Connected

...then the Lord God formed humanity from the dust of the ground, and breathed into human nostrils the breath of life; and humans became living beings...out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air...
Genesis 2

The universe is a single multiform event. There is no such thing as a disconnected thing. Each thing emerged from the primeval fireball, and nothing can remove the primordial link this establishes with every other thing in the universe, no matter how distant. You and everything you do and become are further articulations of the primal fireball.
Brian Swimme, The Universe Is A Green Dragon


Pick an object, any object in your immediate sight and think about from where it comes. Trace its existence back as far as you can. Follow in reverse its process of being created, and if human-made make sure you remember all the different hands and imaginations involved in the process. Trace it all back to the earth, the earth to the stars, the stars to swirling gases and particles, and gases and particles to the eventual Mystery.

How does that tomato get to my table? How can I twitter the location of my favorite food truck, then go to the corner and have lunch?

Now start all over and do the same thing with yourself and the next person you see. From where do you come? What chemicals, minerals, processes, experiences and influences have made and continue to make you who you are?

Take a deep breath. Connected!

Summer Solstice

"...God makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good..."  Matthew 5:45 


"Summertime and the livin' is easy..."   George Gershwin,  "Porgy and Bess"




Today at 7:09 p.m. EDT the sun will be at it farthest point north on earth - the beginning of summer in the northern hemisphere and the start of winter for our southern neighbors.  Today we have more time of sun and daylight than on any other.  It is a day to observe and celebrate the abundance of creation as the earth brings forth all manner of vegetation and fruit.  It is a day to remember and contemplate the potential and possibility within our lives, and that the same sun shines on us all. 


So, get outside and feel the sun's warmth, bite into a fresh vegetable or fruit, find a quiet shade and listen to the sounds of summer, remember all earth neighbors under the same sun, slow down a little and enjoy the longest day of the year.   Happy Summer Solstice! 


    

Convergence

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."   

-Revelation 22:13 

Where does one thing begin and another end?

From the center of the earth through crevices at the bottom of the ocean a mixture of heat and matter as old as the universe seeps into the sea. Cells become atoms, become chemicals, become vegetation and animals creating a web of sustenance and nourishment.  The air we breathe comes from oceans and forests, the food we eat from the ground.  All the objects around us were once but ideas in someone's mind, individually and collectively.  Inspiration, imagination, knowledge, and skill conspire and take form in tools, shelter, clothing, and creature comforts all drawn from the earth.  Shelters become villages, become cities, become countries.  People become families, become tribes, become races, become nations.  Ideas become ideology, become structure, become religion, become...?

Where does one thing begin and another end?

"I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, God, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, …so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."    

-John 17:21-23

Extending the Inning

"It ain't over 'til it's over."    Yogi Berra


It was inevitable that I would eventually post a baseball blog.   Last night at 11:20 p.m.  I was among the mere shadow of what had been 20-plus thousand fans at Nationals Park in the bottom of the 12th inning to see the two out-two strike-bases loaded hit by Bryce Harper to win the game for the Nationals.

My friend Byron Buck and I had adhered to one of the basic rules of baseball so eloquently stated above by Yogi Berra - we stayed until the end (a lesson I've learned the hard way numerous times).  Fortunately, and our wives will attest to this, we were at the game without them or we would have probably left after bottom of the 10th-two out, full count- bases loaded strike out by the Nats, or the leadoff homerun by the Mets in the top of the 12th.

It all reminds me of something one of my daughters said several years ago while watching a game together - "Papa, one reason I like baseball is because there is no time limit.  In theory the game could go on forever."  Every pitch has the potential of extending the game.  And, of course, as was the case last night,  during "Free baseball!" (which is what the late Skip Carey, Atlanta Braves announcer, called extra innings) one pitch can also end it.

Just as every pitch of a baseball game has the potential to extend the inning, the thoughts, decisions, and choices we make in our lives are the stepping stones of our life journey and each and every one of them has the potential for something fresh and new, even when it's the bottom of the 12th and we're down to our last strike.

So, with all due respect to Yogi I suggest that when it comes to life, "It ain't over..."   Extend the Inning!