by David Anderson
I love to eat. But make it fast. So, along with twenty-five of my colleagues at a recent clergy conference, I grumble when we are told that at lunch today we will begin with an exercise in mindful eating. We are to get our food from the buffet, sit and wait for everyone to begin […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Daily Practice, Gratitude, Now/ the Present, Seeing
“Every email she writes, every conversation always begins with some trouble or difficulty, some illness that’s plaguing her, some suffering in her children, some pain wracking a relative or loved one.” The woman talking to me was describing a friend. “I think if I called her attention to it—if I showed her the emails, she […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Faith/Trust, Happiness, Healing, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Suffering, Uncategorized
I love to run in new places. At home I run the same loop—it takes me down to Long Island Sound and it’s beautiful, but I know it so well that I can almost run it blind. This morning I am running in Knoxville, Tennessee, where my father lives. I am a little stiff. My […]
by David Anderson 9 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Gratitude, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Seeing
I heard a darling—and revolutionary—story. A mother tells of her four year old at the dinner table, eating pizza. “Pass the cheese,” says the child. Looking to instill a sense of manners, the mother says, “What’s the magic word?” “NOW!” says the kid. That’s bad manners, but very good theology. Most of us are so […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Happiness, Now/ the Present, Uncategorized
We live in a world where important people are plugged in, wired, connected. Information blizzards us. Cyber-social networks keep us continuously updated on hundreds or thousands of people in real-time stream of consciousness. The Twitterers tweet. We don’t have to go looking for the “news.” Ping—it comes looking for us, clogging the inbox. We used […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Daily Practice, Identity, Listening, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Vocation/ Calling
The single challenge of life is change. We don’t like it, yet we know it is the only constant. Every day we get up and . . . things have changed. Nothing is where we left it last night. Not the kids, not the dog, not the roses in the garden. Everything we had just […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Change, Faith/Trust, Happiness, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it
Life each day presents us with the unknown. What will happen? What will not happen? Our great fear is simply not knowing what comes next—and our ultimate fear is of the end. What happens when we die? The big fear—of death—is expressed in all the little fears that roil our hearts, the hundred things each […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Awareness, Death/Dying, Faith/Trust, Fear, Heaven, Hope, Letting Go, Love, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it
Last Sunday I was greeting people as they walked out of church and into a beautiful spring morning. There were scores of people around me, spirits were high, people were lining up for coffee, laughing and talking. That’s when Melissa walked up to me. I grasped her hand, smiled and said how happy I was […]
by David Anderson 1 Comment Filed Under: Awareness, Nature/Creation, Now/ the Present, Seeing