Beginning again

"When God created us, God gave Adam a secret and that secret was not to begin, but him to begn again. In other words, it is not given to us to begin; that privilege is God's alone. But it is given to us to begin again - and we do everything we choose to defy death and side with the living." - Elie Wiesel

Inner voice

"We would be wise to listen intentionally to the voice of our own lives and to discern what our very soul is saying to us in the depths of our being, there where truth abides. As we listen to ourselves, we can become ourselves." - Parker Palmer

Failure and success

Baskeball star, Michael Jordan once said, "I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost more than 300 games, and 26 times 've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. Throughout my life and career I've failed, and failed, and failed again. And that's why I succeed."

Easter hope

What gives a widow hope as she stands by the grave of her husband? What gives a war-torn amputee hope as he lay in a hospital bed? What gives parents hope who have just lost a child in childbirth? What helps parents when they find out that their kidnapped child was found murdered? The answer to all the above questions is the same - hope, Easter hope. Vaclav Havel said, "hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out."

Food for Thought

One of my favorite authors is Paula Coelho. "The Alchemist" tells the story of a shepherd boy who goes in search for a treasure. Along the way, he encounters various obstacles. Eventually, he discovers that the treasure is within himself. One of Coelho's other books, "Veronica decides to die.," tells the story of Veronica who searches for meaning in a culture that is based on secularity, routine and conformity. "The Devil and Miss Prym" reflects a village's struggle between good and evil when a stranger enters the village and challenges their sense of right and wrong. In that particular book, he shares some insightful quotes. One is, "God's hell is His love for humanity, because human behavior makes every second of His eternal life a torment." Later in the book, he says, "Man needs what's worst in him in order to achieve what's best in him."
I wonder how we can tease out the above quotes and see their implications!

God's call

"The place God calls us to is the place where our deepest gladness and world's deep hunger meet." - Frederick Buechner.
What is the world's deep hunger? What is our deepest gladness? What does it take to have a happy marriage between both?

Slow Dance

This poem was written by a terminally ill young girl in a New York Hospital

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask how are you? Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done, do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores running through your head?
You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

Ever told your child, we'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste, not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch, let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time to call and say "Hi!"
You'd better slow down. Don't dance so fast.
Time is short. The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift... Thrown away.
Life is not a race. Do take it slower
Hear the music before the song is over.