June 2, 2019

A  RIVER  RUNS  THROUGH  IT

Next time you are near a river

take the time to stick your hand

into  the water and feel the flow,

feel the history, feel the mystery,

of that river - big or small - feel

the implications of time and the

river, time and all the upstream

and downstream of that river.

In my life, I’ve been blessed to

live on the banks and near the

edge of a lot of water and each

has had an impact on my life:

the Narrows near Brooklyn, Lake Erie,

the Patapsco, the Hudson, the East River,

Tobyhanna - the stream, Spa Creek,

Lake Oconomowoc, and the Atlantic.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

June 2,  2019

Thought for today: 

“Education  is what survives when what has been learned has been forgotten.”  

B. F. Skinner,  

Education in 1984, 

New Scientist, 

May 21, 1964

June 1st, 2019

FOREVER

What would happen to us,

if it hit us that we are going

to exist forever?  FOREVER …?

That we can’t suicide ourselves

out of existence ….  that we will

die - but we’re going to exist forever.

I sense we avoid facing that thought -

that question - because it has powerful

earthquake - eternal - consequences.

When I die - will the me I am - exist

somehow, someway, somewhere -

forever - FOREVER -  FOREVER?

If the answer is, “Yes!” then we ought

to sense we better be doing something

about that  - now - before the FOREVER.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

June 1st, 2019

Thought for today: 

“People ought to listen more slowly!” 

Jean Sparks Ducey, Librarian, 

“On confused requests such as, 

‘Do you have the wrath of grapes’ 

and ‘I want a book about 

the Abdominal Snowman,’” 

in Christian Science Monitor, 

December 9, 1986

May  31, 2019

HANDS  REACHING  OUT  

I see hands reaching out ….

The old man for the nurse ….

The child from her carriage ….

The husband for his wife

as they walk into church

for a friend’s funeral ….

Couples hearing the song

Sweet Caroline at the

ball game: “hands, touching

hands, reaching out,

touching me, touching you ….”

  

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    31, 2019

Thought for today: 

“I’ve noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.”  

Ronald Reagan, 

as presidential candidate, 

quoted in the New York Times, 

Sept 22, 1980

May 30, 2019

MOMENTS

Pick another moment,

there are many, when

you’re having a bad one.

Pick the moment you

came down the aisle

for marriage or graduation.

Pick the moment you won

a spelling bee - or you made

your first chocolate layer cake.

Pick the day you got off a joke

that got a great laugh and you

were also surprised - so clever.

Pick the surprises - the sunrises -

not the storms or the sins or

the dumb moves or the hurts.

Pick the Easter Sunday mornings -

pick the Christmas Midnight Masses -

pick the moments God sang Halleluja.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019