Tag: significance

Faith of the Everyday

Posted on by Michael Rose
Once upon a time, there were two carpenters; framers to be precise. Each day they would arrive at the building site to pound nails, erect walls. The first, a glum man, was asked what he was doing. “I hammer nails,” he replied, looking sour. “Every day, hammer nails and more nails. Day in, day out,…
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Motivated by Meaning

Posted on by Michael Rose
A fascinating 1972 video clip of Viktor Frankl, filmed in Toronto, Canada.  In this video, Frankl is calling humanity to aim to a higher standard, to pick a target beyond ourselves and while we may fall short, he argues we will reach further or closer to wholeness than if we aimed for something less.   In…
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A Hell of a Difference

Posted on by Michael Rose
Once upon a time, there lived a woman who wished she could understand the difference between Heaven and Hell.  She petitioned God for such an experience, and one day God came to her in a dream. God said to the woman, “I have heard your prayer, and I am willing to grant your request.  I…
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Heaven in Hell’s Despair

Posted on by Michael Rose
“Love seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.” -William Blake, from The Clod and the Pebble Love is the primary element in the alchemy of the Beautiful Way. It is the creative, restorative force that enlivens and sustains…
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Speaking the Truth in Love

Posted on by Michael Rose
There is a comedian who has a bit where he describes some of the idiosyncrasies of living in the Southern United States. He laughs as he describes how people would say things like “That baby sure is ugly! Bless his little heart” or “Betsy sure looks fat in that dress. Bless her heart!”  He jokes…
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Here Comes the Light

Posted on by Michael Rose
Once upon a time, a Cave lived under the ground, as caves have the habit of doing. It had spent its lifetime in darkness. One day it heard a voice calling to it, “Come up into the light; come and see the sunshine.” But the cave retorted, “I don’t know what you mean. There isn’t…
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Special in a Real way

Posted on by Michael Rose
A powerful address by this teacher to the graduating class and it seems many others think so too for this speech has gone viral and the subject of many a blog post.  It seems to me to awaken / jar some of us from our slumber, warm the hearts of some of us older folks…
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Hope on the Line

Posted on by Michael Rose
I hung hope out with the laundry, clothes-pinned tenderly beside a pillowcase, a tea towel, two sheets and some socks. I could tell she needed air, a sweet puff of wind. She needed to get warm again basking in the sun.   After a few hours, I came out with my basket and took her…
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