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The Image
(The picture is inside of the Duomo di San Martino Cathedral in Lucca, Italy) There is an image that gives me comfort, I love it with every ounce of my being. Like a teddy bear or a blanket, I grip it tightly and bury my thoughts into its disturbing appearance. I have been drawn to its presence all of my life, I love this image with every ounce of my being. There is an image that I resist, I despise it with every ounce of my being. Like a teddy bear or a blanket, I am drawn to the comfort that I feel in my avoidance, I am addicted to the…
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Love Is
We use love in many of our sayings. We attach love to all kinds of emotions and feelings. We believe we love others when we are satisfied in the ways we order them to our world. We do these things believing we know what love is. We do these things believing we are in control. It is a natural thing I suppose to try to control the very thing we desire most, because in some ways, we want to believe that having control will make us safe and secure. Safe from pain and free from feeling empty. But somehow we know better. Somehow deep down we know that love can’t…
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A “Religious” Walk Home
I had an intense “religious” experience one night while walking home from my small Swiss village of Worb. An experience that not only prompted childhood memories of my past but gave my present day desires and future longings a place and time to be experienced as well. The pathway home was lit only by the reflective light of the full moon which reminded me of walking down a dark Pennsylvania road as a boy wanting nothing more than to know who I was in relation to this big world. And yet at the same time, the dark Swiss countryside was calling me to be present not only to my desires…
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Language of Love
Every morning at 6:08 a.m. the voice of my son can be faintly heard from his bedroom. “Mommy…can I have some milk, please?” The communication is straightforward and his words convey exactly what he wants. Living abroad gives you a new understanding of communication. Here in Switzerland, there are four languages spoken, all depending on the region you find yourself in. It can not sometimes help, especially when you don’t realize that you have crossed over into a different region. For instance, a simple “thank you” can be “Merci,” “Bitte,” or “Grazie.” More often than not, when the normal means of communication (language) breaks down, you sometimes have to resort…
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Good Parenting
To act or not to act. To speak or not to speak. To intervene or not to intervene. It seems that these are the thoughts that consume the mind of a parent every day. It is said that parenting is the toughest job in the world, and I would think that most parents who are engaged in the lives of their children would agree. For although we get plenty of advice from others and we instinctively draw our own parenting styles from those who have raised us, at the end of the day, when we are face to face with our own children, there simply isn’t a blueprint. It is…
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Blausee, Switzerland
God speaks. He always speaks. And yet it is during the times when we feel alone or abandoned that we need to hear His voice the most. Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, was a day to begin the journey into the “desert”, or “dark wood” of our hearts. Midway in the journey of our life I came to myself in a dark wood, For the straight way was lost. -Dante, The Divine Comedy, [Inferno I:1-3] The Lenten season is all about confronting the things that we would rather not confront. However, if we are not careful, we can be tempted to believe that we are alone in this confrontation, alone in the…
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Time is Love
The thoughts blow in uninvited during certain times of our lives. And the feelings that accompany these thoughts make us pause, at least for a moment, and wonder how the days of our lives keep coming and going like the sea tide under our feet. There are times when we welcome these thoughts and are able to wrestle with a greater truth. While other times we don’t or just can’t. So we move quickly to replace them with thoughts we believe will make us happier. Or at the very least, thoughts that masquerade the reality of our current state. Nevertheless, whether we welcome them or we resist them, we have…
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Die Hausmann (The Houseman)
I have to be honest that the first time I was called it, it rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe it was because of the accent “HA-ous-Mah-n”. Or maybe because it was something that I never identified myself with before. I mean to answer a question posed by strangers, “Was tun Sie hier in der Schweiz zu tun?” (What do you do here in Switzerland?) with “Ich bin eine Hausmann” (I am a Houseman) is awkward to say the least. I mean on one hand it sounds way to formal for washing floors and toilets. On the other hand it sounds like I should be getting paid for this. And…
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The Call of a Father
There was a scene in the new Star Wars film The Force Awakens that captivated me. I must admit I am not a Star Wars expert or fanatic, but I grew up watching the original trilogy like most young boys of my generation and I loved it. So now being a father myself and watching the new film with my eight-year-old son made the experience that much more memorable. Without spoiling anything, the scene I mention for those who saw the movie is the one that left most of us gasping with a collective “WHY?” It was the scene in which Hans Solo confronts his son, Kylo Ren. For those…
