The Brightest Star

Tu es l'étoile la plus brillante qui éclaire ma nuit.
Tu es l'étoile la plus brillante dans ma ciel, 
et tu éclaire ma vie.

The Human Heart

Consider the human heart:  

Is it a small chambered vessel, whose finite capacity must be jealously guarded; allocated only to those closest to us, those whom we judge most deserving, or who have something to offer in exchange? Or is it a muscle, which—through a life-long program of vigorous exercise—may greatly expand its capacity.  

Each representation is valid, of course—both physically and metaphorically—but they are not equal. In the first, the heart is closed off – suffocated.  This inevitably leads to weakness, atrophy, and finally failure, where the diminished heart is unable to do even the little we ask of it. 

The second perspective describes an open heart, and drives us to exercise; leading to growth and vitality, and the ability to carry not only one's own load, but to help others bear theirs.  With enough training, we may be able to lift up not only those closest to us, but those outside our families, our communities, and those beyond our national, religious, and cultural boundaries; room enough even for the hungry, the homeless, the refugee, and others who have nothing to offer in return save gratitude.  

This type of training is not easy.  It requires hard work and discipline, and a core desire to grow stronger.  But we have a bounty of fitness instructors; Jesus Christ, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Thich Nhat Hanh, to name just a few.  And when we look around, we are surrounded by a planet full of potential workout partners.  

Please consider your human heart.  

Walking Wounded

"It’s not just him, man; we’re all injured … we’re all the ‘walking wounded’, as you put it. And by the time a man gets to our age, most of the fresh wounds are self-inflicted." 
- John Buckner (My Cookout with Buck)

Kissing and Driving

"Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves."
     -Albert Einstein

Eric Liddell

"God made me for a purpose, and that purpose is China. But he also made me fast, and when I run I feel His pleasure." 
     - Eric Liddell (Chariots of Fire)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Liddell
Liddell’s dedication to his beliefs, and his life’s mission in China were accurately portrayed in the movie, and guided him through the end of his life—in a WWII Japanese internment camp in China.

I Am Awake

One of his students asked Buddha, "Are you the messiah?"
"No", answered Buddha.
"Then are you a healer?"
"No", Buddha replied.
"Then are you a teacher?" the student persisted.
"No, I am not a teacher."
"Then what are you?" asked the student, exasperated.
The Buddha replied, "I am awake."

Doubt

It is not the absence of doubt or existential anguish that defines a saint. That is the prerogative not of saints, but of fools and zealots. Rather, it is within that crucible of doubt—when one’s actions bolster the faith of others—that sainthood is manifest. 
mjn

Random Thoughts

These aren't really my originals, but I don't know who to credit:

I tend to repeat myself. But I probably already mentioned that, didn’t I?

Why do they call it ‘head over heals’ like that was unusual or something?  I mean, look in the mirror - how are you arranged?

They had a workshop on procrastination, but I never got around to signing up until it was too late

If you met the folks who invented sliced bread, how would you tell them what a great idea they had come up with?
     - So you suggest that they might try it with some chicken,
        but they've never had that.  How would you describe
        the taste for them? 

Dancing Leaves

All summer, they toil in orchard and forest, 

gathering light – adding elements of soil, water and sky, to regenerate life -
the oldest of all family recipes. 

Now, the fruit is in—the Lord’s work done for the year—

they doff their pale green work habits,

and dance rainbow-naked in the breeze.

Then, with one final gust—one kick—

they slip their now-tenuous bonds,

and float to rest,

returning their final fertile gift to the future.

mjn

Heaven

Because I love you,
heaven for me is wherever you are.
And because I hold you in my heart,
I always carry a little piece of heaven within me.

Oreo and Jazzmine

We hear Oreo’s voice as a cute high-pitched ‘meuw meuw’, but in his ears he is generating a joist-rattling roar that leaves us quaking in fear in its wake. 


When we do something nice for the dog (feed her, pet her, walk her), her tail-wagging response is reminscent of Sally Field at the Oscars, “Wow! They like me! They REALLY like me!”

Oreo, on the other hand, sees any act of kindness as minimal tribute - enforced by the shock and awe of his fearsome roar.  His attitude is more like Caligula or Dick Cheney, “Let them hate us … so long as they fear, and obey.”

Play-Dating and the Single Kid

When I was a kid, we didn't have 'play-dates' - we had "go outside and leave your mom alone, so she can get some work done". But when we went outside, we were never alone. The neighborhood was just lousy with other housework exiles – sort of a juvenile version of Lost-Generation Paris. We’d just go out to the street and look for little Ernest or F. Scott, who were most likely already looking for us.

Today it’s different. Kid’s have day-planners – generally known as Moms. Their days are structured from the moment they get up until they go to bed at night. Between school, daycare, piano, ballet, soccer and tee-ball, there is little unclaimed time. They don’t just ‘go out and play’ in the streets. The rare adventurous child venturing out in the hope of randomly finding another child encounters something like an old-west ghost town – lacking only a bramble of rolling tumbleweed to complete the scene.

The play-dates that have supplanted the random interactions of my youth have to be scheduled to fit into a busy kid’s calendar – sort of an ‘I’m booked solid through next week.  Have your Mommy call my Mommy, and we’ll set something up’.

Because these meetings are infrequent and tightly circumscribed, their utility must be maximized. You don’t just ‘play-date’ anybody, and when you do, you don’t just hang out. There is an arcane pecking order to the playmate selection process that is utterly incomprehensible to adults, but obvious to kids. Personal compatibility plays a role in playmate selection, but so does the quality of snacks, comfort and privacy of play area, and a priority of activities available (Wii vs. Xbox 360 vs. Playstation vs. the dreaded non-electronic play environment).

These rules are arcane because the kids want them that way. Once grown-ups understand the rules, kids will change them, to maintain obfuscation. At the top of the pyramid (when I last felt I understood it) is ‘BFF’, or Best Friends Forever. Within this, there may be exclusivity, as well as BFFs who are ‘play-dating other people’. Misunderstandings can occur when members of a BFF couple aren’t aligned on that one.

Of course kids are kids, and some of them change BFFs like they change underwear – or career ambitions. This can come in the flavor of serial BFF monogamy, or in come cases BFF promiscuity. I’m just proud that I’ve never heard my little angel say anything to get a play-date that she regretted later.

Of course the play-dates themselves come in a wide range; from just two kids, to a group play-date, and the more common all-girls or all-boys play-dates vs. mixing it up. There are even the occasional ‘blind play-dates’, where parents who are friends bring together kids who are strangers to each other. Now THERE’s a dicey situation.