Month: July 2020

Planning the Day

“I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.” E.B. White

I prefer a third option – my desire is to experience the world. I am too old to think much about improving the world. I don ‘t have many years left. Improving the world is a young person’s activity. Young people (anyone under 40 years old) still believe in their ability to plan a world according to the basic tenets of humankind – good and evil. I remain hopeful that good will triumph, but looking at our planet’s history of attempts at goodness I am not encouraged. Good intentions and hope-filled actions are almost always interrupted by darker forces – war, poverty, injustice, greed, pettiness, etc. Can you think of any time when good triumphed? As a Christian, I was brought up to believe that when Jesus comes back, goodness will reign supreme for eternity. But that hasn’t happened yet. Jesus’ last foray into sharing goodness with folks didn’t end so well so I have some doubts that the next time might end differently.

And one has to be completely immune to the news to believe one can enjoy the world. We are constantly bombarded with endless news cycles laying out for us the pain and suffering, the nihilism, the selfishness, and misunderstanding among folks who don’t seem to be enjoying each other’s company. It’s not just rich v poor, republican v democrat, all the common binary choices we are given to consider. It is the fundamental theme, I believe that you and I cannot enjoy the world because no one seems to know how to enjoy anything these days. The pandemic of 2020 makes enjoyment that much tougher. And these days, if I am caught enjoying most anything I am called horrible names describing my lack of understanding of, and compassion for, the oppression and marginalization of so many categories of people and situations. I am asked how I can enjoy the world when so many are suffering, are kept down, are disregarded, not seen as mattering.

So I am choosing all that’s left for me. I am choosing to experience the world. I choose to take in all that my senses can stand. I choose to engage fully with all points of view, reserving judgment, and condemnation as someone else’s right to decide. I choose to experience and observe everything around me. Some days there is horror, some days utter beauty and simplicity. Some days people are remarkably good, some days they turn on each other with venomous actions.

I am rejecting binary choices – good/bad, rich/poor, matters/doesn’t matter, useful/wasteful. No more drama, no more judgment, just jumping in to experience the world and wonder how it all fits together. You see when I am experiencing the world rather than improving or enjoying it, I get to choose the standards, the values, the definitions I use to describe what I experience in the world. I get to filter everything I experience through the lenses of the things I hold dear.

My filters are these: hope, noble purpose, compassion, easing suffering, giving, beauty, truth, justice, and several others close to my heart. So whatever the news I read or see or hear, I filter it through those virtues. Suddenly I find hope, I see folks doing kind, noble things for others, I see goodness in all that I experience. This is my choice – to experience the world through my values. That’s my plan.

A side benefit is that I find myself praying for the world to be touched by folks bent on improving it and I am encouraged by those who are finding they can enjoy the world. Me, I just experience the world according to what I hold dear. I try to live by three simple maxims paraphrased from John Wesley: do no harm, do all the good you can, find occasions to thank the world for not giving up on me, on us. That’s my plan for tomorrow. Have a great week, improving, enjoying, or experiencing the world. Find your own peace of mind.

Where Are You Running?

“All men should strive to learn before they die what they are running from, and to, and why.” James Thurber

As you know the tag line of my blog is “Every life should have a noble purpose.” How we find that purpose and then act accordingly is one of the keys to a fulfilling time on earth. So many of us, myself included, just go along with whatever comes our way. We allow ourselves to be directed by all sorts of people and events who shape our destiny.

It is the lucky person who realizes, regardless of what others want for our lives, we are ultimately the one who decides our fate. We learn to adapt and improvise, to overcome and flourish in life. No one knows what waits around the bend. No one should linger too long in any situation that does not affirm and nurture one’s sense of self and one’s noble purpose.

How do we decide our path?

We are the sum of all the things we value. One person values honesty and integrity, another self-interest, and control. These values, most probably, will lead to different purposes and actions. So the first question to ask yourself is – what do you value? Look for values that will form the foundation of your being. Study those you admire – read biographies and autobiographies to uncover the values and traits of those folks in whom you see a noble purpose.

Second, how do you transfer your values and purposes into meaningful actions? Do you commit your whole life to serve others, to lessen the suffering of others? What are you determined to do with your life? For what do you want to be remembered? What’s your five-year or ten-year plan? What is your measurement of “success”?

Finally, answer these three “guides”: what are you running from? What are you running to, and why are you running at all? My answers to these questions are: I am running from selfishness and a life without compassion for others. Second, I am running to that place where I can understand and use all my talents to ease the suffering of others. And third, I am running because I believe every life should have a noble purpose – a purpose that demonstrates the power and promise of hope. My purpose is to spread hope into the lives of all those I meet.

Surround yourself with people you admire. Learn about them, question them, listen to their stories of hope, and finding purpose. We are all great teachers and we are all potential students. Teach and learn. A rough paraphrase of the words of one who I admire is this – preach faith until you find your faith. So, decide what you value and then go at it until that value-laden life is yours.

How will you know if you have succeeded? That’s what a heart is for. Be to others what you most want to be for yourself. We all start at the same place and we end at the same place. Develop your hope in the time you have between those two markers.

Return to Normal

Hope never fails

Four years ago, I began writing a blog with the tag line, “The Power and Promise of Hope.” Things have changed radically since that first post. Today, as I return to blogging I am driven to redouble my faith in the power and promise of hope.

To have confidence in hope in 2020 is an act of faith to be sure. But what else have we? Alan Keightley quoted in Paper Lanterns – More Quotations from the Back Pages of The Sun wrote, “Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.”

You see for several months I have been overwhelmed with the news surrounding “current events”. Covid-19, protests, and marches. violence, civil unrest, being held captive in my own home unable to travel freely, or to enjoy a quiet meal with friends in a favorite restaurant. This is the world I am being forced to experience. This is what is passing now for “normal.” This is the world I am told to experience day after day.

I have come to realize and believe there is another way to view the world, to interact with the world, through the power and promise of hope. I am re-discovering an all-encompassing sense of hope. From where does my hope originate? My hope comes from my childhood memories. I remember hard-working parents who instilled in me a desire to be independent while never overlooking the needs of others. I remember friendly competition with my siblings as we grew to understand and appreciate one another. I remember lessons learned in church as well as lessons learned in school. I was fortunate to hear similar messages no matter where I was – do your best, help those who are in need, contribute to the common good.

I understand I am indeed fortunate to be able to recall these memories and these lessons. Others have not been so blessed. I cannot, however, squander or dismiss what I have experienced. I can only live each day in hope.

I hope we get a chance to create and live in a world of our own choosing, a world we can share with others guided by common values and virtues. I hope we will find more moments that unite us rather than divide us. I hope we will have the courage to speak to those who expect us to experience the world they have created for us – a world that is not demanding the best of human nature.

My faith tells me to do three things: 1) do no harm, 2) do all the good that I can, and 3) to stay in awe of the life set out for us by our Creator. We were created to experience a new world based on nurturing and affirming the best attributes of our shared humanity.

In my head, I keep hearing a song sung by the Youngbloods so many years ago. Let me end with one of the stanzas from that song and the chorus well known to so many.

“If you hear the song I sing you will understand (Listen) . You hold the key to love and fear all in your trembling hand. Just one key unlocks them both, it’s there at your command.

Come on people now, smile on your brother, everybody get together try to love one another now.”

That’s my hope. That’s the world I am going to find.

Re-Starting My Blogsite

It is time for me to get back to blogging. Most of you have been subscribers before and I hope you will rekindle your interest in my posts. As of now, I hope to post new items each Monday, beginning with this post. Thanks for your readership.

For now, just welcome back. My posts will continue to center around my theme – “The Power and Promise of Hope.” For now, let it suffice to say we all need to believe in hope. Please remember, “Every life should have a noble purpose.” May we all strive to ease the suffering of others as we share with them our commitment to hope.