Join 📚 Favorites And Reflection Questions
A batch of the best highlights from what Todd's read, .
And so, dear reader, this is my final encouragement: Love like the sunshine and the rain. Ask forgiveness of the birds. Be a drop more gracious, tender, and kind. Go gently in this mean world. Offer up prayers of Thanks, Help, and Wow. Recover your sacramental wonder. Count your blessings. Look to the horizon in the Valley of Dry Bones. Remember that you are a child of God. Rush to kiss the lepers. Listen to the voice in the night calling you to the cross. Turn your attention to the God dancing right in front of you. God is everywhere present, breathing on this world and turning it to fire. Where you stand is the gateway to heaven. The world is shining like transfiguration. Even the eels. It only takes a little willingness to see.
Hunting Magic Eels
Richard Beck
If you doubt the transformative power of gratitude, try this experiment. Pick anything in your life that is a source of dissatisfaction. Maybe it’s your old smartphone with its bad battery, your junky car, or a less-than-satisfying job. Now make it a practice over the next few days to express heartfelt thanks for your phone, car, job, or anything else in your life. Be thankful that you have a phone, or a car, or a job. Millions of people don’t have any of these things. So take time this week, as the old hymn exhorts, to “count your blessings.” Then sit back and watch the psychological magic do its work. Notice, when you count your blessings, how a source of dissatisfaction is transformed into a location of joy. Now imagine extending this thankfulness across every sphere of your life. Imagine what it would be like to experience everything in life—every moment, every possession, every task, every relationship—as gift and grace. It would be absolutely transformative. No wonder gratitude makes people happy.
Hunting Magic Eels
Richard Beck
**Courage**
11. How do I determine "the right thing to do" in a given situation?
12. What role does the opinion of others play in this process?
13. What happens when I encounter resistance from a powerful figure?
14. What happens when I encounter resistance from a crowd?
15. The last time I had to stand alone, what did I do?
Compasses and Weathervanes
edbatista
...catch up on these, and many more highlights