October 25, 2022
Thought for Today
"Poetry makes some kind of claim of honesty. If, at a party, I say I'm a poet, people have a hard time responding, almost as if I'd said I'm a priest."
Tobias Hill, The Independent, August 9, 2006
Tuesday, October 25, 2022
Monday, October 24, 2022
October 24, 2022
Reflection
MORALE
Morale is an issue around here.
Morale is an issue around everywhere.
Morale is an aftertaste - a result of a feeling - a pervading atmosphere - that slides and sifts and shifts into a womb - and a room - and a mind - into a person - a group - because of what happened - as well as what is happening around here.
Is being an optimist - or a pessimist - genetic?
Is it the result of nature or nurture?
Morale is the temperature in a room.
Morale is the issue behind and underneath the regular question: "Is everything all right?"
Morale is the question we want answers to - when we are evaluating another - or a marriage - or a team - a classroom or a situation.
"How you feeling?"
"How's it going?"
"How are you doing?"
"What's up?
"What's happening?"
There are some people who can take the temperature better than others.
There are some people who don't seem to care about team spirit - or morale - and they affect the morale or the spirit of the group.
Behind morale in a person is the ability to have a sense of others - to know there are different ways to skin a cat - that it takes work - to really listen to another or others - as well as oneself.
Behind morale is the ability to accept pluralism - as well as unwanted expectations.
What were my mom and dad like?
Who influenced and formed me?
What were they like?
Tell me your stories.
Sunday, October 23, 2022
October 23, 2022
Reflection
MY WILL BE DONE
My will be done when taking the roads of life.
I bring my car to get it serviced. I leave it there and they get me back home. Nice.
They call. It's finished. I ask one of the guys here to drive me there. They say they know where the place is. They drive a different way than the way I would take.
Surprise! Their way to get there is a better way.
We're at supper. The other person uses their knife to take some butter from the butter plate. They spread it on their piece of bread - onto where they had bitten into. They do this 3 times. I say inwardly, "Oooh. Oh no!"
We said that, "Oooh. Oh no!" because their mouth was on the bread which they put their knife back and forth into the common butter.
Picky. Picky.
We notice tiny things like that. The other doesn't. At least it seems that way.
That same person licks their spoon - which they then put into the jam jar for more - and they do that three or four times.
Each time I inwardly say, "Oooh. Oh no!"
That's just at when we're eating.
I guess I have a list of complaints.
I want my way. I expect others to do things the way I expect things to be done.
We begin to notice we're not getting our way - in the ways others drive their car.
We begin to notice that at the heart of every disagreement or fight, is his question of ways and means.
We begin the notice that at the heart of every drip, drip of anxiety, is not knowing the way things are done around here - or what's next.
We figure at the heart of all this is the question of power and control.
Down deep, we want our will to be done.
We wish another not to be and to do they way they are and the way they do things.
We wish another would see things the way we see things.
Marriage is all about will. Marriage is a marriage of wills - wills becoming one - or at least a marriage with compromises - starting with understanding what each wants.
Is "My will be done" the basic prayer and hope of every person?
Is this the heart of the prayer to God: "Thy will be done"?
Saturday, October 22, 2022
October 22, 2022
Reflection
WALKING WITH A SLOW PERSON
Walking with a slow person can be a moment of impatience - especially for a person who walks fast.
What's it like to be a slow person?
What's it like to be a slow person and you're walking with a fast person - worse, with a faster person who is an impatient person?
Last Saturday - September 29, 2007 - Dan Ahr came down the aisle with his mother. Dan is usually in his wheelchair.
At this time, he wanted to walk with his mother - but it was a big family occasion - his sister's funeral.
It took him "forever" - but he did it - using a walker with wheels - a rollator.
At the end of the wedding - he left - walking down the aisle - with a gal in tow.
What's it like to be Dan - Naval Academy graduate - partially paralyzed - as he is - from a car accident?
I am not impatient - but I did think - the wheelchair would have been quicker. Yet - obviously - I didn't know the implications, the meanings, and the stories.
What's it like to walk with a slow person?
Like walking a person who had a recent operation ,,,,
Like walking with a mom in a nursing home ....
Like with a child in her first week of walking ....
How fast did Jesus walk the road to Jericho?
How fast did Jesus walk the way of the cross to Calvary?
12 Step Programs use the image or the analogy of climbing up some stairs - in order to get to the top.
Some people learn faster than others.
Some people recover slowly.
Lord, give me patience when I'm impatient.
Lord, give me impatience when I'm walking with those who are slow walkers - or slow learners - like I can be - at times.
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