by David Anderson
“You know how you lie when you’re dating?” That’s the way Peter began his story. Early in their relationship, Marsha asked Peter, “What do you like to do?” Peter said, “I like to swim!” And Marsha said, “Um….me too!” So they got married, and went on their honeymoon to the Outer Banks of North […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Fear, Grace, Letting Go, Surrender
When a “star” like Whitney Houston dies in a Beverly Hills hotel bathtub, everyone is shocked. We shouldn’t be, of course. Whitney Houston, like so many stars and starlets before her, slid into drug abuse, did stints in rehab, and lived in an abusive marriage. She was hugely successful—selling over 55 million albums—but like every […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Change, Faith/Trust, Fear, Freedom, Letting Go, Now/ the Present
This morning before Centering Prayer, Pam and I read from The Gospel of Thomas, a book of the sayings of Jesus discovered in 1945 in a small desert cave near Nag Hammadi, Egypt. Some sound word-for-word like other sayings in the canonical Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Some sound totally different, and some sound, […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Change, Faith/Trust, Family, Forgiveness, Letting Go
This morning when I set out on my run, I put on my orange reflector vest. It was dark. I ran down the road, scudded across Rings End Bridge and turned to follow the Goodwives River as it pours brackish into Long Island Sound. The moon was high above the black silhouetted trees, its gauzy […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Grace, Happiness, Letting Go, Seeing
The day after. It so depends upon the day before. The wedding was bliss. My daughter Sharon was beautiful, smiling radiantly throughout the ceremony, and my new son Anthony was strikingly handsome in his navy suit and light blue tie. The bridesmaids and the groomsmen were all in a row, childhood friends and college buds […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Change, Family, Happiness, Letting Go
In her wonderful book, Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott relates a striking story. Carolyn Myss, the medical intuitive who writes and lectures about why people don’t heal, flew to Russia a few years ago to give some lectures. Everything that could go wrong did—flights were canceled or overbooked, connections missed, her reserved room at the hotel […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Letting Go, Surrender
Thanksgiving is always about bounty, cornucopia, an overflowing with excess. Yet many of us are not feeling cornucopian these days. The bounty isn’t exactly flowing. Excess seems only to be the measure of our debt. We’re not feeling the Thanksgiving. In the gospels Jesus tells us, “Do not worry about your life, what you will […]
by David Anderson 12 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Gratitude, Happiness, Letting Go
Sunday’s New York Times featured an article entitled, “Mother’s New Little Helper.” The subtitle, “What gets many women through stressful days? A little pill they take at night.” Cheryl Downs McCoy is a working mother who has a lot to manage: “I need to call that guy about fixing the car. I think I’ve run […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Surrender