Walking The Journey

A reflection is an amazing occurrence of color, light, and images, bouncing off glassy bodies of water, polished metals, mirrored glass, and other objects. Beautiful pictures of majestic natural sites, such as mountains and glaciers, reflected off lakes and oceans, cover walls in offices and homes and litter the pages of Google image searches. Mirrors in bathrooms, along halls, in small rooms to give the impression of a more vast area, are common in our lives. In our youth, we stare into the mirror to mold our physical look into what we want the outside world to see, unaware of the significance of our inside world on our beings. As we age, we dread the mirror as it reflects back to us our vanishing hairlines, the gray forming in our eyebrows, beards, and hair, the wrinkles that surround our eyes and mouth, and the slowly changing physic due to our body changes, weight and gravity. It’s funny how the mirror we gazed into for so many hours in our youth has become the painful reminder of...

Winter, for me, is a time of excitement, the upcoming Christmas Season with all the celebrations, an escape from the heat of summer, and most of all, snow. And this year, the snow has been in abundance. The multiple inches, leading to running in the snow with Reggie the Wonder Dog, sledding with my children, snow ball fights, and building an igloo in the front yard, which my daughter enjoyed eating snacks in and my son and the neighborhood boys enjoyed destroying with body slams. And oh, the beauty of a snow covered landscape, even more so in the light of the moon. And at the same time, many of use are not fond of this season. I spoke to an Elder in the elevator the other day who stated to me, "This snow is hard on people of my age and very dangerous". I had empathy for what he was saying, as I'm concerned for my mother’s welfare when snow and ice cover the walks and streets of her town. For many, winter also leads to what many call the "winter blues". Feeli...

Many of us attempt to start our days each day in a positive manner, with a direction that will guide us in a meaningful and healthy manner throughout the remainder of the day. Some begin with exercise, others coffee (yes, coffee is very meaningful), others some form of relaxation, others meditation, and others prayer, or a combination of more than one. Beginning our days in a purposeful manner helps us to manage and resist the coming anxiety and stress that life in the real world brings. In beginning a day, I came along a prayer from another person, penned anonymously, in a daily reading, which was simple and yet so complex. It read, “I pray that I may never make anyone feel repulsed or unwanted”. Sounds good, sounds simple, sounds easy enough. And then, when I contemplate the depth of such a prayer, I realize the true difficulty of such a prayer. A similar prayer echoes through my mind, “Lord, help me to return to this bed causing as little harm as possible throughout my day”. Such...

The beauty of the past weeks snow has become the dark masses along the edges of the streets, and the rains and raising temperatures of the present have turned the dark masses into flowing streams of water, returning to where they came from, all in the cycle of nature. The beauty of the snow only belongs in the eyes and minds of those who see it as beauty, not in the minds of those who see it as a hindrance with awaiting danger. The flow of rain and melted snow is seen as nourishment to the earth by those whose perceptions guide them in this direction, unlike those who see the approaching flood waters due to their perception of their location, along rivers and flood plains. What is beauty and awe to one can very much be danger and fear to another. The mountains are like a welcoming town full of friendly trees and loving nature, and to others, a place of terror with looming threats to their wellbeing. The ocean is a refuge into serenity and comfort, an orchestra of soothing sounds and b...

So many throughout the United States, and the world, have lost sleep these past weeks, watching their favorite athletes compete in the Winter Olympics. It is amazing to watch the human form in such grace and beauty, whether on skates or skis, completing physical feats that most of us cannot even begin to imagine, in awe and wonder. So many great athletes, so much polished talent, in two exciting weeks. This year’s Olympics have delivered into our homes exciting tricks on the snow board, amazing flights on skis, and magnificent poise on skates. What most of us see as the hazards of ice while driving or the play of snow for sledding, snow ball fights and igloos, athletes around the world use to demonstrate their skills for our entertainment (and their country pride). These athletes demonstrate the perfection of the creation of the human being. In God’s Greatness and Perfection, God created man in His image, unique to all other creations crafted by His hand. No other creation was made ...

The little girl often felt somewhat left behind, having older brothers who moved fast and quick, always on the go. She often felt, at age 4 or 5, that she would never be able to keep up with her brothers. On a rainy day in the later part of a long ago October, she began worried that she would be left behind as everyone began to run home, through the rain, only about 8 or 9 blocks, but miles in the mind and small legs of a 5 year old little girl. Her older brother, the youngest of all her brothers, seemed to understand her fears and looking over to her, told her, “Take my hand and you’ll be able to run as fast as me”. Trusting her older brother, she reached out, grasped the secure hand of her brother, and much to her amazement, was able to run faster than she ever had before, feeling not small as the little girl she was. The boy, the brother, young himself, never told his little sister that that time, and times that followed, that he really just slowed down to encourage his little sis...

Not everything we walk into that is called or classified as new is really new. The feelings, perceptions, and experiences may be new, or may feel new, but the thing we walk into is not necessarily new. We enter a New Year every year, and at the same time, the earth remains pretty much the same, as well as the planets, stars, wind, seasons, etc. The newness often is more in the different way we see life, ourselves, and our situations in life. The newness can also be what we dream for and desire, the changes we wish in our lives, and the wants we wish to see in not only our lives but in the lives of those we love and encounter. As we pass the first 10 days into a New Year, many of us have probably began to see the sameness on the horizon, or even worse, have begun to let go of the changes we hoped to see in our lives for this year. I have to wonder if most of the changes we desire in a new year are more externally focused than internally focused. Taking time to find meaning in self, in...