Autumn Prayer

O extravagant God, in this ripening, red-tinged autumn,

waken in me a sense of joy in just being alive,

joy for nothing in general except everything in particular;

joy in sun and rain mating with earth to birth a harvest;

joy in soft light through shyly disrobing trees;

joy in the acolyte moon setting halos around processing clouds;

joy in the beating of a thousand wings mysteriously knowing which way is warm;

joy in wagging tails and kid's smiles and in this spunky old city;

joy in the taste of bread and wine, the smell of dawn, a touch, a song,

a presence;

joy in having what I cannot live without-other people to hold and cry and laugh with;

joy in love, in you;

and that all at first and last

is grace. (words from "Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder, photos by Isaac)

An Attitude Adjustment!

I've been carrying the following around in my pocket for a long time and thought I would share it today.

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than education,

than money, than circumstances, than failures,

than successes,

than what other people think or say or do.

It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill.

It will make or break a company...a church...a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude

we will embrace for that day.

We cannot change our past....

We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way.

We cannot change the inevitable.

The only thing we can do is play the one string we have

and that is our attitude.

I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me

and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you.........

we are in charge of our ATTITUDE.