During the first week of every month I spend some time reading over the previous month’s journal entries.
Hear are some thoughts from September that jumped out at me.

– Read the story of the Prodigal Son this morning. I’ve often heard that when we read this passage it is helpful to ask ourselves which character we identify with. This morning I’m the father, waiting for me to come home.

– Why and how did the song, “Kum Ba Yah” become something silly and not worthwhile? Someone’s praying, someone’s crying, come by here; that’s silly?

-As the election draws near I find that I am spending an inordinate amount time arguing in my head with people who aren’t actually here. I am hoping that when I catch myself doing that in the future I will use it as a trigger to remind myself to pray to the one who is here.

– We went camping with my daughter and her two children. One morning my daughter looked at me and asked, “Why are you smiling?” I answered, “I have a better question, why wouldn’t I be?”

– From Mary Oliver’s, “Just Lying on the Grass at Blackwater,”
“My thoughts simplify, I have not done a thousand things
or a hundred things but, perhaps, a few.”
I add, perhaps a couple more.