I had a hope-full talk with a dear friend this weekend, and as we parted I noted that I was encouraged by all that could be. She grabbed my shoulders, looked me right in the eye, and added, “and by what already is.” Dear friends, may we seed the future with our dearest dreams. And […]
While I walked to a meeting in New York this week, head full of the latest grief-inducing news, I came across the Hope sculpture. I wasn’t feeling very hopeful, and did not want to look like a tourist, but took a quick photo for good luck. Later on, I noticed a gloved hand poking through […]
YOU ARE THE PLACE WHERE I STAND ON THE DAY WHEN MY FEET ARE SORE. This is the literal translation of “mo sheasamh ort lá no choise tinne,” the Irish phrase for trust, as noted by Pádraig Ó Tuama. As the summer has advanced, I’ve started to see my situation as a kind of […]
Earlier this week, I found a moth bashing up against the window screen. She was a little worse for the wear, wings a bit tattered, and a voice in my head said, “Pandora.” You know the legend, how Pandora’s jar was opened up and all the evils of the world were released. But there was […]
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they shall fail; where there be tongues, they shall cease; where there is knowledge, it shall fall away…. And now abide faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. – 1 Corinthians 13 I recently experienced the […]
It’s a curious time of year in New England, yo-yo-ing from bleak to hopeful, and lately the news seems to be following suit, with horror and mourning snuggled right up next to courage and celebration. A good companion for this time has been the poetry of WS Merwin, who passed away on March 15, the […]
Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. – Wendell Berry I’ve been spending time lately in some circles where it’s cool to be cynical, clever to be critical. If you dare to raise a note of optimism in this crowd, you risk being branded a simpleton. Oblivious […]
Unintentionally, our last two posts were “faith” and “hope”. This seems to leave no choice but for today to be “love”. Yes, I have rolled my eyes at cheesy valentines, cringed at the still-standard question, “and what does your husband do?”, and too often confused warm-heartedness with soft-headedness. But as the world has gotten louder, and […]
Years ago, I was lucky to hear the legendary Rev. Prof. Peter Gomes reference a distinction that Vaclav Havel made between hope and optimism. I recall Rev. Gomes noting that optimism was not really so useful, since optimism could be crushed in the face of failure. But hope, he said, was a much deeper, […]
“Patience is also a form of action.” — Auguste Rodin (attr.) When I first had a patch of dirt of my own, I excitedly ordered a garden’s worth of peony plants. Visions of puffy pinkness filled my head. Several weeks later, a shoebox appeared at my doorstep. I opened it to […]