by David Anderson
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
First you must learn to obey. Good. Then, it is just as important to learn to disobey. We teach children to obey their parents and all the other authority figures in their lives. This is critical, not just for their moral development, but for their basic safety and well being. When I was a young […]
by David Anderson 3 Comments Filed Under: Adult Spirituality, authority, Family, Identity, Vocation/ Calling
Why are you stressed? Turns out, that’s the key question. Rabbi Harold Kushner writes of a study, some years ago, at Duke University Medical Center. They gathered up a couple hundred Type A people, the hard drivers who are always on the run, always working, honking at the guy in front of them who doesn’t […]
by David Anderson 1 Comment Filed Under: Community, Daily Practice, Faith/Trust, Happiness, Vocation/ Calling
On the odyssey of life we need some way of knowing where we are, and whether we’re headed the right direction. In English, to be “oriented” is to know where east is. Historically, church buildings are situated so that the altar is on the east wall, and almost always a window opens to receive the […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Character, Community, Daily Practice, Faithfulness, Prayer/Meditation, Seeing, Silence, Vocation/ Calling
Often it is some brush with mortality that awakens the heart. Annie Dillard lived a long time beside Tinker Creek, but it wasn’t until she nearly died of pneumonia that she began to go down and sit by that creek, watching the frogs and the bugs, the birds and wildflowers. She jotted down notes, kept […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Change, Now/ the Present, Seeing, Vocation/ Calling
A clergy friend recently retired and moved to North Carolina. I asked how it was going. He didn’t miss the night meetings, he said, and he was playing more tennis. But—he missed Sunday mornings. For thirty-five years he’d led people in prayer and worship, and listened at the door to a hundred little personal stories. […]
by David Anderson 4 Comments Filed Under: Vocation/ Calling Tagged With: Self/Identity
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
It’s Labor Day weekend, and most people won’t think a thing about labor. Work is just what we do to put bread on the table or maintain a lifestyle. Like everything else, we tend to do it mindlessly. But it would be hard to overemphasize the importance of our labor. Freud said, “Love and work […]
by David Anderson 2 Comments Filed Under: Happiness, Nature/Creation, Rest/Sabbath, Uncategorized, Vocation/ Calling