Fill Your Space

“Every empty space is an opportunity.” … author Robert Cohen in his short story The Next Big Thing.

Often we are bored, especially when we are young or when we are sick. Time drags. There is nothing to do, or so we think. But there is always time to think, to dream, to plan.

Often there are empty spaces in our lives. We feel them around us, palpable and too often dragging us down into loneliness, sadness, even despair. Widows and widowers know this best, and parents who have lost a child. Empty marriages feel like this too. But it happens to us all, even when there is no dramatic source we can point to.

Often we think of what could be, whenever we are unhappy with our situation or when we have a goal or need unmet. There may be something holding us back … fear maybe, a certain trepidation, a barrier either real or imagined.

I love the quote because it is true, whether in a small way or a larger one. We can look at our current situation, assess it and move forward. We can fill empty spaces with new goals, new thoughts, new actions, new risks, new learning. We can create new opportunity and new happiness which can fill all of the empty spaces.

We can in fact do away with empty spaces if we choose, if we accept the very real responsibility for change … and there is strong faith in that. God is always with us as we create opportunity … 

Tenacity, The Virtue

From the minister TD Jakes … “You’ve got to have a tenacious mind-set. If you believe you can handle it, then you can. God can renew your strength and revitalize your energy. You’re never too old or too young to accomplish your dream.”

Discouragement is easy to come by, and sometimes it comes from those closest to us. For whatever reason, we may see hurdles where they don’t exist, or a lack of belief may come from those that want to pre-judge our capabilities. We may get stopped in our tracks, or stop ourselves … it will make no difference, if we end up believing that there is no hope, that we don’t have anything left,

The quote speaks to a type of mental toughness that is hard-won, a tenacity that can be a virtue in times of trouble. I have a friend who speaks about getting knocked down and getting back up again, and relates it to how winners are made. It is the struggle that makes us stronger. It is tenacity that courses through us, if we do in fact keep getting back to our center, our dream.

Jesus was there too, doubted by some and vilified by many, but willing to endure in order to accomplish His mission. God renewed His strength, even at the last moments of His life when all that was left was to do God’s will. Our challenges will never ever compare but God is there to renew our strength too. Tenacity is a virtue Jesus taught … I pray we may make it a cornerstone of our lives, too.

Peace Within

Shared by Marty O’Donnell … Saint Theresa's Prayer:

“May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.”

Simply put, a prayer of peace and calm and faith, driven by the way we choose to allow His presence into our lives. We have that choice, the one that can bring greater peace to our existence. That choice is inside of us and part of our faith journey, but we may too often choose drama over calm, uproar over peace.

The prayer reminds us that love is what we’ve received and love is what we can build into a peaceful life. We are in fact children of God, we know that … now the task is to show Him in our personal experience of life, through the love that is there for the taking and the showing. 

Faith in Your Mission

From Wisdom Quotes on Facebook … “Success is what we want; faithfulness is what God wants. God will not always ask us if we were successful in what we were assigned to do, but He will always ask if we were faithful.” 

Have faith. It’s a universal truth, no matter your religion. It’s an inherent gift, if we accept it and live it.

At times I have definitely let “success” take priority in my life, and it hasn’t been a bad thing to want to achieve, to advance my life and career. It has helped me grow and provide. It has helped me become more than I was, and a focus on succeeding has kept me contributing with quality, in lots of different ways.

That said, it is faith that I have found deepening in my life. Is it because I am aging? Closer to mortality? Learning more about what is truly important? Maybe a little but there is no disconnect between wanting success and being faithful to Him. The two sides of my life are one, because success is defined in the secular sense AND in the spiritual sense. And we know there are many ways to define success.

I pray that I remain faithful to my mission, to the tasks that He assigned to me and no one else. They come bidden and unbidden, and they offer me new chances to prove that I am who He wants me to be … friend, husband, father, brother, godson, worker, counselor, writer and on and on. No matter the level of success I have in each of my roles, I have faith I am on the right path, because He shares that blessing with me. What God wants, He reveals … every day.

Paddle On

"As one goes through life, one learns that if you don't paddle your own canoe, you don't move." … Katherine Hepburn

The longer I am “on the water”, the more I see that I must paddle my own canoe. In every way I need to.

It isn’t just about making your way or getting somewhere. It’s about making the effort, and persevering. It’s about keeping the craft upright, and out of harm’s way. It’s about taking the opportunity to paddle into uncharted waters, and learning more about yourself and the canoe. It’s about being vigilant and seeing the challenges and the danger and the beauty, and being able to keep on paddling.

It’s about not just floating through life … unless you have the right time and reason to float. The quote tells me that I am responsible for myself, but I know that.  You do too.

We all have our own canoes, our own speeds, our own waterways and our own way of paddling. We all know we need to paddle. I pray we not let anything get in the way of moving forward. And if we need help, ask for it. Look for it. Read for it. It’s about paddling for yourself, so don’t be concerned about other canoes. Yours is quite enough.

Remember Those

From an intercession by our Pastor at Mass recently … “Remember those who will die this day.“

A good reminder, not often heard. We pray for people in our families, for friends, for people we are asked to pray for. We pray for ourselves, that we may be ready.

But this is a different way to think about life and loss. Every day, there is birth and death, all around us. We are all part of the human family, all children of God, all of us worth praying for. This simple intercession reminded me of the quintessential truth that we are all connected, all one with God and all destined to the same fate, in the end.

There is hope in this intercession. Hope that in our praying for “those who will die this day”, we will clearly know how best to bring that important human connectivity into our personal experience of the world. It is by dying that we are reborn … I pray today for every soul who goes before me, that they may be reborn for eternity. And I pray that I have a chance to see them there … 

See It

‎"I will see it when I believe it." ~ Dr Wayne Dyer

This is the simple counterpoint to “I’ll believe it when I see it” but it makes me think anew.

We tell our children that “if you believe it, you can achieve it.” And that is true in every aspect of our lives. If there is something you want, you can usually find a way to begin to move towards it, with a plan or an action or a request.

But the quote makes me think of the Word of God and the Heavenly Kingdom. We have our faith to guide us, and it is when we truly believe that we can “see” more clearly. Without faith … without belief … we are adrift. Without faith, we question ourselves and our way in the world. Without faith, we are swayed by the winds of change, the winds of others. Without faith, we can sink into despair.

With true faith, we believe we are children of God and that means everything. We know that we have a place in His Kingdom, a role to play here on earth and a role to play in His history of faith. We are raised by faith and do more good, when we believe. And we will in fact “see it” when we “believe it” … read the Word and pray, for it is the way to clear vision.   

Celebrate America … and God

“God bless America, land that I love. Stand beside her, and guide her, through the night, with the light from above.” … Irving Berlin.

America is unique among countries, with freedom and independence a privilege since our very founding.

Americans are unique among people, with a boundless optimism born of a knowledge that we live in a country of opportunity.

Immigrants like Irving Berlin, a Russian, and my family know this well, and we do not take this country for granted. For whatever faults we may have as a republic, we have the gift of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness always within our reach and our imagination.

For that, there is one reason that stands out in my mind: Because from the beginning, we said “In God we trust.” God has helped us from the beginning and He continues to this day. Just look at the fractured states of many countries around the world and you realize just how blessed we are. Celebrate America today … celebrate God today too, because they and we are forever intertwined.

The Track

Shared by my friend Leona Laperriere on Twitter: Native American Proverb … “We will be known forever by the tracks we leave.”

We all leave tracks, don’t we? Childhood memories are tracks. Achievements large and small are tracks. Good deeds are tracks, as are bad ones. Resumes too.

Some tracks have short lifespans … a fleeting moment can even be a track. But even the smallest action can have long tails of repercussion, good or bad. The harsh word, the silent treatment, the cruel joke or the ignoring of a family member or friend … every one a track. And never assume that a track will be forgotten; it carries on as a living memory for you and others..

I know people, young and old alike, who harbor resentment towards their parents, based on their actions. The mother that treated her children differently, the father who expected too much and did not love enough. Parents form the first tracks that children see, and those tracks inform their futures. Parents who model positive behavior build powerful tracks for their children, an awesome responsibility.

There are tracks we see and question, there are others we see and emulate. And there are tracks that take us far and wide, in unexpected ways. Career changes, new cities and countries, new activities and interests, new faith and commitments. Decisions that will shape our future are beginnings of new tracks in and of themselves … the selection of a college, job changes, marriage, a choice of a church. Too many to count and constantly in our path.

Each one of us builds our track day by day, each unique and different. Every action has real and unavoidable impact on our track, on the way we will be known by our peers, our families, our friends and even strangers. And that knowing is forever, part of our past, present and future. What do I want my track to look like, now and at the end? What about you?