by David Anderson
A woman told me yesterday of her journey to see her grandchildren in Colorado. I asked how the time had been. Immediately she opened the trove of pictures on her phone and showed me an iconic image. It was a little girl smiling over a birthday cake all lit with candles. Five of them. The […]
by David Anderson 1 Comment Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Faith/Trust, Gratitude, Happiness, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it
I was asked to speak to a group this week on New Year’s Resolutions, and I decided instead to speak on new priorities. I don’t care much for resolutions, since they are mostly attempts to arm-wrestle small problems into submission without having to look plainly at one’s life. As soon as I focused on priorities […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Change, Choice, Daily Practice, Happiness, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it, Seeing, Vocation/ Calling
You know that holiday music staple, taken from Jerry Herman’s Broadway musical Mame. In the show, the song comes just after Mame has lost her fortune in the great Wall Street crash of 1929. Mame decides that she, her little nephew Patrick and the two household servants need some cheering up. For we need a […]
by David Anderson 1 Comment Filed Under: Grace, Happiness, Love, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it
In “the Arrival,” a 1996 Sci-Fi, Charlie Sheen stars as a radio astronomer who scans the heavens for signs of extra-terrestrial intelligence. His radio telescope is trained on the stars, hoping to pick up a narrow band of radiation that would belie the communication of an advanced civilization beyond our solar system. A poster on […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Grace, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Seeing, Waiting
The house lights go off and the footlights come on. Even the chattiest stop chattering as they wait in darkness for the curtain to rise. In the orchestra pit, the violin bows are poised. The conductor has raised his baton. In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is far off in the deeps of […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Now/ the Present, Seeing, Silence, Waiting
One of the Buddha’s most famous teachings is the Parable of the Raft. In it he likened his teachings to a raft for crossing a fast-flowing river. A man is trapped on one side of a river. On this side of the river, there is great danger and uncertainty; on the far side is safety. […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Belief, Daily Practice, Faith in Action, Freedom, Grace, Happiness, Now/ the Present
A legend says that, at the beginning of time, God resolved to hide himself within his own creation. As God was considering how best to do this, the angels drew around him. “I want to hide myself in my own creation,” God said. “I need to find a place that is not too easily discovered, […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Happiness, Now/ the Present, Seeing
I sat last night by an open window, and a cool breeze swept suddenly across my face. I heard the orange leaves rustled in the Maple. The papers on the desk levitated momentarily and the hair on my arms stood up. I felt suddenly as if I were out of doors, but the outside had […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present