by David Anderson
has decided he wants joy more than he wants order or a clean accounting of things. When the prodigal comes home from his bender, having wasted his early inheritance, the father throws a party. That doesn’t make sense to most of us parents, and it sure didn’t seem right to the elder brother. Why, he […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Conflict, Faithfulness, Family, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Lent, Letting Go, Love, Mercy, Surrender
is One. The shema, the central affirmation of Judaism, begins: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.” Along with every observant Jew, Jesus prayed those words morning and night. God is One. This week’s “Stories of Simplicity & Joy” all flow from that oneness at the heart of God. God is singular, […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Blessing, Daily Practice, Lent, Love, Prayer/Meditation, Uncategorized
is the only outed person at the dinner table. Simon the Pharisee invites Jesus to dinner, but somehow a “woman of the city” catches wind of the soiree and sneaks in the back door carrying “an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing at Jesus’ feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Forgiveness, Freedom, Grace, Gratitude, Intimacy, Lent, Love, Mercy, Uncategorized
“After a certain number of years,” said the writer Cynthia Ozick, “our faces become our biographies. We get to be responsible for our faces.” A few days ago, shaving, I noticed the beginnings of jowls. My chin was holding its own but on either side near the corners of my mouth, my face was starting […]
by David Anderson 11 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Beauty, Change, Daily Practice, Identity, Intimacy, Love, Reality--trusting it, Surrender, Transformation
Some people may be “easy to love,” but I haven’t met them. “Easy to like”? Sure. But love implies closeness, sometimes inescapable closeness. Love means blood or vows or commitments we have made to care for people. Sometimes a commitment chooses us: someone needs help and no one else is either able or willing. At […]
by David Anderson 12 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Choice, Discernment, Family, Healing, Love, Mercy
Luke 2: 8-18 “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened,which the Lord has made known to us.” We’re often told that shepherds were a rough, disreputable lot. They were poor, uneducated, uncouth, we are reminded. Considered thieves and liars. All of that is true, but that depiction misses the […]
by David Anderson 10 Comments Filed Under: Advent, Belief, Community, Love
If you love it enough, anything will talk to you.-George Washington Carver The arborist had come with a crew of workers to lay a great ash to rest. While he was here, I asked him to cut out an old stump that was now in a space where a garden was taking shape. The stump […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Awe, Beauty, Grace, Love, Nature/Creation, Seeing
Our grandchildren, ages eight and four, are with us for a week. All day every day. By about day four an adult reaches a saturation point and becomes, in some sense, a child too. After days and nights participating in play, story, physical and imaginative games, make-believe, general silliness, and the deep need for security […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Awareness, Awe, Change, Faith/Trust, Family, Grace, Happiness, Healing, Love, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it, Surrender, Transformation