Haven’t you done it? Picked up a glove or a hat or a baby sock that you found on the street and placed it in some visible, clean location in hopes that the owner will come back for it? You don’t know who lost the item, you don’t know if they’ll return for it, but doesn’t it feel better to take some little step in hopes that what was lost might again be found?
What small action have you taken lately on behalf of a stranger?
As the trees shed their leaves and the colors of summer fade, there is even more pleasure to be found in the colors that remain, and the ways that we choose to add brightness to the world.
How do you add brightness to your life as the colors of nature fade?
The young dead soldiers do not speak
Nevertheless they are heard in the still houses: who has not heard them?…
They say, Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say: it is you who must say this.
—Archbald Macleish
How do you turn mourning into peace and new hope?
Even if you know perfectly well how the aerodynamics of an airplane help it stay suspended in the air, and even if you are familiar with the statistics on how safe it is to fly, you might find yourself saying a little prayer as you lift off the ground. Even if you don’t believe that prayer changes anything. It turns out that there are many different ways to lift yourself up.
What spiritual practice lifts you up?
In a few hours this empty school hallway will be utterly transformed, full to bursting with young life. The fact that it’s quiet doesn’t mean it isn’t useful, just that it’s waiting.
What have you learned during a time in your life when things felt empty or without purpose?
