, if nonsensical, feast.
Having moved from the world of reason
to the realm where it is our innermost perceivings
that give glow. Shed light. Make way.
Here what is most intimate within us guides our steps
while never losing its bearings. Indeed,
here these are only sharpened and heightened,
heralded kings as Solomon, queens as Sheba.

We all draw from the same well.
Let us drink deeply then. Yes, you. Yes, me.
Let us draw with the strength of the stars
and the stamina of gravity.
For it is in this doing, in this act of drawing
that the sweet nectar of discernment is drunk.
The words and wisdoms
that make it back up to our surface
are but the cup, a souvenir of our visit,
the holy grail with which we are graced, which
when raised to the lips of our consciousness,
forever anoints us with its contents,
satiating our spirits and sending us soaring.

The woman at the well said to Jesus,
“Sir, give me that water...” (John 4:15)

TODAY.
GIVE YOURSELF & THE WORLD A GIFT.
TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW YOU THINK.

ALL IN MY HEAD

Good morning all. Here's a thought for your day. I hope you have a good one!

It’s right in front of me.
I’m staring at it--
yet without seeing it
for what it really is
--whatever “it” is.
Maybe I’m seeing it
for what “it” isn’t,
for what I wish it was,
for what I’d hoped it might be,
or worried it might become.
But while I’m “seeing”
what isn’t there 
I’m not seeing 
what actually is.
How does this happen?
Why does this happen?
Crazy thing is, 
sometimes, somehow
I truly believe I’m “seeing” 
what I’m seeing 
even though I’m not.
That I’ve got it right,
but no, that would be, “Not!”
I’m only seeing 
what I want to see,
what I wish to see,
what I hope to see.
Or maybe, somewhat crazily,
what I don’t want to see instead.
Yet it’s all here.
Be it want, wish or worry,
it’s all right here in my head.

HOLY GROUND

Here's a new...or maybe an old...thought for your day!


What if the place where you are “standing” right now--the personal situation room of your life--is actually holy ground?

There’s a wonderful Bible “once-upon-a-time” kind of story about Moses who, while out tending his father-in-law Jethro’s sheep on “the far side of the wilderness,” discovered a burning bush. His curiosity got to him. He checked it out...then heard a voice, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

Religious or not, we all have our working definitions of the holy ground in our lives. These are “places”-- physical, spiritual, or sentimental--that are special and maybe even sacred to us.

Wherever they are, we tend to think of our holy grounds as sacred spaces we “go” to. But what if this is holy ground right here--right where we’re standing at this moment in our day? In our life? What if holy is everywhere?

What if our latest crisis has some sacred dimension? What if...some person or relationship we’re struggling with, the task we don’t want to do, a moment of deep loss and grief, this fresh (or old!) experience that’s twisting us into an emotional pretzel, some great thing that just happened to us...is actually holy ground?

Why is this good to think about? Because wherever or whatever, our holy ground is powerful. Powerful because we give what we deem holy in our lives a certain power over us. Powerful because we let it directly affect how we look at--and think about--ourselves and the world. Maybe most of all, powerful because when we open ourselves this "holy right here" dimension we open ourselves to stepping toward, listening to and learning from them. Just like Moses.

There’s lots to love about this story (Exodus 3), so rich in metaphor and meaning that I’m not even scratching its theological surface. But go find your Bible, read and sit with it for a while. Ask “What does this mean FOR ME?”

If we don’t stop, look and listen to what the holy ground right in front of us may be trying to say, we’re doomed to live in our mental attics while the world needs us out on the front porch--and maybe in the streets.

TODAY.
GIVE YOURSELF & THE WORLD A GIFT.
TAKE TIME TO THINK ABOUT HOW YOU THINK.

HELD UP

Held up against Leonardo Da Vinci and Margaret Knight
Held up against Sheryl Sandburg and Steve Jobs
Held up against Georgia O’Keeffe and Pablo Picasso
Held up against Louis Pasteur and Jane Goodall
Held up against Martin Luther King Jr’s and Mother Teresa
Held up against LeBron James and Maria Sharapovas
Held up against J. S. Bach and Amatus Sami-Karim
Held up against Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet
Held up against Albert Einstein and Annie Easley
Held up against Hildegard von Bingen and Pope Francis?
Well, I leave a lot to be desired.

But!

Held up against their desire to make a difference
Held up against their creativity in the face of challenge
Held up against their personal ambiguities and ego-centricities
Held up against their failures as well as their successes
Held up against their concern-fueled compassionate action
Held up against their willingness to do whatever it takes
Held up against their gritty vim and grainy vigor
Held up against their intelligence paired with instincts
Held up against their vitality and exuberance
Held up against their resolute and industrious spirits
I’m about as persnickety, perfective and promising
as they have been.