Speaking of Spirit

"No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."  Helen Keller  Over the past few weeks, we have suffered the wrath of natural disasters around the world.  In spite of total destruction, humans tenaciously begin to reconstruct their lives.  How? Everything I know about life, after 64 years of living, tells me that the "can do" attitude comes from faith, which inspires hope, which calls forth creativity, which brings forth incredible things.  (In this instance, when I say faith, I don't mean belonging to a religion. I mean real belief that comes from the knowledge that there is more to life than meets the eye.) Proof of this phenomenon can be found everywhere. People in countries totally devastated by floods, landslides, earthquakes and tsunamis, can be found pulling together to rebuild their lives. I find this incredible! Recently, I viewed a video ...

This week, as I walked down our lovely tree-lined street, I saw it...the first leaf of autumn.  Everything in me screamed, "NO!!"  I am not ready for fall, not ready for the cold to begin to seep into my days, not ready for the thoughts of blizzards, ice storms, holidays. But, as a wise person once said, "The only constant in life is change." So, no matter how unwilling I am, how unprepared, how unhappy, the season will change in its own time.   Life happens in its own time. We may try to schedule things. We turn clocks back and forth.  We may assign days to various happenings. But, in reality, what will come to pass arrives when the time is right, in spite of all our protests, manipulations or demands. Change has to happen. If a child doesn't grow, it means something is terribly wrong. If the weather stayed constant, plants would fail to grow. If seeds stayed seeds, there would be no flowers, no food. Change has to happen. Change is a blessing. Writer ...