Have you ever been in the middle of an experience and thought, “I am in love with this moment”? At my spiritual direction training program in North Carolina this weekend, I had a moment just like that. It was 9:30 at night and 10-15 of us gathered at the labyrinth, blasted fun and funky music, and danced into its center under the star-lit sky. Then we laid together head to head encircling the center, stared up into the sky, and recited our favorite poems about life, about love, about God. That’s when the feeling hit me. “I am in love with this moment!” I thought. I took a deep breath to take it all in. This thought comes to me from time to time. It always hits me when I am saying YES
My parents discovered my fear of heights when I was four years old. My dad took me on a sky tram at Camden Park to overlook the entire area. Not long after the ride began, I wanted off…NOW! My dad had to wrap his arms tight around me, as I cried hysterically, to keep me from jumping off of the edge of the ride. Of course it made no logical sense, but I would have rather crashed to the ground than spend another second in the air. I’ve had plenty of fears in my life, many I have been able to release over time, but this has been the most prevailing and significant fear of my life. I have tried overcoming it many times by riding the scariest tallest rides at the amusement parks, but I always
Imagine that before you came to this earth, you stood on the edge of the world, looked down, and made a conscious choice to live the life you are in now. I know to some of you this may sound strange, but just bear with me for a minute. Imagine that you knew the situations you would face, the obstacles you would encounter and you willingly took your place in this life. And yes, that includes the loss and the illness and the abuse and the difficult relationships and the addiction, everything. Imagine that you believe this is true. Why in the world would you do it? Why would you choose this life with all its challenges and heartaches? Imagine that you chose it, because you wanted to learn a
A couple of days ago I headed out to a park close to my house to take a walk around the pavement right at sunset. I knew I would be in for a treat as I watched the sky change from silvery blue to fiery orange and listened to the birds singing in the pink and green springtime trees surrounding me. It was just as wonderful as I thought it would be until it got better. In the grassy area in the center of the walking track was a boy, maybe seven years old, flying a kite. I loved watching the kite glide through the air high above my head, then crash to the ground, only to slowly rise again, soaring against the sunset sky. But the best part was watching the boy’s face covered with the most bli
