What if you were not really in charge of your life? What if there was a pre-determined path for you and only you, one that was designed with your best interests at heart? What if the key to a fulfilling and contented life was simply to find this path and follow it? These were questions I was pondering as I read Finding Grace, Daily Comfort for Uncertain Times, by Eiman Al Zaabi. It’s a thin book, containing a saying or… Read more
May 19, 2020
10 Thought-Provoking Quotes from Donald Shimoda
May 19, 2020 By Tom Rapsas
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You wait a lifetime to meet someone who understands you, accepts you as you are. At the end, you find that Someone, all along, has been you. What makes a great quote? It stops you in your tracks and causes you to wonder if it doesn’t relate to your own life. It can make you question your past actions—or change the way you view what you’re doing in the present and what you might do differently in future. Donald Shimoda… Read more
May 12, 2020
5 Ways to Add More Stillness to Your Life
May 12, 2020 By Tom Rapsas
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You’re at home now. You’ve probably been at home for several weeks, save for the occasional walk around the block or trip to the local supermarket. And while you might have thought all this down time would be akin to floating on a tranquil sea, it has left you feeling a little unsettled. Maybe it’s the way the work day bleeds into the night or your kids are acting up for the 20th time today or maybe the nonstop drumbeat… Read more
May 5, 2020
Finding Contentment during Covid 19
May 5, 2020 By Tom Rapsas
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Will my family be alright? Will I be all right? When will this end? Will it end? And if it does, will life ever be as it was? This staccato burst of angst, written by Dan Barry in The New York Times, captures how many of us are feeling these days. We want to be optimistic that life will soon return to a state resembling normal, only to realize that (in the US) there are still 2,000 people dying of… Read more
April 27, 2020
The Only Thing You Can Change is You
April 27, 2020 By Tom Rapsas
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God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. ~The Serenity Prayer During our shared pandemic quarantine, there are a lot of things we cannot change. For instance, we cannot change the path of this virus or when it will go away or the safety precautions we need to take. Yet if we dig a little deeper, we can see that there are things that… Read more
April 19, 2020
“The Last Time”: An Evocative New Way to Look at Life
April 19, 2020 By Tom Rapsas
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Chances are that you’ve been sitting at home for 4 or 5 weeks now. I know that this is driving some people nuts, they’re going stir crazy and I get it. But if you’re like me, you’re enjoying this enforced down time as it has given you time to explore new books, new podcasts, new ways of thinking. I recently came across a 5-minute audio clip that forced me to look at life from a fresh perspective. It can be… Read more
April 14, 2020
The Spiritual Person’s Guide to Drinking Through the Coronavirus
April 14, 2020 By Tom Rapsas
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Is it 5:00 yet? These are words you’ll hear almost daily in our house as we enter the fourth week of our Covid-19 related quarantine. And it’s not because 5:00 is quitting time from work—it marks the hour when my wife and I uncork a bottle of wine or uncap a couple of bottles of beers. During pre-Coronavirus times, we limited our drinking to weekends. Admittedly, with the occasional glass of wine on weekdays. But if you’re like me, and… Read more
April 6, 2020
The Prayer That Turns Anger into Hope
April 6, 2020 By Tom Rapsas
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How are you dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic? Has your extended time at home, away from the pressures of the outside world, allowed you to find a sense of centeredness and calm? Or has the nonstop drumbeat of negative news left you feeling anxious, maybe even angry, about your predicament and the plight of the world? I’ve written before about dealing with anger. I’ve also written extensively about prayer. But I was surprised to recently discover that there’s a place where… Read more
March 30, 2020
Is the God of Love also the God of Suffering?
March 30, 2020 By Tom Rapsas
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Where is God in all this? Why is God allowing COVID-19 to happen? I’ve written about God’s role after other deeply unsettling events like 9/11, the Newtown shootings, the Boston Marathon bombing and the Las Vegas massacre. I’m now pondering my words again, trying to make sense of what has become an ever-expanding tragedy, one that will take more lives than all the previously mentioned events combined. Let’s start by looking at God and the Christian belief, via St. Augustine,… Read more
March 22, 2020
Coronavirus: 6 Steps to Feeling Less Afraid
March 22, 2020 By Tom Rapsas
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Are you afraid? Me too. It’s hard not to be fearful during these scary coronavirus times, a quick glimpse of a major news site is enough to get your head spinning and your heart sinking. We can do something about it. It’s time to lessen the fear you and I are now facing. In times of crisis I often turn to the advice of the businessman/philosopher John Templeton. He was prescient for our current state of affairs when he wrote:… Read more
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