Reflections on trying things a new & different way plus thoughts on fishing: themes from John 21.
Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. – Soren Kierkegaard
Ironically … it is by the means of seemingly perfunctory daily rituals and routines that we enhance the personal relationships that nourish and sustain us. ― Kathleen Norris
Solving problems means listening. – Richard Branson
One thing becomes clearer as one gets older and one’s fishing experience increases, and that is the paramount importance of one’s fishing companions. — John Ashley Cooper
We don’t know who we are until we see what can we do. – Martha Grimes
Whatever you can do,
or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius,
power and magic in it.
— W. H. Murray
A Thirsty Fish (excerpt) — Rumi
I don’t get tired of you. Don’t grow weary
of being compassionate toward me!
All this thirst equipment
must surely be tired of me, the water jar, the water carrier.
I have a thirsty fish in me
that can never find enough of what it’s thirsty for!
Show me the way to the ocean!
Break these half-measures, these small containers …
Songsabout difference:
- What a Difference You’ve Made in My Life by Ronnie Milsap (soft rock)
- It Makes No Difference Now by Ray Charles (soul / country western cover)
- The Difference Between Us by Tina Turner (rock)
- What Difference Does It Make by the Smiths (rock)
- Different by Michael Tyler (Christian)
- Different by Hayden Summerall (pop)
Some songs for challenging times:
- The Greatest by James Blunt (inspirational pop)
- Joy by For King & Country
- In Dangerous Times performed by local singer & minister Mary Edes
- I Feel Like Going On performed by local singer & minister Mary Edes:
Fish & Fishing Songs:
- Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United (Christian)
- Big Fish by FFE (Gospel)
- I’ll Probably Be Out Fishing by Toby Keith (country):
- Fisherman’s Friend by Port Isaac Fisherman’s Friend (sea chanty / acapella)
- Big-Eyed Fish by Dave Mathews Band (ballad):
- Gone Fishin’ by Bing Crosby & Louie Armstrong (big band)
Questions to consider from John 21 (link: John 21:1-14)
- What is one thing that this pandemic has caused you to see or experience differently? What do you appreciate?
- What do you want to keep from this experience? What do you want to let go or be done with?
- What in your life do you now consider to be abundant, that might once have felt scarce or limited?
- And what do you now wish you had in greater quantity or quality, that you didn’t appreciate before this time?
- What would you wish to give or offer, without limit, if you could?
- What simple rituals or habits create a pattern in your daily life?
- What gives you a sense of purpose?
- What are some comforting practices or routines that you have developed during the pandemic, or in the bigger picture, across the course of your life?
Trying a Different Approach; Attempting Something New
One country … one ideology, one system is not sufficient. It is helpful to have a variety of different approaches … We can then make a joint effort to solve the problems of the whole of humankind. — Dalai Lama
You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things. – Nate Berkus
Do one thing every day that scares you. — Eleanor Roosevelt
Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. – T.S. Eliot
I hope that … you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before, and more importantly, you’re doing something. — Neil Gaiman
Creativity is thinking up new things. Innovation is doing new things. – Theodore Levitt
Try new things everyday. Don’t be afraid of failures. You will not lose anything. But your brain will be packed with experiences. — Akash Ryan Agarwal
Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. — Neale Donald Walsch
I’m an entrepreneur at heart. I’m not afraid of starting up, starting over, or even failing for that matter, because the fact that I try new things in itself is a victory. — Lynn Collins
Without experimentation, a willingness to as and try new things, we shall surely become static, repetitive, and moribund. – Anthony Bourdain
To live an art-filled life, one must be willing to try new things & accept that things change. – Lee Hammond
We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths. – Walt Disney
Life is worthwhile if you try. It doesn’t mean you can do everything, but there are a lot of things you can do, if you just try. – Jim Rohn
What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything? – Vincent van Gogh
I won’t know if I like it until I try it, will I? ― Cassandra Clare
How do you know, unless you open the door? ― Casey Rislov
Change How You Think About Problems
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. – Albert Einstein
Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines. – Robert H. Shuller
Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced. – James Baldwin
Every problem is a gift. Without them we wouldn’t grow. – Tony Robbins
It isn’t that they cannot find the solution. It is that they cannot see the problem. – G.K Chesterton
Problems are nothing but wake-up calls for creativity. – Gerhard Gschwandtner
Inside of every problem lies an opportunity. – Robert Kiposaki
There is no problem outside of you that is superior to the power within you. – Bob Proctor
You can increase your problem-solving skills by honing your question-asking ability. – Michael J. Gelb
On Fishing: Light-hearted and Deep-minded Observations
Fishing is a discipline in the equality of men – for all men are equal before fish. — Herbert Hoover.
Yes, Jesus poured himself out for others. But he also went to parties, had breakfasts on the beach, went into the desert by himself, and took time off from the crowds. — Joan Chittister
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. — Henry David Thoreau.
The fishermen know that the sea is dangerous and the storm terrible, but they have never found these dangers sufficient reason for remaining ashore. — Vincent Van Gogh
… fishermen are the people with the most immediate vested interest in having a healthy sea. — Mark Kurlansky
The fish and I were both stunned and disbelieving to find ourselves connected by a line. — William Humphrey
In every species of fish … it is the ones that have got away that thrill me the most, the ones that keep fresh in my memory. — Ray Bergman
… drought affects everyone in the state, from farmers to fishermen, business owners to suburban residents, and everyone has a role to play in using precious water resources as wisely and efficiently as possible. — Frances Beinecke
What did Christ really do? He hung out with hard-drinking fishermen. — Iggy Pop
Fishermen own the fish they catch, but they do not own the ocean.— Etienne Schneider
There will be days when the fishing is better than one’s most optimistic forecast, others when it is far worse. Either is a gain over just staying home. — Roderick Haig Brown
Fishing is not an escape from life, but often a deeper immersion into it. — Harry Middleton.
I go fishing not to find myself but to lose myself. — Joseph Monniger
Christianity began as a religion of the poor and dispossessed – farmers, fishermen, Bedouin shepherds. There’s a great lure to that kind of simplicity and rigor – the discipline, the call to action. — Camille Paglia
I only hope the fish will take half as much trouble for me as I’ve taken for them. — Rudyard Kipling.
Everyone should believe in something. I believe I’ll go fishing. — Henry David Thoreau.
If all politicians fished, instead of spoke publicly, we would be at peace with the world. — Will Rogers
The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of something that is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. — attributed to John Bucha
I don’t want to sit at the head table anymore. I want to go fishing. — George Bush.
The best fisherman I know try not to make the same mistakes over and over again; instead they strive to make new and interesting mistakes and to remember what they learned from them. — John Gierach
I have fished through fishless days that I remember happily without regret. — Roderick Haig Brown
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad. — attributed to A.K. Best
Having a Sense of Purpose: Ordinary Tasks, Small Habits & Rituals as Sacred Moments
I am not sure exactly what heaven will be like, but I know that when we die and it comes time for God to judge us, he will not ask, ‘How many good things have you done in your life?’ rather he will ask, ‘How much love did you put into what you did? ― St Mother Teresa of Calcutta
It’s not what you do, but how much love you put into it that matters. ― Rick Warren
… God’s attention is indeed fixed on the little things. But this is not because God is a great cosmic cop, eager to catch us in minor transgressions, but simply because God loves us–loves us so much that the divine presence is revealed even in the meaningless workings of daily life. It is in the ordinary, the here-and-now, that God asks us to recognize that the creation is indeed refreshed like dew-laden grass that is “renewed in the morning” or to put it in more personal and also theological terms, “our inner nature is being renewed everyday”. Seen in this light, what strikes many modern readers as the ludicrous details in Leviticus involving God in the minuitae of daily life might be revisioned as the very love of God. ― Kathleen Norris
Excerpt from an essay by Rumi —There is one thing in this world which you must never forget to do. If you forget everything else and not this, there is nothing to worry about, but if you remember everything else and forget this, then you will have done nothing in your life.
It is as if a king has sent you to some country to do a task, and you perform a hundred other services, but not the one he sent you to do. So human beings come to this world to do particular work. That work is the purpose, and each is specific to the person. If you don’t do it, it’s as though a knife of the finest tempering were nailed into a wall to hang things on. For a penny an iron nail could be bought to serve for that.
Remember the deep root of your being, the presence of your lord. Give your life to the one who already owns your breath and your moments. If you don’t, you will be like the one who takes a precious dagger and hammers it into his kitchen wall for a peg to hold his dipper gourd. You will be wasting valuable keenness and foolishly ignoring your dignity and your purpose.
If you want to know if you are, in fact, loving yourself at all, ask yourself if you have ever cultivated something you like to do—like crocheting or gardening or painting or golfing or music. Ever. And if you haven’t, why haven’t you? Listen carefully to the answer. It is the key to being a whole person; it is the key to a whole other life. — Sr Joan Chittister
Reflections on Advent 4: Love (plus longest night, resistance songs, Blue Christmas)
This
week, Mary’s song, one of four found in the Gospel of Luke, is a song
of praise and resistance, an expectation for justice and change. In
times when we wonder whether to expect transformation, we are reminded
to work for change, and to recall that we are lights in the darkness.
How will you shine in this season and into the coming year?
Les Miserables – Great Crescendo (excerpt)
Do you hear the people sing? Singing a song of angry men?
It is the music of a people, Who will not be slaves again!
When the beating of your heart, Echoes the beating of the drums
There is a life about to start, When tomorrow comes!
Do you hear the people sing, Lost in the valley of the night?
It is the music of a people, Who are climbing to the light
For the wretched of the earth, There is a flame that never dies
Even the darkest night will end, And the sun will rise.
For those Living with Grief & Loss
I hear
the love of those
who have loved me
echo in me.
All the notes of my song
sing over theirs,
the only kind of beauty.
The song does not die.
May I live
with love and mercy
for it will echo
long after.
— Steve Garnaas-Holmes
AGAPE as LOVE
The essence of agape love is goodwill, benevolence, and willful delight in the object of love. — Got Questions
True transformation is when we unleash the power of agape. We create an environment for positive change. There is still a world of possibility, even when the worst thing happens that could possibly happen. Forgiveness gives me the capacity to contribute something of value—to create a positive outcome to a terrible tragedy. —Desmond Tutu
Our hearts are like diamonds because they have the capacity to express divine light, which is agape; we not only are portals for this agape, but are made of it. — Anne Lamott
I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world. ― Mother Teresa
The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them. — Thomas Merton
All, everything that I understand, I understand only because I love. — Leo Tolstoy
Agape is a sobering love to receive, for it says, ‘If I cannot love you for who you are, then I will do so despite who you are.’ It is unique in that it is able to love those whom it cannot like. ― James Castleton, Mending of a Broken Heart
The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well. — Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
If you pour a handful of salt into a cup of water, the water becomes undrinkable. But if you pour the salt into a river, people can continue to draw the water to cook, wash, and drink. The river is immense, and it has the capacity to receive, embrace, and transform. When our hearts are small, our understanding and compassion are limited, and we suffer. We can’t accept or tolerate others and their shortcomings, and we demand that they change. But when our hearts expand, these same things don’t make us suffer anymore. We have a lot of understanding and compassion and can embrace others. We accept others as they are, and then they have a chance to transform. — Thich Nhat Hahn
LONGEST NIGHT: Of Moons & Stars – Light in Darkness –
We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We’re made of star stuff. — Carl Sagan
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings. — Wendell Berry
You must have shadow and light source both. Listen, and lay your head under the tree of awe. — Rumi
We go into the darkness, we seek initiation, in order to know directly how the roots of all beings are tied together: how we are related to all things, how this relationship expresses itself in terms of interdependence. — Joan Halifax
Enlightenment is like the moon reflected on the water.
The moon does not get wet, nor is the water broken.
Although its light is wide and great,
The moon is reflected even in a puddle an inch wide.
The whole moon and the entire sky
Are reflected in one dewdrop on the grass. — Dogen
Is the sweetness of the cane sweeter,
Than the One who made the canefield?
Behind the beauty of the moon is the MoonMaker.
There is Intelligence inside the ocean’s intelligence
Feeding our love like an invisible waterwheel … ― Rumi
The pine tree of Shiogoshi / Trickles all night long / Shiny drops of moonlight. — Basho
… [Sagan’s] statement sums up the fact that the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen atoms in our bodies, as well as atoms of all other heavy elements, were created in previous generations of stars over 4.5 billion years ago. Because humans and every other animal as well as most of the matter on Earth contain these elements, we are literally made of star stuff, said Chris Impey, professor of astronomy at the University of Arizona. “All organic matter containing carbon was produced originally in stars. The universe was originally hydrogen and helium, the carbon was made subsequently, over billions of years.” … In 2002, music artist Moby released “We Are All Made of Stars,” explaining during a press interview that his lyrics were inspired by quantum physics. “On a basic quantum level, all the matter in the universe is essentially made up of stardust,” he said. — Remy Melina, Are We Really All Made of Stars? Live Science (excerpt)
SONGS of RESISTANCE: Commentary
Why,
one might wonder, all these songs? Because singing is an act of
resistance. That’s not to say that all singing is, of course. Sometimes
it’s an act of joy and sometimes of camaraderie, but it’s also an act of
resistance. The slaves knew this. When they sang their spirituals they
were both praising God and protesting the masters who locked them out of
worship but couldn’t keep them out of the promise of deliverance of the
Bible. And the civil rights leaders knew this, too, singing songs like
“We Shall Overcome,” when so many in the society didn’t give them a
chance to advance their cause of justice, let alone triumph. — David Lose, Singing as an Act of Resistance (excerpt)
I wonder whether we would dare to sing the Magnificat today. What would it mean? — Richard Ascough
It’s easy to sing the song, but to pray the lyrics from deep within … that’s worship! — Gangai Victor
Who can resist … the story of Mary’s elegantly exuberant prayer, the
Magnificat? Her spontaneous outburst in song echoes Hannah’s praise for
God’s marvelous deeds in the lives of all who are marginalized or
downtrodden (1 Samuel 2). Like Hannah, Mary sings out of her own
experience, her own hope, but out of the experience and hope of her
people as well. The Magnificat is a lovely expression of joy at God’s
promises kept, a celebration of the tables being turned, or overturned:
the lowly are lifted up, the proud are brought down, and the hungry are
fed. God remembers the people of Israel, and the promises God has made
to them. What a powerful text for every heart hungry … Kathryn Matthews (excerpt, UCC Sermon Seeds Dec 23 Reflection)
One thing we do know: music in the United States has led directly to
environmental action, the equality of our citizens, a movement against
war and violence, and it has raised the voices of the working American
… Powerful songs have always been the engine behind the greatest
social movements — it is the marching soundtrack that unites the people
and gives them focus and resolve, and it’s not limited to the U.S. In
1970s Nigeria, Fela Kuti invented Afro Beat music as a way to protest
the oil company regime of Nigeria. His song “Zombie” became a global hit
that railed against Nigeria’s military dictators. In South Africa, the
indigenous Mbatanga music helped bring about the end of apartheid and it
spread a message of peace and reconciliation in that nation. In Chile,
Victor Jara wrote songs about his country’s struggles, sparking the
Nueva Cancion (New Songs) movement that caused South Americans to rise
up against their military dictatorships and replace them with
democracies. In Brazil, the Tropicalia movement was created by
songwriters like Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Rita Lee as a form of
protest against the Brazilian military junta, which eventually fell
from its own corruption and incompetence. In Australia and New Zealand,
popular songs written by indigenous and non-ingenious songwriters
sparked an indigenous land reclamation movement that is still active
today. — Barrett Martin, Huffington Post (excerpt)
Throughout the ages, God’s people have faced oppression. And in the face of that oppression, God’s people have sung God’s songs of resistance. But God’s people have also been oppressors. We have enslaved others — and each other. We have stolen from, oppressed, and slain others — and each other. And when we have done so, the oppressed, the enslaved, the persecuted have sung God’s songs of resistance against us. — Rolf Jacobson