There is a sentiment that consistently comes up in my conversations lately. People have ideas, they have visions for something better, they have intentions… and they wonder how to get there from here. My answer is very often, “Just do it. It’s not that complicated.”
Category: spiritual formation
The marks of a progressing civilization
When I desire the happiness in our children, and mark our progress as humanity by that, I am not referring to children as never crying. I am not ruling out other marks of a progressive society, but merely desiring a shift in priority. What does our society claim as proof of our progression? Happiness is something more than self-satisfied, self-interested, and self-serving. It something greater than an innocent or unaware naivety.
No Pressure for climate change… or is there?
Spirituality starts with nature. Without a relationship there, without a realization of our dependence on the planet, it is too easy for our values to get out of sync. As we seek to live in sustainable (even additive!) community, it is paramount that the consideration of our earth is remembered as part of that community.
Thoughts?
Being Dad for the Doggy
Yesterday evening, I came home looking forward to seeing my doggy and found four intestinal explosions (pick your end of choice) around the house. She is definitely sick. So we fed her and comforted her and later went to bed. I am beginning to see that spirituality starts with nature. There is no linear way to describe the difference between the flight pattern of a chickadee and a woodpecker. There is no scientific way that describes the emotion of a cat lounging in the sun. And there is no way but soulfully to describe the look on Coco’s face when she is “happy” to see us or when she is sick.
All that waits to be known…
There is indeed a great deal that is yet to be known and a great deal that will never be known. There is a knowing that happens that in non-mental, non-linear… a knowing that happens in unity with the world and with the Spirit of God that is “in all and through all and in whom all have their being.” Check out the full post for these beautiful lyrics and the song that echoes in my heart and soul today.
Nathan Bettger | Oshkosh, WI 