My Beloved and I watched the new Oz movie a few days ago. I just flashed back to a scene in the movie where a man with many flaws who has wanted his whole life to be great and failed over and over again finally does something that is indeed great.

The woman he is with says something to him that is profound. It went something like this:

“Yes, you were great, but you were also something much better than that. You were good.”

The longer I live, the more I have come to understand the truth and wisdom in those words.

One can be great without being good, but there is greatness in goodness.

Love,
Russ

For Equilibrium, a Blessing:

Like the joy of the sea coming home to shore,
May the relief of laughter rinse through your soul.

As the wind loves to call things to dance,
May your gravity by lightened by grace.

Like the dignity of moonlight restoring the earth,
May your thoughts incline with reverence and respect.

As water takes whatever shape it is in,
So free may you be about who you become.

As silence smiles on the other side of what’s said,
May your sense of irony bring perspective.

As time remains free of all that it frames,
May your mind stay clear of all it names.

May your prayer of listening deepen enough
to hear in the depths the laughter of god.”

― John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings

John O’Donohue (1 January 1956 – 4 January 2008) was an Irish poet, author, priest, and Hegelian philosopher. He…

TODAY

by BIlly Collins

If ever there were a spring day so perfect,

so uplifted by a warm intermittent breeze

that it made you want to throw

open all the windows in the house

and unlatch the door to the canary’s cage,

indeed, rip the little door from its jamb,

a day when the cool brick paths

and the garden bursting with peonies

seemed so etched in sunlight

that you felt like taking

a hammer to the glass paperweight

on the living room end table,

releasing the inhabitants

from their snow-covered cottage

so they could walk out,

holding hands and squinting

into this larger dome of blue and white,

well, today is just that kind of day.

Photo by CT1967, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Billy Collins (born 1941) served as Poet Laureate of the United States from 2001-2003 and…

Your Mom called. She just wanted to remind you:

Oh, and also, that ethics and honesty are REALLY important.

Enjoy!

original graphic credit: Classroom Posters

Water
the giver
of life.

“Let out a little more string on your kite.” (Alan Cohen)

What, now?

Ease

bound wound

gripping

 for dear life

so tightly

 taut

nearly snapping string

me

tangled, twisted knot?

If you

just you

take one breath

one

perhaps

on this sun-kissed breeze of possibility

you could

lift

 lilt

like your long ago smile.

Jesus and Peter had to pay the temple tax but had no money. So Jesus sends Peter back to his old vocation, fishing. Go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours — Matt. 17:27 NIV.

If you are in His will, God will provide for your need. Prayer means getting the supernatural into the natural. If you’re working, you won’t have to change your routine, just request the dosage of God’s blessing upon your natural labors.

They call this miracle money, and after 33 years of being a Christian, I have seen God answer like this over and over, in my own life and others. It especially happened when I pastored in Guatemala, particularly when we bought a property and had…