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Abundant Living Vol. XIX, Issue 49

“But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!  – Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 

My neighbor and I were commiserating the other day about the problem we are both experiencing with our newspaper carrier, who is unacceptably inconsistent in delivering the papers on time, or some days not at all.  Yet, the system for reporting such matters only offers two choices, either an automated voice response if you call on the phone, or an automated on-line link.  No option is offered to speak with a live human being.

While I am a huge believer in technology and a supporter of its continued advancement, I also believe there is nothing mankind can ever invent or develop that can replace human contact, including artificial intelligence (AI) that is getting so much press these days.  Technology, after all, even at its best, is merely a human invention.  We humans, though, are created by God in His own image, and there is no way man can out-create God.

Many years ago in my former career there was great fear that technological advancements were going to displace many of our jobs, that clients could access the same information we had and they would be able to transact business without our assistance.  But the CEO of our company reminded us of something I have never forgotten, that is that “people will always be in need of the advice and counsel of a fellow human being.”

Recently an urgent message appeared in my inbox from a client who needed to talk to me right away about a crucial meeting he was about to attend.  He needed some assurance that he was properly prepared in terms of the content for which he was responsible, and “advice and counsel” on the best way to present himself.  In a conversation that lasted no more than ten minutes, all I did was listen and offer encouragement.  Yet, at the end he thanked me profusely, that I had helped him get “his head screwed on straight.”

Being human, something I believe technology can never do even in its highest form, was the missing link with my neighbor and me in our frustration with the newspaper carrier.  It is only our fellow human beings who provide us with companionship and intimacy, and with whom we have relationships.  Let’s face it, we need each other, or as my old boss once said, “people will always be in need of the advice and counsel of a fellow human being.”  “But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!”


Abundant Living Vol. XIX, Issue 48

“We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks . . .”  – Psalm 75:1 

“Accept, O Lord, our thanks and praise for all that you have done for us.  We thank you for the splendor of the whole creation, for the beauty of this world, for the wonder of life, and for the mystery of love.

We thank you for the blessing of family and friends, and for the loving care which surrounds us on every side.

We thank you for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts, and for leading us to accomplishments which satisfy and delight us.

We thank you also for those disappointments and failures that lead us to acknowledge our dependence on you alone.

Above all, we thank you for your Son Jesus Christ; for the truth of his Word and the example of his life; for his steadfast obedience, by which he overcame temptation; for his dying, through which he overcame death; and for his rising to life again, in which we are raised to the life of your kingdom.

Grant us the gift of your Spirit, that we may know Christ and make him known; and through him, at all times and in all places, may give thanks to you in all things.  Amen”  (Book of Common Prayer)

Hope your Thanksgiving has been filled with joy and gratitude!!


Abundant Living Vol. XIX, Issue 47

 (Updated from 2014) 

“We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.”  – Psalm 78:4 

My Grandmother’s Wedding Dress – Part 2

For some reason the harp caught my eye.  Then I remembered what Debbie the antique dealer had told me, that it was a young woman who plays the harp who had purchased my grandmother’s wedding gown.  Could this be her harp, I wondered?  Moments later a charming young woman appeared after taking a short break, and when she noticed me in front of her harp immediately asked, “May I play something for you?”  “Of course,” I replied, “but first may I ask, did you by chance buy an old wedding dress from an antique . . .?”  Before I could finish the sentence she threw her arms around me as if I were a favorite uncle.  “I’ve been dying to meet you!” she squealed, recognizing that I must have been the purveyor of the vintage wedding dress she had purchased.  It was a chance encounter for both of us that Saturday morning where we were shopping for vegetables at the local farmers’ market and she and her harp were entertaining passersby in exchange for an occasional tip.  “I’m Heather,” she said finally, releasing me that huge hug.

Besides being an accomplished harpist, Heather also happens to be a collector of vintage clothing, sometimes modeling the dresses she has collected when she performs.  As it turns out my grandmother’s wedding gown fit her like a glove, and she has since worn it a number of times during performances.  But what made the dress extra special to her was knowing the story about my grandmother, her history, personality, and her character.  And that is what prompted the spontaneous embrace I received from her that day.

Everyone has a story, yet many of us shy away from telling ours because we assume they are of little value.  Being a rather modest person, I suspect my grandmother felt the same way about hers.  And I’m sure in her wildest dreams she would never have imagined her story, as conveyed through her wedding dress, would touch someone’s life generations hence.  When Heather got married a few years ago, while she did not actually wear my grandmother’s dress, according to her it did influence the way she designed her own.  Which is to say, our stories matter, regardless how modest they may seem.  So, let us not hide our stories from the next generations.  We never know the influence they may have.


Abundant Living Vol. XIX, Issue 46

 Part 1 of a two-part series.   (Reprint from 2014)  

“I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old – what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.”  – Psalm 78:2-3 

My Grandmother’s Wedding Dress – Part 1

I had never seen my grandmother’s wedding dress, even though it had been in my possession for at least fifteen years; that is, until the day I sold it to a local antique dealer a few years ago.  When it was bequeathed to me in the course of settling my parents’ estate it had long before been carefully packed in a large blue box and sealed with shrink wrap for preservation. I dared not break the seal to take a peek for fear of exposing it to the elements and causing it harm.  So, for years the beautiful, delicate, slightly tattered lace dress my grandmother had worn on her wedding day in 1909 sat tucked away in an airtight box on the top shelf of a rarely used closet in our home.

What should I do with it, I sometimes wondered, for I often felt it was something with which I had been entrusted, something sacred that was not mine to keep?  Yet it just sat there.  Then one day I met Debbie who owned an antique shop in downtown McKinney where we live.  After some conversation I felt Debbie understood my plight and knew exactly what to do.  So the two of us, Debbie and me, carefully unwrapped and unpacked my grandmother’s sweet delicate wedding gown from its sealed wrapper, and I finally laid eyes on it for the first time.  Debbie displayed the dress on a mannequin in her store in a prominent location and attached to it a brief history of the dress along with a short biography of my grandmother I had written so the prospective purchaser would be buying not just the dress, but also the story behind it.

“I will utter hidden things, things from of old – what we have heard and known . . .,” the Psalmist declares.  So it is I am sharing this story about my grandmother and her wedding dress – because her life mattered.  For in her almost ninety-six years she experienced the same ups and downs we all experience, yet faced them all with dignity and grace, supported by her strong faith, a life of prayer, concern for others, and doing the right things. . .  Well, the dress did sell, and when you read Part 2 next week you’ll see how my grandmother’s life still matters to this day, and why yours matters too.


Abundant Living Vol. XIX, Issue 45

“I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.”  – Matthew 25:35 

We were having breakfast the other morning, my beloved and I, as we always do with the newspapers spread out between us, which inevitably caused our otherwise pleasant conversation to drift toward the state of the world – all the violence, hatred, war, injustices, and political discord – and asking ourselves what in the world we, little old us, can do about it.  “All I know is,” Tee replied, “I can either sit around and be woe-is-me, or I can ask myself how I can help someone today.”  My jaw went slack when she shared that little pearl of wisdom.  I literally froze momentarily, staring into her eyes, until I could find a scrap of paper to write down what she had just said.

It occurred to me after my wife so eloquently awakened my senses at the breakfast table, about the parable of the starfish.  A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm.  When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up and toss it back into the ocean.  People watched her with amusement.  Finally, a man approached her and said, “Little girl, you can’t save all these starfish.  You can’t begin to make a difference.”  The girl reached down and picked up another starfish and hurled it back in the ocean, after which she looked up at the man and replied.  “Well, I made a difference for that one.”

Ironically, this past weekend I was reading David Brooks’ column in the New York Times entitled “How to Stay Sane in Brutalizing Times.”  In it Brooks asked a challenging question.  “Are you a person who obsesses over how unfairly you are treated, or are you a person who is primarily concerned by how you see and treat others?”  (Was David Brooks eavesdropping on our conversation the other morning, I wondered?)

Jesus tells his own version of the starfish parable.  “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,” he says.  But the righteous were puzzled and asked, “when did we do that?”  “O, you did it alright,” He replied.  “What you did for the very least, you did for me too.”  So, what can we, little old us, do to help during these “brutalizing” times?  I think my wife is right, we can either sit around and be woe-is-me, or we can ask ourselves how we can help someone today.