Quiet
You know, I really don't have anything to say this morning. I've been sitting here thinking and the words aren't coming. Instead, I get the sense that today's supposed to be more about listening. Being quiet, and listening. We have a lot going on over here. Maybe you do, too. Maybe you, like us, have decisions to make and businesses to run and families to guide and lead. Maybe you, like us, have new opportunities in the new year that require a lot of thought and prayer. Perhaps the message I'm getting is really one for all of us. Be quiet. Listen. Maybe if we do that, the words that come tumbling out will not be ours. Maybe they'll be His and that's what we need more than anything...
Modern Happiness
Yesterday, I received a package of goodies from my dear friend, Lynne. Among them was a bag of tea leaves from Gong Fu Tea in the wonderful East Village of Des Moines, Iowa. I could go on about the East Village with its cool and funky vibe, and I could go on about Des Moines, in general, but I won't. Suffice to say, if you've never been there, and you think that Iowa is all corn and flat ground and boring, THINK AGAIN. As I unpacked my package and pulled out the silver pouch of tea, I smiled at the name of it scrawled across the top: Ancient Happiness Ancient Happiness. It instantly makes me feel nostalgic. It sends me directly to wonderful times in my past, and exquisite memories...
In the End
I had a long chat with a friend yesterday. Vastly different in just about every way possible, ours is an interesting relationship. Our differences do not end at looks, personality, or likes and dislikes. They spill over into politics, sexual orientation, lifestyle choices, and spiritual matters. I think it shocks people, who know both of us, that we're friends, and, really, sometimes it surprises even us that we get along so well. I say that, not because people with differences can't get along. I say it because, more and more in our society, we choose not to. We choose to surround ourselves with the comfortable and the familiar, with the like-minded and the non-threatening. And...
Fog
I woke up to a sea of white. Or gray, actually. No snow, but a very dense fog filling up the valleys and obscuring the trees. There's no sign of the neighbor's Texas flag, snapping proudly in the wind, which I can usually see through bare branches. Our entire herd of horses could be gathered in the lower pasture and I wouldn't know it. Fog is interesting. Thick, heavy like a big, wet blanket. Common sense tells you what's beyond, but, in reality, you see nothing. Certainly, we can never see what's ahead in our future, but on bright, sunny days, it seems there is more clarity. We plan more because we see more clearly. Then, when big decisions come and lay on the line, the fog seems...
It’s Nothing. Really.
I worked from home yesterday. It was just me and my dog, Riley, hanging out together, and it was pretty quiet for most of the morning. Until he noticed something out the window. Now, as we've discussed, I have a lot of windows across the back of my house. There are always lots of somethings to notice out the window, but he discounts most of them. Birds, for instance, don't cause him to bat an eyelash. But, interestingly (and annoyingly) he still (STILL) barks at horses. Go figure. So, when he started in with the growling and the barking, I fully expected to see horses coming into his line of sight, or a deer, maybe, or perhaps the cat. But, no. I looked and looked and looked and...