- Grateful for a new day.
Dawn
November 29th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
Nov, 29 2011
No Comments »
Thanksgiving
November 25th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
Nov, 25 2011
My favorite holiday, doubly celebrated this year: yesterday at the church, today at home with the family.
As with all my Thanksgiving celebrations, the iconic image is a plate — more likely two — overflowing with comfort food, eaten with family and good friends. The image and holiday symbolize security and loving community.
Unlike my mother, who grew up during the Depression, or millions of others even today, I have never suffered deprivation. Yet a heaping plate of food at Thanksgiving surprisingly provides some assurance, security against “outrageous fortune.” Gathering with family and friends, people who love and accept me, conveys another comfort. Whatever may happen, people care.
Two celebrations is a gift, as the rest of the country moved on to Black Friday and Christmas shopping, which began even before the luscious smells of Thanksgiving had faded from the kitchen.
The leaves are off the trees, the days grow short, our world is troubled. I’d like to hold on to Thanksgiving a bit longer.
Gratitude, as told by Louie Schwartzberg
October 16th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
Oct, 16 2011
My friend Cynthia recently shared this video: an elemental truth, so beautifully told.
Sea of clouds
October 8th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
Oct, 08 2011
This week I flew to Sweden for a one-day meeting. That humanity even has the ability to do that is a miracle and something to be grateful for. But that’s not the point of this post.
My flight left Boston shortly after 7 pm Tuesday evening, and a short five-and-a-half hours later, I was changing planes at Heathrow. Although it was morning in London, my body clock was protesting that it was still the middle of the night, albeit confused seeing the sun.
This photo was taken somewhere over England, on the flight from London to Gothenburg. The combination of morning sun and the usual cloud cover made for a spectacular view.
The warmth of the sun’s rays streaming through the window even made up for the short night.
And did I say that it’s a miracle we can do this?
Changing seasons
October 1st, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
Oct, 01 2011
Leaving the office just before 6:30 last night, I was startled to find it nearly dark outside.
Although the weather remains nice, and the leaves of the trees are largely green, the season is changing. Deep within, I sense my childhood melancholy that came with the arrival of fall.
Turning the calendar to October, I can’t deny the course. Yet there are still vestiges of summer to appreciate and enjoy.
September 11
September 11th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
Sep, 11 2011
Lori and Grant are at the high school this morning, setting up for a music booster sponsored, multi-family yard sale. The funds raised will go toward the cost of next spring’s band and choir trip to Williamsburg, Virginia.
Andrea has finished her first week of classes at college and seems to be making the transition well.
In a couple hours, we start the new church year with our ingathering service. As most of us take the summer off, today will be a reunion with those we haven’t seen in a few months. Grant has a job making coffee for the after-service social hour. I have a meeting with the new teaching team for the coming-of-age class I co-taught two years ago.
This afternoon we may drive into Boston to see Andrea, if she hasn’t booked another engagement and if Grant doesn’t have too much homework due tomorrow.
“In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.”
Robert Frost’s words do describe the ten years since 9/11. Yet the shadows of that infamous day linger, in so many memories and reverberations — especially in the tragic losses of so many lives and those who knew and loved them.
Today, amidst life’s normal routines, I need to recall and sanctify these losses and the many, many lives that have been forever altered. For those whose normalcy of 9/10 will never return, may you find peace.
Among the many poignant stories of the lives forever changed, this one captures the challenge of going on.
A special time
August 13th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
Aug, 13 2011
I’m just back from several days of vacation with my son Grant. We started at Lake Tahoe, nourishing my love of the mountains, and then spent a couple days in Reno, nourishing his love of cars. Hot August Nights, a nationally-known car show, was chalking up its 25th year, with probably thousands of cars touring the city.
The greatest joy of the trip was being able to spend time with Grant, both of us largely unplugged from our normal routines and distractions. At 15, nearing 16, he’s contemplating what to do with his life. Paraphrasing Rilke, Grant is living in the questions more than finding answers, and it was a privilege to be able to hear him articulate a few of those questions and possible answers.
With my daughter off to college in a few short weeks, I’m reminded of how fleeting life is. Often we don’t recognize this until we encounter a sudden, unexpected transition. Too soon, Grant will also be off. Fortunately, in the coming years, I’ll have the memories from this week to recall.
Independence Day
July 4th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
Jul, 04 2011
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
“That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
From the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
It’s hard to imagine the culture and mindset of the colonies in 1776. Or the discussions and debate that preceded the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The “self-evident” seems obvious now—although we’re still striving as a nation to fully understand and live up to these truths.
Nonetheless, I’m grateful to have been born in the United States and to enjoy the rights that have emanated from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and 234 years of history.
Today I pause for a few minutes to give thanks to all those who have made this life of freedom possible, from the statesmen who fashioned those early documents to the women and men who serve us with the goal of preserving—in some cases establishing—a just society.
May we, as a nation, not take this hard-won gift for granted.
Another driveway moment
May 14th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
May, 14 2011
The first hint I had that the lilacs were blooming was the fragrance that greeted me when I pulled into the driveway and stepped out of the car. And I knew right where to go to see the blooms, the sight reminding me of a line by Rainer Maria Rilke that I recently discovered:
Everything is blooming most recklessly; if it were voices instead of colors, there would be an unbelievable shrieking into the heart of the night.
Chasing the sun
May 6th, 2011 Posted in Uncategorized
May, 06 2011
Sitting in 39K at 38,000 feet somewhere over the Atlantic, chasing the sun across the globe, gradually losing this race hour by hour, ultimately losing the light off Newfoundland.
No sight of the ocean, rather a sea of clouds below, gray in the dips, the upper reaches still illuminated by the sun. Out of London, I witness the contrails being formed by the jet engine, a sight I’ve seen from the ground so many times but never from the vantage point of a window seat behind the engine.
Inside the cabin, the passengers are viewing movies, listening to music, reading. Outside is a world where we should not be, where we would not survive unprotected, -50° F, moving at 550 miles-per-hour over the earth.
Two disparate environments separated by a few inches of metal. Contemplating the contrast between inside and outside, I sense transcendence. That’s why I love to fly.
Be Grateful by Gary Lerude is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License
proSlate Theme by Pro WP Themes