EARTH’S FIRSTS

The first time a mother sees the wet, slippery, rubbery body of her new born baby ....

The first time a father holds his new born baby and he fits and cradles perfectly in his hands and arms ....

The first time a kid sees her shadow on a long cement sidewalk and turns around to see if the shadow is on the other side and it isn’t and she tries to figure it out ....

The first time a small child hears crickets in the park and stops to see where the sound is coming from and discovers a symphony of sound, stereophonic music, from every blade of grass ....

The first time a child sees the ocean, sees waves crashing in on the beach, waves rolling in one after the other, sea gulls fishing, singing, screaming, rejoicing in creation ....
The first time someone teaches a kid to put a conch shell up to her ear and she does and she discovers the wonder of the ocean in a shell ....

The first time someone sees a field of woolly sheep dressed in gray white Irish sweaters munching on sweet grass on a green hillside ....

The first time a person falls in love and finds there is nobody around to talk to about these wonderful feelings, because they don’t even know what feelings really are yet ....

The first time a kid gets her own yo-yo and makes it “walk” on the school yard macadam in front of her friends ....

The first time a little girl sitting in the back of a family van sees a rainbow after the rain and shouts to everyone to look out the window, and the car is filled with “Wows!” and her father is able to pull the van off to the side of the road to see the rainbow as a family, not just out a window, but on the big screen of the eastern sky ....

The first time a boy discovers that you can make rocks skip along a lake by simply finding flat rocks and throwing them low and sidearm and close to the water ....

The first time a child sees fireworks on the Fourth of July together with a couple of thousand people “oohing” and “aahing” at each new burst and splash and crash of lights and sparks in the dark summer sky ....

The first time a boy has his own water gun, and he and his father have a great fight -- in front of their house after supper -- his father with a small light green plastic water pistol -- the boy with a Superblaster both of which his father had bought that afternoon on the way home from work and his mother is laughing as she is looking out the front window watching her husband and her son having a great time ....

The first time kids go to an Art Museum on a class trip and discover big people’s drawings, paintings and sculptures -- and one little girl has a dream ....

The first time a kid goes on a roller coaster ride and his parents won’t go on it with him, “It’s too scary for us!” and he sees them down below at the fence looking and waving as he goes flying by and after the ride he heads back to his parents standing tall, feeling like a grown-up ....

The first time a couple is making love and it’s on their wedding night and they’re laughing not just because they waited, but because several of their friends joked that they hadn’t ....

The first time a person goes hiking in the mountains and after a long climb up, way up beyond the tree line, reaches the peak of a mountain and all is clear for miles around ....

The first time a retired airline pilot has the time to plant tomatoes after hearing from all his friends about their tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchini, and it’s September and everything is coming up tomatoes -- big, red, beautiful, juicy tomatoes ....

The first time a person goes on an airplane and everyone seems so relaxed and it seems that no one has a clue to how nervous I am right now ....

The first time a person experiences the presence of God: seeing a baby’s fingers or a red rose or a splashing rust orange sunset or a waterfall ....

The first time a person makes a double layer cake with icing or a loaf of bread or Jell-O ....

The first time a kid reads in public, at school or at church, and she is nervous and her Mom and dad are nervous, sitting down there, front row and center, holding hands and crying tears of joy and pride, as if their kid was mayor or governor or president giving her inaugural address ....
The first time a person realizes he or she is going to die, be placed in a box and buried in the earth....

The first time I’ll see the face of God ....

© Andrew Costello,

 Chapter 6, Down To

 Earth But Looking Up, 1999

GENESIS

Every story has to begin somewhere and when the story begins, especially when it’s our story, we listen.

Once upon a time we began ....

Listen to the story -- the story of the Earth. It’s our story.

The Earth is filled with life. The Earth breathes. It’s breathing in and breathing out. Feel its breath. Feel the wind. Take its pulse. Catch its spirit. Walk in the garden in the cool of the evening.

Walk with God -- the God of Creation, the God of the Garden. Talk. Listen. Love. Give thanks.

Take off your shoes. Feel the Earth under your feet. It’s God’s creation, God’s gift. All is gift. All ground is holy ground.

Listen to the basic choices God gives us.

Listen to the basic warnings God gives us.

The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is in the Garden.

The tree of life is also in there.

God also gives us helpmates.

Talk. Communicate. Help one another. Make good choices.

Choose well.

Beware of snakes in the grass.

See the sparrows and the blackbirds. Watch the monkeys in the trees. Watch the willows wave in the wind. Watch the leaves fall in Autumn. Watch the snow in Winter. Watch for new life rising in Spring and flourishing in Summer.

Stand tall as rising wheat. Find time to look at the heavens. See the light. Stop to see the sun rise and the sun set. See the moon, the stars and the dark -- the vast vault of sky.

And all is good.

Stand still on the shores of Earth’s lakes and rivers, its seas and oceans. Water, water, everywhere .... Notice that the waters are like life: sometimes shallow, sometimes deep, very deep.

Come to the waters.

Walk into the water. Be careful in the shallow places. Life is everywhere -- if only we will see it. Go further. Dive deep into its depths. Be baptized in the waters of life. Know that we’re swimming in the ocean of God.

And all is good.

The Earth is interesting. Firm Earth, fluid waters ....

Life. Death. Time. My time. Am I having “the time of my life”?

Take time to read the story.

Listen. Just listen. Listen to what is happening on the Earth.

See this. See that.

And all is good.

Listen....

© Andrew Costello, Chapter 1, 

Down To Earth But Looking Up, 1999

LOVE IS OUTSIDE
THE NUMBERS

LOVE is outside the numbers.

Once people who love each other start counting, then something has died.

“I took the garbage out three times last week and you haven’t taken it out in the past two weeks.”

“Who’s counting?”

“I emptied out the dishwasher every morning this week and you haven’t done it once.”

“Who’s counting?”

“I helped with the kids’ homework at least a dozen times this new school year and I haven’t seen you do it yet.”

“Who’s counting?”

“But we made love three times this week already.”

“Who’s counting?”

“Three times in a row now you finished the toilet paper roll and didn’t replace it with a new one.”

“Who’s counting?” “

“Mom, that’s the third time this evening that you said, `Where’s my pocketbook?’ You must be getting senile.”

“Who’s counting?”

“I got up to answer the phone three times already this evening and you haven’t gotten up once.”

“I didn’t know we were counting.”

Peter came up to Jesus and asked, “Lord, when my brother wrongs me, how often must I forgive him? Seven times?” (Matthew 18:21).

And Jesus answered, “Who’s counting?”

“Two men went up to temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, with head unbowed, prayed in this fashion: `I give you thanks, O God, that I am not like the rest of men — grasping, crooked, adulterous — or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I pay tithes on all I possess’” (Luke 18:9-14)

And God said. “Who’s counting?”

“When those hired late in the afternoon came up they received a full day’s pay, and when the first group appeared they supposed they would get more; yet they received the same daily wage. Thereupon they complained to the owner, `This last group did only an hour’s work, but you have put them on the same basis as we who have worked a full day in the scorching heat.’ `My friend,’ he said to one in reply, `I do you no injustice. You agreed on the usual wage, did you not? Take your pay and go home. I intend to give this man who was hired last the same pay as you. I am free to do as I please with my money, am I not? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus the last shall be first and the first shall be last” (Matthew 20:1-16).

“Who’s counting?”

“In your prayer do not rattle on like pagans. They think they will win a hearing by the sheer multiplication of words” (Matthew 6:7)

“Who’s counting?”

And Peter told Jesus that he was hurt when he asked him three times, “Do you love me?” (John 21:15-19).

And Jesus said, “Who’s counting? Do you love me?”

MANTRA: Love is outside the numbers.



© Andrew Costello, Chapter 50, Thank God It's Friday, 1987

WAITING:
TWENTY QUESTIONS

THE following are twenty questions for the next time you are looking for something to do while you are waiting.

1) Can women wait better than men? Babies take nine month to be born: planting the seed is much quicker.

2) Are farmers more patient than city folks? Do they find it easier to wait at banks and loan agencies? Waiting for seeds to grow and bud takes time, but so too does waiting for subways, buses, traffic, etc.

3) Is this generation more impatient than earlier generations? Do instant cereal, instant coffee, instant replay, microwave ovens, cable TV, video movies, instant copy machines, instant read-outs from computers, prevent people from learning how to wait?

4) Do couples without children miss out by not waiting up at night with a sick child, waiting for kids to grow, waiting for kids to come home safely from camp or the movies?

5) If you are or if you were a waiter or a waitress in a restaurant what would be the three most important things you would do to give good service to your customers?

6) If you broke your leg and had to sit around healing from four to six weeks, what would do with your time? Would it be a joyful break (pardon the pun) or would you “go bananas,” not knowing what to do with your time?

7) Still in the broken leg situation, what five books are you looking for time to read?

8) You are sitting waiting in a doctor’s waiting room and in walk the following three people: a teen-age girl on crutches, her foot in a cast; a woman who seems to be seven months pregnant; and a old lady in her seventies. Which of the three would you most likely give your seat to?

9) Or you’re in the same waiting room, but this time standing with those three people. Seated is an eighteen-year old boy, obviously into body building. Would you suggest to him that he offer his seat to one of the three persons?

10) Do you usually keep people waiting? Or are you usually on time? If you’re often late, do you do it to all people in all kinds of situations or is it usually to one person or one situation?

11) Do you answer mail or phone calls immediately, or are you a procrastinator, putting people off for hours, days and weeks?

12) When you pray, do you get restless? What’s your patience level? Do you get restless after ten, twenty, forty, or sixty minutes? What are your feelings about Jesus’ words, “Could you not watch with me for one hour?”

13) Why did Jesus wait till he was around thirty before he started moving around as a preacher?

14) Why did Jesus curse the fig tree in Matthew and not give it a second chance, while in Luke he gives it another year? Which is the real Jesus: the Jesus of Matthew or Luke?

15) Is there someone who is waiting for you to say to them, “I’m sorry for hurting you?”

16) Is there somebody you’re waiting to come to you and prove that they are sorry for hurting you?

17) Do you cheat, when you can, on waiting in line, trying to get ahead of others, in restaurants, at the shopping center, etc.? Do you believe in the principle of “first come, first serve”?

18) If you had cancer, would you be able to deal with all the waiting that is often involved: waiting to take tests, for the test reports, for good news? Would you be able to deal with losing hair, strength, movement?

19) You are in a barbershop or the hair dresser’s. You walk in without an appointment. Four persons are ahead of you. Would you be the type that would sit and wait, or would you leave and come back another time?

20) Looking at your life, what are the three most important things you are waiting for?

MANTRA: “Lord, teach me to learn to wait for what’s worth waiting for.”

© Andrew Costello, Chapter 43 of Thank God It's Friday, 1987

REALITY THERAPY

Discovering my job
has become more important
than my family .

Panning the whole day
on the way into work,
lining up every minute of it,
only to see the boss
waiting for me
with a piece of paper in his hand
as I walk in the door.

Seeing my son bored
by something that really interests me.

My brother wants to put mom
in a nursing home,
and my sister doesn’t
and I’m caught in the middle,
and I’m the only one who has taken care of mom
for the past four years
since she had her stroke.

Finding out I never really knew
my dad till after he died.

Couldn’t wait till the talk was over to
complain about it,
only to hear that everybody liked it.

Going to bed on the night
after a funeral
with one less person in the house.

Trying to make a right turn
out of my driveway,
but nobody will let me out.

Finally somebody slows down
and waves for me to pull out
into traffic in front of him.

Finding myself a few seconds later
speeding up to stop somebody else
who is trying to make a right turn
out of their driveway
just as I was.

Looking in the mirror to see
if the person in the car behind me
just saw what I did.



© Andrew Costello, Listenings, 1980

PRESENCE

Let’s be honest.
We all know about presence,
whether a person wants to be with us
or whether they feel trapped,
like a prisoner in our presence.

The baby knows.
She knows even when she’s sleeping
whether her parents want her or not.

The old people know.
They know which of their children
are only a phone call
or a visit away.

The team knows whether the cheer leaders
have to cheer or want to cheer.
They know when the crowd
is with them or not.
They know. They can sense it.

The people in the church know
whether the preacher
wants to be in the pulpit or not.

The wife -- the husband -- they both know
whether their marriage
has become a trap -- people living,
people dying in separate prison cells,
or whether their marriage
is an ever expanding universe,
an ever expanding move towards God.

I am.

God is present and we know it.

Presence:
we know these truths about presence
even when we deny them.

And all is touching.
All the cells of the universe
are touching each other,
present to each other,
cheering each other on.

All is present to all.
All is circular.
Everything is present to everything.
Everyone is present to everyone.
Everyone is present to God.

God is present to everyone and everything.
The universe is a sign
of the ever expanding presence of God,
like the baby to the parents.

My life is touching your life
Life is touching life.
Life is touching God.

Yet some people feel trapped.
They feel like they are dying,
in a closed prison cell,
unable to open up to the presence of another person, to the presence of God.

And the truth will set you free.

And all cells will be opened.



© Andrew Costello, Listenings, 1981

I AM HUMAN

I am human -- one of us.

I know when I’m on a bridge
and when I’m crossing a river.

I get nervous when I hear the couple in the next house fight, especially because they have small children.

I get mad at motorcycles when they
roar up my quiet street at midnight.

Sometimes I like rain and sometimes I don’t.

I know when I vote and don’t vote.

I know when I’m eating watermelon or fresh bread.

I don’t know when I’m eating boiled potatoes,
most soups and toast.

I know when someone I love is in the room.

I know when I’m passing a cemetery.

There is something special about horses, especially
when I see a mare and her colt in a green field.

I know when I have a fever or a blister.

When I see a sailboat or a pregnant woman or a church something happens to me.

I get nervous when I see a person in a wheelchair
or when I see an ambulance flashing
or when a tractor trailer truck is too close.

I slow down, no matter what, when I see a police car.

A baby’s fingers always get to me.

I love the ocean.

I feel lonely when I’m in a car alone
and there is a couple close to each other in the car in front of me.

It makes it even worse when certain songs
come over the car radio.

I like it when someone tells me they missed me.

I feel good when I do the same or when I help someone.

Oh yeah, and sometimes I even pray.

© Andrew Costello, Listenings, 1980