When all you've ever wanted isn't enough

It is a must read book by Harold Kushner. When All You've Ever Wanted Isn't Enough.

If you are like me, you are at a point in your life where things seem confusing, confounding, even devoid of purpose. I keep waiting for some great sign of what I am suppose to do with my life to give it meaning. I pray and ask God for answers.

Kushner writes that we already have the answers, but we go about life without really living. He says "when you have learned to live, life itself is the reward."

It is a quick read. I started it on Friday and finished it Sunday, but I imagine it's effects will change my outlook on life forever.

Obama's Mother

There is this fantastic article in the New York Times this morning reflecting on the life of Ms. Soetoro, Barack Obama's mother. A couple things said in this article have breathed new life into my weary bones. These words describe the kind of person I would like to be. May you find joy and peace in the service of others. May fearless living break down the walls that prevent you from living to the core of who you are.

“She felt that somehow, wandering through uncharted territory, we might stumble upon something that will, in an instant, seem to represent who we are at the core,” said Maya Soetoro-Ng, Mr. Obama’s half-sister. “That was very much her philosophy of life — to not be limited by fear or narrow definitions, to not build walls around ourselves and to do our best to find kinship and beauty in unexpected places.”

“She had a world view, even as a young girl. It was embracing the different, rather than that ethnocentric thing of shunning the
different. That was where her mind took her.”

“She was very determined to be remembered for a life of service and thought that service was really the true measure of a life.”

Busy Song

Have you see the episode of Veggie Tales where Larry gets mugged by bandits and they leave him stuck upside-down in a whole? It is the good Samaritan story with a twist.

While Larry's head is in the whole, the major of his city, and a doctor come along, but instead of pulling old Larry out the whole they sing a song about how busy they are.

Lately I feel like that is exactly what I've been doing. Dismissing the important to take care of the urgent. Much like singing a song.

"I'm busy, busy, dreadfully busy.

You've no idea what I have to do.

Busy, busy, shockingly busy.

Much, much too busy for you."

Gotta get back to work!