January is on the downhill slalom. Indeed we have the snow to prove the fact. Christmas 2023 is in our rearview window and New Year’s Day is receding in our peripheral vision. It is time to get at it…

Satisfaction is inherent in a forward movement. The brass ring is just within our grasp…if we stretch. We will never know if we can do something until we try. 

Activity evaporates the Blues. Movement begets more movement. Movement takes us closer to our dreams and goals. Sometimes it boils down to putting one foot in front of the other. Soon, your brain will be fired up with new ideas, projects, and purpose. ’Hope differed maketh the heart sick but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life,’ the Bible tells us. 
Do not put off until tomorrow what you can do today…has often been said. Winter is three months each year of our lives…after winter comes spring. The seeds of growth are in our souls and only need to be nurtured by the Sun and our hope for the best year of our lives!

Billy B saw the sadness in the eyes of his friend. She lived alone and had few activities that she could do in the cold and snowy months. Her children lived away and they had a glorious visit over Christmas but now it was January and cold and slick underfoot. Billy B called his friend and asked if she needed more batteries. His friend always needed batteries it seemed. ’Oh my goodness do I ever need batteries and when you bring them I will have some cookies for us to enjoy’ she said. When the time of the January visit arrived Billy B was greeted by the widest of smiles and hugs to match. They spoke of the past and the future and all that life had to offer to those who sought its bounty. Both agreed that the best is yet to come…

Frigid Journey is how I would describe my woods adventures over the past few days. I can dress for the cold but the wind is another matter. Indeed the below-freezing temperatures are a bit unusual for our neck of the woods, especially the duration.  I remember from my career at Southern Illinois University the countless times I waded cascading water in offices and classrooms when a pipe burst due to below-freezing weather. On one Christmas Holiday MJ and I went to the University every day of the holiday time to empty buckets of water leaking from water breaks in the Communications building. I recall being on frozen pipe water extraction for over 24 hours. 

Winter is lovely if you can peer out of your picture window at the winterwonderland. It is not so much fun if you have to brave the icy roads, shovel mounds of snow, and deal with the devastation of Mother Nature. I vividly recall leaving all the water faucets on in our little house to endeavor to ensure our pipes did not freeze. I would be awake for most of the night constantly checking them to ensure that they were still functioning. 

I saw a program the other night that spoke of the ‘Hard Room.’ I reflected that I have lived in the Hard Room many times in my life. I am reminded of the Christmas Holiday when I had placed Duck Tape along the gap where the front door met the doorsill due to the cold air blowing in. I had received a Texas Instrument computer that I hooked up to a little portable television and marveled at the computer par excellence of my present. I was reading a book on famine and thus felt hungry and cold. 

The Good Life is not the experience for many of our neighbors and friends and the disenfranchised and forgotten. It is possible to be horribly alone in the midst of the Horn Of Plenty…

Chronic illness can cause the visions of sugar plumbs dancing in the heads of so many just a little more than 3 weeks ago. If you are hospitalized or sitting by the bedside of a loved one who is…this is truly a Hard Room.

We do not realize the number of our fellow humans who are addicted to substances both legal and not so. Mental illnesses still the hidden disease and many refuse to admit their malady or hide the devastation of its affects. How often have I heard someone say of theirself that they do not why they act in the manner that they do…they are, Just that way.’ 

St. Peter will have one question when we stand at his big desk and look up into his eyes…’Who did you help?’

It is so cold tonight that it plants itself like a garment on your body. When you enter your warm home and take off your coat, sweater, and L.L. Bean Golves, you feel like you still require them for a bit longer. 

‘God told me,’ I have heard all of my Christian Life. One time a trusted fellow member of a church board that we were on told me that God had spoken to her audibly and said that we needed to choose a member of our congregation to be our pastor. This woman not only had her feet on the ground but was a vigorous church worker and a highly educated individual. I was so dismayed I asked her specifically if she heard God’s voice and she said that he did. The new pastor turned out to be of dubious character and was soon released from the pastorate. 

Having been a Christian for 56 years I have yet to hear the voice of God tell me anything. However many of my friends and colleagues tell me that they do regularly. When someone believes that they have heard directly from God…from his mouth to your ear…they are difficult to convince of anything different. The Bible is a facile book that is often made to substantiate whatever your faith thesis is. 

Prejudices bias tribalism and Christian Nationalism are emotional subjects but they are not the voice of God. The valiant attempt to equate biblical heroes with politicians is a supreme exercise in futility. 

Emotions are powerful players in our day-to-day lives. We want a leader who tickles our ears and makes us feel better about ourselves. Our Golden Calf is shiny and reflective of our upturned faces as we admire its brilliant sheen… It is not King David…

It is 5 degrees outside. It is a cold day in the neighborhood. Along with being cold, it is a new day. A fact that is lost on us at times. The old saying that this is the first day of the rest of your life is true. Life is a bit like a book with its chapters and the chapters have pages…a new day is the next page. The New Day allows beginning again. 

Last night, I had a strange dream where I needed to arise from a sitting position and go somewhere quickly. I had been asked to play music on a piano and everyone was waiting for me to begin…when the fact was that I did not know how to play the piano. So as I endeavoured to rise over and over I found that my body felt anchored by bricks. My friends Margo and Jeff asked me to perform my pianist proclivities, and it was important for me to do well…only I knew nothing about the piano other than I enjoy hearing a pianist play. When I awoke from having fallen asleep in a sitting position…I understood my dilemma. 

Anchored by bricks is a common feeling for us humans as we strive to begin our New Day. We see the vision of us in our New Day but our feet just will not move. As I awoke from my Anchored Dream I took several minutes to totally determine that all that I had experienced was indeed a dream. The Dream Struggle to stand was palpable. 

So we want to do new things and fulfill old dreams. I wanted to write since I was a child…but have only seriously been at it for the last 12 years. Photography is a passion of mine however once again it has only been an amateur hobby/vocation for the last few years. 

See we needs that we know that we have some abilities to help…yet the bricks around our feet will not allow us to proceed. We are anchored by our perceived insufficiencies and roadblocks in our mind that we have placed there in order to continue to sleep peacefully. The Melatonin of our continued sitting while life and needs to be filled pass us by…

The rain is pouring down. Then comes the arctic temperatures. I took some video of the Giant City Creek and it was more boisterous than I have ever seen it. 

From my youth, I have loved to study the Presidents. JFK captured my imagination and since those early days, I have been somewhat acquainted with those who have held the highest office in our land. Having been born during the Draft I fully expected to be drafted when I finished high school as my family knew little of college. I watched with some dismay as President Johnson seemed irrevocably committed to the Vietnam War although we were losing and ultimately lost the conflict. 

Through the years I have noticed how popularity in individual Presidents seems to reach its zenith and then for little reason its basement. President George H.W. Bush after the War in Iraq was at an extremely high popularity and yet lost to a newcomer President Clinton. President Carter entered office with the excitement of Evangelicals and yet left barely able to win the Democratic Primary and President Reagan became President. President Biden has accomplished more positive legislation that has affected more people for good than any President since Johnson and perhaps President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Yet his approval rating is abysmally low. 

President Trump is indicted in four separate felony crimes and yet is at a very high level of popularity for the Republican Primaries. 

During my 56 years as a Christian, I have had the good fortune to work with several pastors. I have observed firsthand that being a pastor is a hard and often thankless job. Even as a manager/administrator, I had the best intentions for my colleagues and yet was often criticized by those whom I had endeavored to help.

Leadership is a big job that is not for the faint at heart. Your friends and members of your community bring their own individual expectations for how you should perform your job. They have their bias and inherent prejudice regarding the boss the pastor or the President. Their hope is that you will fulfill their individual concerns often at the expense of the larger group.

Misunderstood is a bit of a pervasive malady. Christ came to preach to those who had no voice and were forgotten by the religious elite and the political powers of his time. Yet today many tell us that to be a Christian is to be rich. They assure us that love for America and love for Christ is the same thing. They are assured there is God’s

Chosen…and then there are the Others…

Cold is a challenge. First, it is dangerous to be uncomfortably cold and can be deadly. In my early years, it was a journey to heat my homes. As a youngster we heated with coal and coal is a warm heat bordering on hot as measured by how close you sat to the stove. If you are away from the stove you begin to feel winter’s wind quickly. 

I lived in a large Victorian home in Eldorado that had a fireplace in every room. You would thoughtfully lay fire for the night and begin your sleep in comfort only to wake in the middle of the night with icicles on your nose. This necessitated sleeping with multiple homemade quilts. They were often so heavy that it was difficult to turn over in the bed due to their extreme weight. Getting up during the night for a necessary restroom visit was a brisk adventure. Neva J had a brick heated in the fireplace and then wrapped in rags to place next to her cold feet during her childhood. 

A few years ago when MJ and I were a bit younger we considered moving north when we retired…not so much any longer. So many of our fellow human family have no warm place to lay their heads. I reflect often on how we have become so judgmental. We say to ourselves that surely those who sit on the sidewalk or stand outside the grocery store asking for any donation to facilitate a little warmth and food as those who simply did not choose to make the correct career choices. We hurry back to our warm homes and really do not like to expose ourselves to even a bit of the frigid air for business purposes. 

Worry we do about inflation and the price of gasoline. Who will be our President at the end of 2024 we think obsessively. How are our investments going to fare this year? We plan our holidays and trust in our ingenuity. We are strong…we are secure…we have barns and we have plans for bigger barns… 

The little red Food Box has the latch broken on its doors. It is almost empty. A friendly gentleman rides by on his bicycle in the winter chill…he speaks and calls us sir. 

Another lovely winter day in Southern Illinois. The calm before the storm as the temperatures are forecast to plummet Sunday. After falling on ice several years ago I am a bit wary of getting out when the sidewalks are slick. 

Do you enjoy solitude? Do you have to gear up for groups? Perhaps you are an introvert. Introverts have a rich thought life. 
They learned that skill during their quiet times. Introverts actively listen to who is speaking to them…they enjoy a new voice. 

Watchers are often introverts. They are a bit like former President Reagan who was said to love people as a group but had few close friends. Leaders are often introverts who mask their proclivity due to the job’s requirements. 

Introverts are on many occasions, insightful intuitive introspective individuals. An introvert loves to have someone approach them in a gesture of friendship. They are delighted and surprised and hopeful that the encounter will lead to a camaraderie. 

Introverts think deeply about interpersonal issues. They have watched them play out in their own lives and of those they interact with. Do you like a good story…sit down with an introvert and you will hear stories that will captivate your imagination and inspire your life’s walk. 

Introverts are not weird they are common and a hidden majority in many arenas. They have new ideas and fresh plans and think outside the box. They want to share their well-thought-out ideas but often require an invitation to do so.

Extroverts are applauded and followed and become Facebook Influencers. Their opinions are sought as some rare wisdom or the ‘Gold of Ophir.’ All the while introverts sit quietly and watch and wait and seek not their own aggrandizement or praise…but have some answers to life’s persistent problems…if asked…

‘Still, waters run deep…’

The most lovely sound to our ears is our own name. At times we wonder what others think of us when we have not crossed their mind. A fun thought is that whatever we hear we understand through our personal experiences and biases. Two people can see an automobile accident and report what occurred completely differently than each other. 

Organizations whither and die on the vine due to their decision-maker’s refusal to change and their bedrock certainty that their mission is to ensure that the status quo remains intact. 

We seek someone to inspire our change and to aid us in looking outward instead of contemplating our navel. Looking outward is a bit of a learned response. It may not come naturally. 

Sadness surrounds the decline. Whether it is a church a business or a university. We must have a shared vision of stopping the decline if we are tired of being sad. Working together on a shared vision holds at bay our tendency to see things through our own kaleidoscope. 

We can choose to rally around our diminishment and pretend that there is no other way…or we can decide that while we have a life…we have hope for rebuilding and making new!

Latch on to the enthusiasm of new people in your organization. They are not sad…they are filled with hope and excited with the expectancy of what the future will bring. Listen to their ideas…they are good and fresh and bring life to our Spirit…

Barnes and Noble was a bit quiet this morning.  I was there to pick up a birthday card. I purchased tear-off-the-day and desk calendars for many years, my habit beginning in the early 90s for my office at Southern Illinois University. In those days it was my sheer delight to find an after-Christmas New Yorker Calendar on sale.  Well, there was one left and it was 25% off and I had it in my hand and then subsequently put it back. I remembered that I am subscribed to the New Yorker Magazine both online and in hard copy and all of the current cartoons are in those mediums. Also, MJ and Jonathon both have tear-the-day-off calendars and they share with me each day.

So…we search for peace and don’t let anyone tell you that we do not. we seek the sparkle that captivates our imagination. Sometimes the sparkle is hard to find. Leaders tell us with their shiny rhetoric that they have discovered the elusive peace. We are looking…so we try out their poltis and panacea in a bottle for just $19.99. 

Peace is neither found in a bottle nor a pill. Peace comes from purpose. A vision for the future and knowledge of the past. We change as I have changed in my determination to purchase calendars that reminded me of my 32+ year career at SIUC. The pages are turning and the chapters are changing. But the constants are bedrock. Faith in the inherent goodness of others. Hope for a future that we will, ‘Beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks,’ and calmness amid the storm.

The actress Jodi Foster was being interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning and she commented that she was much calmer than she had been in her youth and that perhaps it was a chemical thing. I have found this to be true with me. Somehow the chains of chasing a dollar and impressing others and the pursuit of success at the expense of health both mentally and physically are not so important as the truth of our situation becomes apparent. This life is a preview with a purpose and our time on Stage is but a moment…

There is a feeling of snow in the air…snow coming soon. There is still the feeling of Christmas in our midst but soon it will be in the rearview mirror. The Bible tells us, ‘ Hope deferred maketh the heart sick but when the desire cometh it is a tree of life.’ 

The old Mission Impossible television show began each week with the head spy receiving a reel-to-reel tape recording of his team’s mission…’If you choose to accept it?’ We have the same question daily and certainly at the beginning of the New Year. 

Many times our hopes deferred are realized when we help others reach their hopes. Not so long ago we understood that good manners trustworthiness and character were of paramount importance to our daily walk. How does a leader explain why they are making fun of a person’s challenges? 

When thinking of Next…we must think of our future as human beings on the journey back to Jerusalem…not just what we like and enjoy. Change is as certain as the Sun rising in the morning. 

Thinking of others is the key to happiness. Empathy is vital. Our hopes are wrapped in shiny wrapping paper that is bound together with the most festive ribbon.  If you were sitting around the Christmas Tree and watching our hopes being unwrapped…you would notice the peculiarity of their similarity. 

We think that we are all quite different but the truth be known is that we are much more alike than different. We want answers to life’s persistent questions. We want peace rather than war. To receive these mutual desires for the future will require listening to others with whom we disagree. It will require an open mind. It will require a mutual affection for our species…the human species. 

Next…is not easy…it is not a given…it has not been written in stone. Next depends on us. Rome fell from internal divisions. Churches in the United States are doing the same thing. 

Money has shut and padlocked many mouths. Good people who fear losing their livelihoods are silenced by those who write their paychecks. The people we elect to be our leaders often are not rich. Congress or the Senate is a bit better than any job they have experienced. Our political system was to be so…full of farmers and labor and businessmen and clergy…it was to be gatherings of the people. The intention of our founding fathers was to have the people’s voice to be heard and then after a season, they would return to their chosen vocation. 

Let us talk about what we want next. Our church is currently having this important discussion. We must be clear regarding our vision for the future. Our voice is not more important…but is as important as our brother and sister’s voice in fashioning what is…Next…