by David Anderson
I am at Pendle Hill, a Quaker retreat center outside Philadelphia. Like all retreat centers it is a refuge of quiet, a place of reflection, a deliberate exit from the fast lane of contemporary life. The buildings are Pennsylvania fieldstone, circa 1930, small, spare, rather cold (Quakers waste nothing, especially fuel oil), but with roaring […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Letting Go, Prayer/Meditation, Reality--trusting it
When I was young I loved to watch Let’s Make a Deal. You know how this game show works. Monty Hall chooses someone from the audience and you’re given some entry-level prize, a TV or a wad of cash. But then Monty offers you the opportunity to trade for another prize—for what’s behind door number […]
by David Anderson 5 Comments Filed Under: Abundance, Gratitude, Happiness, Money, Reality--trusting it, Seeing
Watching Felix Baumgartner’s jump from 24 miles up at the edge of space I’m reminded of how basic is that fear of falling. As I watched the video I had two, opposite reactions. What must it be like to leap from such magisterial heights? (What is it that makes us back away from precarious heights […]
by David Anderson 1 Comment Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Fear, Freedom, Happiness, Letting Go, Love, Reality--trusting it
“It was a cold, rainy Sunday evening in April: the kind of night that would depress anyone.” So begins an inspiring story by theologian Carol Noren. The bad weather had ruined people’s plans for the weekend, and another week of work would begin the next morning. I was living hundreds of miles from family and […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Abundance, Gratitude, Reality--trusting it
“All problems are either clouds or clocks,” said the eminent philosopher Carl Popper. There are two different kinds of systems, he meant. To understand a clock you can take it apart, examine its individual pieces, understand it or fix it. A cloud is different. You can only observe it as a dynamic, shifting, morphing whole. […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Daily Practice, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Prayer/Meditation, Reality--trusting it, Seeing, Silence
Are you afraid to die? I have sat by the bed of many a dying man and woman. Those who are afraid of dying are—at bottom—afraid that perhaps they have not actually lived. It doesn’t matter if they are great church-goers. It doesn’t matter if, by all appearances, they’ve been a good person. It doesn’t […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Fear, Grace, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it, Seeing
Why is it so hard to trust your own gift? God gives each of us one unique gift. It’s your treasure. The one thing you have to offer the world. But most of us can remember, early on, looking at our gift and feeling like it was nothing compared to what other people had. It […]
by David Anderson 6 Comments Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Faithfulness, Now/ the Present, Reality--trusting it, Seeing, Vocation/ Calling
I once worked with a stone mason who was repairing a great fireplace, with the chimney stoned all the way from the mantle to the cathedral ceiling peak. He stood back and surveyed the stone work. “What makes this artwork, what makes it beautiful is not a bunch of same-size stones all perfectly lined up […]
by David Anderson 7 Comments Filed Under: Change, Forgiveness, Grace, Reality--trusting it, Surrender