Life at 3 miles an Hour

We woke up to snow this morning...not a lot, and its not going to be here longer than another hour or so, but its enough to legitimize the season just a bit more.  Even with the unexpected arrival, it's generally gray and dreary here.  The news of four more funerals on the other side of the country make it even more so.  It makes me wonder.... If a simple dusting of snow enhances my picture of Christmas, what can possibly speak into lives a few time zones away that have been dumped on by a blizzard of heart wrenching loss?  One part of me...the human and frail part ...imagines that the loss is magnified by the season.  I mean really, isn't this the season of love, charity, peace, giving, and all the niceties of humanity?  It was a bit difficult to defend this view on Friday afternoon.  Isn't this the season where family and friends gather together?  It is a bit difficult to hold on to this when family and friends are taken away.  Isn't it abo...

This morning, Joanne and I were reflecting on the shepherds during our Advent time.  It's not really an earth shattering occurrence to be considering shepherds during this time of the year.  It's about as ordinary as baseball in April really.  One thing that occurred to me though is how much we take them  for granted...shepherds I mean.  Our understanding of them is quite frankly limited to preschool boys in bathrobes feigning fear before preschool girls dressed in sheets with tinsel wings and pointing down at them from on high.  Now that I think of it, it's probably good for them to get used to fearing them at a young age.  Its cute but just slightly off center of accurate.  Let's be honest, who doesn't like preschoolers in robes.  The reality and irony of the shepherds is that they were not very welcome members of the very culture and story which made them famous.  They were a necessary evil.  They were arguably the most valued an...

A slightly different time for me to be writing, but its a slightly different day, with slightly different circumstances.  The season is charging full speed ahead.  Not sure about you, but for me it's a bit like a white water ride...it ebbs and flows, crashes and churns, and then, every so often, a calm pool appears and with a bit of hard paddling and a bit of luck, you can nose yourself in for a bit of rest.  Today is my day of rest...and I paddled the crap out of myself to get here...so I'm dang well going to enjoy it while it lasts.  This morning, on my way to my previous writing engagement, the spirit whispered to me that, although it seemed like a good plan, there was a better one available.  I chose  better one.  You can do that when things are calmer and quieter... Hear the spirit I mean.  You can also get your oars under you and choose the better plan when you are in the calm.  I could never have pulled it off yesterday, or any of...