Author Bill Johnson
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To be Relieved of God. It’s not about being relieved of the true God, but of the false God. The God we make up in our minds. It’s about overcoming our distorted and false images of God. For we have… Continue Reading →
The Summer Day (by Mary Oliver) Who made the world? Who made the swan, and the black bear? Who made the grasshopper? This grasshopper, I mean- the one who has flung herself out of the grass, the one who is… Continue Reading →
The Struggling Butterfly (Attributed to Henry Miller) One day in India, a young boy walked up to a Guru or wise man, and asked what the man was looking at. The Guru responded “I am looking at a Chrysalis, and… Continue Reading →
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Why Were You Not Zusya? There is a tale of a Hassidic rabbi named Zusya. He was a timid man, a man who concealed more than he revealed. One day Zusya stood before his congregation and he said: When I… Continue Reading →
As If to Demonstrate an Eclipse (by Billy Collins) I pick an orange from a wicker basket and place it on the table to represent the sun. Then down at the other end a blue and white marble becomes the… Continue Reading →
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The Ride of Life. “Life should not be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside in a cloud of smoke, thoroughly used up,… Continue Reading →
"Suppose you read about a pill that you could take once a day to reduce anxiety and increase your contentment. Would you take it? Suppose further that the pill has a great variety of side effects, all of them good: increased self-esteem, empathy, and trust; it even improves memory. Suppose, finally, that the pill is all natural and costs nothing. Now would you take it? The pill exists. It’s called meditation. " Jonathan Haidt
A modern day scientist in the quote above seems to give credence to the wisdom of Psalm 1 that says that when we meditate we are:
The Vacation (by Wendell Berry) Once there was a man who filmed his vacation. He went flying down the river in his boat with his video camera to his eye, making a moving picture of the moving river upon which… Continue Reading →
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Relax (by Ellen Bass) Bad things are going to happen Your tomatoes will grow a fungus and your cat will get run over. Someone will leave the bag with the ice cream melting in the car and throw your blue… Continue Reading →
Your Breath. An average person takes 16 breaths a minute, 960 an hour, 23,040 a day, 8,409,600 a year. How many of those do we take for granted? Someday we’ll take our last. What an important reminder to be aware… Continue Reading →
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Humor isn’t for everyone?! “I realize that humor isn’t for everyone. It’s only for people who want to have fun, enjoy life, and feel alive.” Anne Wilson Schaef. Walking through a shop in Saugatak Michigan. My wife saw a card and… Continue Reading →
Why I Wake Early (by Mary Oliver) Hello, sun in my face. Hello, you who make the morning and spread it over the fields and into the faces of the tulips and the nodding morning glories, and into the windows… Continue Reading →
Peony Buds. “‘Peony hugging,’ I think to myself as I move from clump to clump. Each place I become more aware of the hard and heavy buds. Their weight has already begun to bend the stems toward the ground. In… Continue Reading →
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Let Down Your Bucket. It seems that there was a party of sailors who were shipwrecked and drifting in the Atlantic Ocean in an open rescue boat. They’d been drifting for several days, had run out of water, and were… Continue Reading →
When grieving the loss of a dog – poems and reflections to help you grieve well. I put this together for those I know who are grieving the loss of one of their best friends. It’s a hard truth to remember… Continue Reading →
Our True Home is in the Present Moment (by Thich Nhat Hanh) Our true home is in the present moment. To live in the present moment is a miracle. The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is… Continue Reading →
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A Harvest of Quirkiness (by Bruce Sanguin) Gracious God, how can creation sing your praises, except with the red wings of blackbirds flashing across blue sky, and the croak and splash of frogs playing hide-and-seek in the ponds? How can… Continue Reading →
Reflections About a Sunday Morning Worship Service. I went to Church on Sunday! Sometimes that’s a hard thing for me to do. Why? Because I find the theology of the songs, emphasis on performance and preaching often depressing. So, why… Continue Reading →
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Becoming myself. “Now, with God’s help, I shall become myself.” Soren Keirkegaard Perhaps we think that we have to become like someone else, or be someone else in order to be accepted or approved. Sometimes we don’t like ourselves very… Continue Reading →
Unending Love (by Rabbi Rami Shapiro) We are loved by an unending love. We are embraced by arms that find us even when we are hidden from ourselves. We are touched by fingers that soothe us even when we are… Continue Reading →
The Eagle Who Thought He Was a Chicken. A fable is told about an eagle who thought he was a chicken. When the eagle was very small, he fell from the safety of his nest. A chicken farmer found the… Continue Reading →
The Story of the Golden Buddha. Many years ago in Thailand there is a temple that was called the temple of the Golden Buddha. And there was a huge statue of Golden Buddha. And word came to this village where… Continue Reading →
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A Morning Offering (by John O’Donohue) I bless the night that nourished my heart To set the ghosts of longing free Into the flow and figure of dream That went to harvest from the dark Bread for the hunger no… Continue Reading →
Fellowship of the Unashamed. The author is unknown, but is believed to be a young pastor in Zimbabwe who was martyred for his faith in Jesus Christ. It was found in his study: “I’m part of the fellowship of the… Continue Reading →
Life in Reverse by George Carlin “The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A… Continue Reading →
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Sonnet 29 (by Shakespeare) When, in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries And look upon myself and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one… Continue Reading →
"Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is the proclamation of the end of religion, not of a new religion, or even of the best of all religions. If the cross is the sign of anything, it's the sign that God has gone out of the religion business and solved all of the world's problems without requiring a single human being to do a single religious thing. What the cross is actually a sign of is the fact that religion can't do a thing about the world's problems - that it never did work and it never will." Robert F. Capon
What if being a Christian means no longer being religious? What if conversion to Christianity means stepping out of religion? What if Christianity is the end of religion? Christianity is n...
The Fisherman and Businessman. A vacationing American businessman standing on the pier of a quaint coastal fishing village in southern Mexico watched as a small boat with just one young Mexican fisherman pulled into the dock. Inside the small boat… Continue Reading →
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Seeing with the Heart. “What is essential is invisible to the eye. Only with the heart can one see rightly.” Antoine de Saint Exupery A Prayer: Change me O God to get in touch with my heart, to know my… Continue Reading →
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Chocolate Chip Cookies, Birch Trees and a Blue Sky. All of these have something to teach me about finding purpose in purposelessness, meaning in meaninglessness and enjoyment in the simple things of life while living in the present moment. I recently… Continue Reading →
Wild Geese (by Mary Oliver) You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees For a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body… Continue Reading →
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The Game of Religion. A man arriving at the proverbial Pearly Gates is unsure what to do. Do I simply walk in? he wonders. St. Peter recognizes the look of consternation on the man’s face, approaches, and asks him if… Continue Reading →
Just laugh? Why? Because, laughter is the best medicine. Or as Prov. 17:33 says, “A Cheerful heart is good medicine.” This scene from the “Money Pit” never fails to make me laugh. Please watch it til the very end. Do… Continue Reading →
Laughter (by Hafiz) What is laughter? What is laughter? It is God waking up! O it is God waking up! It is the sun poking its sweet head out From behind a cloud You have been carrying too long, Veiling… Continue Reading →
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Dr. Emoto’s Water Experiment If thoughts can do that to water, imagine what thoughts can do to us? “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if… Continue Reading →
Chain Letter of the Soul. I had the wonderful experience this past Sunday of attending my first “Friends Meeting,” – a Quaker worship service in Mpls. It was a semi programmed meeting with an opening and closing hymn and a… Continue Reading →