The following story was originally published in 1989 in my book The Furniture of Heaven & Other Parables. Reading it now over three decades later, it strikes me as more than a little prophetic. See what you think. (Also available as a video.)
Let Fiery Preachers and Prophets Arise!
A friend told me of being at an A.A. meeting where a young woman expressed thanks to God for delivering her from a terrible drug addiction.
Hearing God: Rumi and the Still, Small Voice
I’m a big fan of the poet Rumi. Recently in Toronto I visited the Aga Khan Museum to view a special exhibit celebrating Rumi. Before even entering the beautiful building, one sees a site-specific installation which employs a sentence from Rumi: “There is a voice that does not use words.”
Captivated by Cutlery: The Fascination of the Ordinary
This morning I enjoyed a few moments gazing into my cutlery drawer. I can’t remember ever doing this before. Cutlery is not something one looks at, particularly, it’s just there—useful, shiny, not unattractive, but not noteworthy.
Artificial Stupidity: My Misadventure with Chat GPT
As I head into holiday time, I thought it would be good to invite a guest to write my next blog post. So I asked my friend Chatty, aka Chat GPT (an AI program), to imitate my style with a new blog post.
What Is the Good News? Hear ye, hear ye!
One of my own favorite lines I’ve ever written is in my book Champagne for the Soul where I say: “If you don’t know the good news, keep asking and asking until the answer that comes provokes an eruption of joy.”
Of Pencils and Shavers: The Complexity of the Ordinary
I hope I live long enough to see the next generation of electric shavers. Indeed I wonder if there has ever been a new generation of this appliance, since the ones today don’t work much better than the one my dad loaned me for my first shave back in the 1960’s.
TESTING 1-2-3: A Spiritual Sound Check
Life is a great mystery, and we have many questions.
Especially we wonder about evil and suffering.
Why? Why? Why?
These Are the Glory Days: Beginning Eternity Now
Back in the 80’s a favorite worship song of mine—and of just about everyone I knew—was “You Are My Hiding Place” by Michael Ledner.
Tiny Expanses: Small Is Beautiful
While writing a book called The Consolation of the Ordinary, I tried to come up with as many synonyms as possible for ordinary: daily, everyday, mundane, quotidian, common, and so on. Only late in this process did it occur to me that one such synonym is small.