love
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Isn’t Stellaluna a lovely story? It comes with real depths of meaning. Consider how, midway through the story, Stellaluna is joyfully reunited with Mama Bat and her bat family. Now, as I was reflecting on this reunion, I confess that I found myself wondering, But why does Stellaluna return to her bird brothers? Living with…
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Making Sense of Reincarnation
How much time we have to live—it is a fundamental question. Philosopher Christopher Bache in his excellent book entitled Lifecycles: Reincarnation and the Web of Life, puts it like this: “How much time do I get to be alive, to take in experience, to learn? How much time do I get to make mistakes and…
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Like the wings of a bird testify to the reality of air; like the gills of a fish testify to the reality of water; just so, the pain of lovelessness is a sign of the reality of that which feels missing and is desperately longed for. –Anonymous photographer “I was my father’s first daughter,” writes…
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We begin with science this morning and a famous experiment by Stanford psychology professor Walter Mischel, on the topic of delayed gratification. Specifically: when does the capacity to delay gratification develop in children? That was the question. Children aged four to six were led into a room empty of distractions, they were seated at a table,…
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Khalil Gibran has said, “We are limited, not by our abilities, but by our vision.” Abraham Maslow has said, “In any given moment we have two options: to step forward into growth or step back into safety.” The last time our denomination faced its limitations and stepped forward into growth was 38 years ago, in…
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PART 1 When I am frightened, will you reassure me? When I’m uncertain, will you hold my hand? Will you be strong for me, sing to me quietly? Will you share some of your stories with me? Because: When a parent or spouse or partner is soon to die, or has died…. When it…
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And Tango Makes Three is one beautiful story a sweet story a story that pretty much hits the nail on the head about love the preciousness of love no matter where it happens or two whom, whether penguins or people. But this book, since being published in 2005, has topped the American Library Association’s Ten…
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To live in this world says the incomparable Mary Oliver you must be able to do three things: to love what is mortal; to hold it against your bones knowing your own life depends on it; and, when the time comes to let it go, to let it go. It is the central challenge of…
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It was Nobel prize-winning writer Elie Wiesel who once wrote, “The true challenge of life is not just in beginning, but in beginning again.” Life continually opens up new doors for us–the new year of 2022 is one such door–but the question then becomes: can we actually step through? What if we can’t, because we’re…
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Today’s story, “A Thanksgiving Wish,” is so beautiful for so many reasons. All the themes it plays out: –The theme of the middle class style of being independent and in your own family bubble and not having to rely on anyone beyond that bubble. But then a perfect storm of some kind happens, and you…
Spiritflow 