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Finding Your Soul

by David Anderson

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Suffering

Dog Years

January 26, 2023 by David Anderson 4 Comments

Our granddog is sick. Almost a year ago, Eloise was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and underwent radiation therapy. The tumor shrank and her seizures could be controlled with medication. My daughter Sharon and her husband Anthony hoped their beloved French Bulldog, now seven years old, might make it to eight or nine. This […]

Filed Under: Death/Dying, Healing, Mystery, Suffering

‘Prophylactic’ Suicide

November 17, 2014 by David Anderson 10 Comments

Many of us who are still in good health have decided . . . that at some point we will not wish to cope with the diminishment of our lives, the narrowing choices, the prospect of both physical and intellectual decay. When that point comes, we’ll go out. Deciding just when should be the choice […]

Filed Under: Choice, Death/Dying, Faith/Trust, Fear, Letting Go, Now/ the Present, Suffering, Surrender, Uncategorized

The Beauty of Imperfection

October 6, 2014 by David Anderson 6 Comments

The primary cause of mental illness, Karl Menninger said, is the inability of people to forgive themselves for being imperfect. Those words came from Frank Griswold, the former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, preaching at Saint Luke’s this morning. He was speaking of St. Paul, who sought famously to perfect himself through a rigorous […]

Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Grace, Gratitude, Happiness, Letting Go, Mercy, Patience, Suffering, Surrender, Transformation

Two Words and a Wedding

August 16, 2014 by David Anderson 10 Comments

  Tonight I will officiate at my second wedding in a week. I like weddings, but I always struggle with what to say. At baptisms, the parents in the front pews listen even though they’re often tussling with older siblings of the one in white. At funerals, people listen intently. Their stare—both skeptical and desperate—says: […]

Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Conflict, Daily Practice, Family, Forgiveness, Happiness, Intimacy, Letting Go, Love, Mercy, Reality--trusting it, Suffering, Surrender

Lay My Burden Down

July 7, 2014 by David Anderson 8 Comments

“Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” I read this passage to my congregation yesterday, surely some of the most sublime words ever to pass Jesus’ lips. But instead of my talking and talking about those beautiful […]

Filed Under: Faith/Trust, Fear, Happiness, Letting Go, Suffering, Surrender

Move On

June 3, 2014 by David Anderson 11 Comments

The stories people tell at funerals. We were burying Christine, a woman who would soon have been ninety. A good friend, Donna, remembered how she complained and whined to Christine about some recent changes in church worship, and after a few weeks of this Christine just said, “Get over it. Move on.” Donna was stunned: […]

Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, Death/Dying, Faith/Trust, Freedom, Grace, Happiness, Letting Go, Suffering

The Heartbreak of Truth

March 9, 2014 by David Anderson 7 Comments

There is an old Jewish story about the young pupil who asks the respected rabbi a question about that well-known passage in Deuteronomy 6:6. “And these words, which I command you this day, shall be upon your heart.” “Why is it this way?” the pupil asks. “Why are we told to put these words upon […]

Filed Under: Change, Family, Love, Suffering

I Died of the Flu

January 4, 2014 by David Anderson 11 Comments

You can die from the flu. How I know is, I’ve been invaded by a virulent bug since New Year’s Eve. The next morning my throat was scratchy and I was coughing. I had a cold, I thought. The next day I could hardly get out of bed. There seemed a half-gallon of crud in my lungs […]

Filed Under: Awareness, Death/Dying, Faith/Trust, Fear, Suffering

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