Shocks and Aftershocks

At 6:58 p.m. on April 16, as thousands of people were doing what they normally do on a Saturday night and as tourists ready for dinner filled restaurants in towns along Ecuador’s Pacific coast, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck, changing thousands of lives forever.

In Pursuit of Big Pain

James Baldwin, the great African-American novelist, essayist, playwright, and poet, once reflected on the pain the artist has to face, and wrote these words:

“And what is crucial here is that if it hurt you, that is not what’s important. Everybody’s hurt. What is important, what corrals you, what bullwhips you, what drives you, torments you, is that you must find some way of using this to connect you with everyone else alive. This is all you have to do it with. You must understand that your pain is trivial except insofar as you can use it to connect with other people’s pain…”*

A Turn of Events

I got my first set of golf clubs at age 11 after my dad had given up fishing and started taking me to the course. I fell in love with the game. It has now been 19 years since I have been able to play, but I still love watching on a day like Sunday when the pros were hitting their shots with the dogwoods and azaleas of Augusta National in the background.

Learn or Lose

 Recently, I counseled a person who was coming to grips with sinful behavior. The person felt sorry, foolish and embarrassed, very aware of damage done. But also, the “Let’s see how much I can beat myself” mode was kicking in. My advice was to reject that option in favor of the “Let’s see how much I can learn” mode. Yes, there  must be sorrow and repentance. But then there needs to be an acceptance of grace and a decision to learn from what happened so a better road can be taken going forward.

When It Does Seem Too Hard

I first want to thank those of you who commented on last week’s post and added many thoughtful comments. If you haven’t read what others said, it is not too late. You can go the “comment” section under “Hard”ly True.

But this week I want to respond to a comment that you will not read there. It was added and then removed by the person (I assume a mother) who posted it, but I was able to see it before she took it down. The pain she felt in her heart made it difficult for her to even write and then she must have decided she should not put it out there.

"Hard"ly True

I remember sitting on our basement couch in Concord, Massachusetts, circa 1997 and writing out a simple description to sum up the challenge of life. Later on I did a message on what I had written. But that night on the couch I listed four points:

Days of Our Lives

A friend in California reminded me this week of a quote from Mark Twain: “The two most important days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why.”