Monet......................

 

Claude Monet   1874   Sunset on the Seine    Oil on Canvas

The Art & Artists blog gifted us a 27-part series on the wondrous works of Claude Monet.  Do take advantage of it.

crafting a gift...............

 

No matter how marvellous the mountain-top epiphany, no matter how deep the vigil in the forest, if you cannot craft a gift from the experience, in the end the encounter will never quite accomplish itself.

-Martin Shaw

I remember........................

 

more fun here

the whole bundle.................

 

     When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes.  I believe and I doubt.  I hope and get discouraged.  I love and I hate.  I feel bad about feeling good.  I feel guilty about not feeling guilty.  I am trusting and suspicious.  I am honest and I still play games.  Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer.

     To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark.  In admitting my shadow side, I learn who I am and what God's grace means.  As Thomas Merton put it, "A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God."

     The gospel of grace nullifies our adulation of televangelists, charismatic superstars, and local church heroes.  It obliterates the two-class citizenship theory operative in many American churches.  For grace proclaims the awesome truth that all is a gift.  All that is good is ours, not by right, but by the sheer bounty of a gracious God.

-Brennan Manning,  The Ragamuffin Gospel

Part of the joy of living......

 

.........is exchanging good books with good friends.

Let’s talk for a minute about the etiquette of gifting books. The etiquette is that you probably shouldn’t do it. First of all, there is a 99% chance that you’re going to gift a book that someone won’t like. You’re gifting it because you like it, but you don’t know what the other person likes, so it will probably sit on a shelf somewhere. Second of all, it’s like gifting someone a vacuum cleaner. Great, but now I have to spend ten hours cleaning the house.

-Jared Dillian

the quiet moments....................

 

    Why me?

    Why was I spared when so many others weren't?

    Why was I gifted with this extra time?

    And what do I do with this gift?

    This kind of introspection isn't merely a luxury of age, it's a necessity, a way to reconcile the randomness of existence with the purpose I sought.  I realized that the answers weren't in the grand events, but in the quiet moments, in the decisions made when no one was watching, in the way I chose to face each new day.

-George Raveling, What You're Made For: Powerful Life Lessons from My Career in Sports

the gift.......................

 

Seventy days on the river with a confusion between river turbulence and human tribulation.  We are here to be curious not consoled.  The gift of the gods is consciousness not my forlorn bleating prayers for equilibrium . . .

-Jim Harrison, In Search of Small Gods

Nicholas Bate...........................

 

.........................offers a public service.

on winging it...................

 

You might believe you need more experience or qualifications in order to feel confident among your peers, but the truth is that even the most experienced and qualified people feel as though they're winging it much of the time—and that if you're ever going to make you unique contribution to the world, you'll probably have to do it in a state of feeling unprepared.

-Oliver Burkeman, Meditations for Mortals

Appreciation.......................

Instead of feeling guilty when someone helps you, your only obligation is to be grateful.  Expressing appreciation doesn't just make givers feel good, it also motivates them to keep doing good.  It allows them to feel values and shows them their time was well spent.

Generosity is not a loan to repay or a debt to settle.  It's a gift to appreciate.  Yes, you can reciprocate a favor by paying it back.  But the best way to honor an act of kindness is by paying it forward.

-Adam Grant, from this substack

gratitude and obligation................

 There is a line of obligation that connects us to those who gave us what we have; and our concern for the future is an extension of that line.  We take the future of our community into account not by fictitious cost-benefit calculations, but more concretely, by seeing ourselves as inheriting benefits and passing them on.  Concern for future generations is a non-specific outgrowth of gratitude.

-Roger Scruton, Conservatism: An Invitation to the Grand Tradition

Good question.................

 .........................Given decline or growth, who doesn’t choose growth for their kids and grandkids?

Living well...........................

 

via

what time is for........................

 On the other hand, when you have enough confidence to take your own time, to take your time to be present, to do the work, to engage with what’s in front of you right now, it’s a gift.

-Seth Godin, from this post

Two gifts............................

 In this universe we are given two gifts:  the ability to love, and the ability to ask questions.  Which are, at the same time, the fires that warm us and the fires that scorch us.

-Mary Oliver, from her essay on Poe in Upstream

Different..........................

       As Arius would write, like Panaetius before him, we each have our own implanted gifts (aphormai), resources that can lead us to virtue.  Our personalities suit us differently to different paths of ethical development.  We all have different launching points, but these inborn tools together with hard effort will get us to where we want to go.

       We must focus on the task at hand, and waste not a moment on the tasks that are not ours.  We must have courage.  We must be fair.  We must check our emotions.  We must, above all, be wise.

-Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hanselman, Lives Of The Stoics:  The Art of Living from Zeno to Marcus Aurelius

Gifts..................................

 "You get different gifts in life, and one of my greatest gifts is my mom and dad."

-Jeff Bezos, as culled from Invent & Wander

I have a difficult time accepting the notion that I am privileged by my skin color.  I have absolutely no doubt that I have been highly privileged by growing up in the stable, safe, supportive, positive home of my parents.  The foundation they provided me has been priceless. 

Listen up..............................

 Go out of your way to be good to an older person.  You'll discover that you can make somebody's entire day with a smile, a phone call, some fresh-picked daisies, or whatever it is you've got.

Our elders have so much to give to those who listen, but that are the ones who deserve to receive.  Don't pass up the chance to brighten their lives.  An old adage reminds us that they need only a little, but they need that little—a lot.

-Douglas Pagels

Get the chance........................

Someday I hope you get the chance
To live like you were dying
Like tomorrow was a gift
And you've got eternity
To think about
What you'd do with it
What could you do with it
What did I do with it?
What would I do with it?

-Tim McGraw

nothing more healing...................

     Step off the superhighway of modern life and go quietly onto your own track.  Go to a new trail where you can hear the whisper of your wild self in the echoes of the forest.  Find the trail of something wild and dangerous and worthy of your fear and joy and focus.  Live deeply on you own inner guidance.
      There is nothing more healing than finding your gifts and sharing them.

-Boyd Varty,  The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life