Lord's Prayer - Mormom Tabernacle Choir

As you may have noticed, this blog has been sadly neglected recently.  I am sorry for that, as it truly has been a joy finding and sharing spiritual views on a variety of topics.

Meanwhile other worthy activities have come into my life, requiring considerable time and attention.

So I will leave you with this beautiful rendition of the Lord's Prayer.

The norm is what we make it

A groomed cross country ski trail

Minoqua Winter Park

It was time to stop for gas on the way home from Wisconsin.  Also lunch. Somewhere north of the Illinois border, I found a Hardees.  I love their charcoal broiled hamburgers -- and haven't seen a Hardees in years.

The hamburger "to go" even had the wrapper thoughtfully turned back so you could eat without worrying about something dropping on your lap - the wrapper would catch the catsup or the crumbs.  Wonderfully simple and thoughtful touch.

I couldn't find the credit card slot at the nearby gas station.  Finally concluding there wasn't one, I filled my tank and went inside to pay.  The smiling clerk confirmed that paying is done inside -- after you have filled your car.

"Do you ever have anyone just drive away?"  I had to ask.

She paused, smiled, and "No."

It felt like another planet -- one where I'd like to live, where a sandwich presentation is thoughtfully designed to help the eater not make a mess, and gas stations trust total strangers.

Taking this feeling of joy and well being a step further, it was a glimpse of the Kingdom of God, I think -- where harmony, honesty, and thoughtfulness are the norm. 

Ordinary miracles?

How easy it is to take goodness, beauty, love for granted.  To assume that somehow the world revolves around us.  We are the center of what's important.  It's all about us, right?

Yet the seasons share their uniqueness impartially, rain nourishes the earth, sunrises and sunsets awe the eye that sees them; events somehow work out well against all odds.

This singer proposes in her own gentle way that each day is a miracle to be honored and valued.




American religious leader Mary Baker Eddy talks about "Day," as unfolding good.  If God is good, and I believe She is, then each day is filled with goodness -- if we'll slow down enough to recognize and identify its many quiet facets.