St. John Chrysostom said: "Happiness can only be achieved by looking inward and learning to enjoy whatever life has and this requires transforming greed into gratitude." I can't tell you how many people I've talked to, counseled, and known who find themselves gripped by either regret or disappointment with their lives, and, invariably, these people…
Fr. Barnabas Powell
Years ago, when I was a police office, I was doing police work in a small,North Georgia town where I was also going to college to get my undergraduate degree. One afternoon I was sent to a local business in this small town to take a report on a robbery. Seems like someone just walked…
"Life is pain." I love that movie! What, you don't know the movie "The Princess Bride?!" I weep for you! The whole quote is worth recalling: "Life is pain, Highness! Anyone who says differently is selling something."
Seriously, M. Scott Peck, in his bestselling book "The Road Less Traveled," starts off with this: “Life is difficult.…
"Hate" is such an ugly word. And yet I use it all too often. "I hate this traffic." "I hate coconut!" ( I really don't like coconut. I think it's the texture.) "I hate that music." You get the idea. But, sometimes, dark times, weak times I have even used that word about another person!…
There's an old chorus our youth group liked to sing during youth meetings called "Lift Him Up." It goes something like this: "Lift Him Up, Lift Him Up, Lift the Name of Jesus Higher. Lift Him Up. Raise His Banner to the sky. He said 'If I be Lifted Up, I will draw all men…
As we come to another infamous anniversary of September 11th, the perennial struggle with "purpose" comes to my mind. I was having a conversation the other day with a dear, educated man, who also happens to be an ordained clergyman in one of the many Protestant denominations in our fair city, and the conversation turned,…
The famous author J.K. Rowling once said: "I'm interested in that drive, that rush to judgment, that is so prevalent in our society. We all know that pleasurable rush that comes from condemning, and in the short term it's quite a satisfying thing to do, isn't it?" And she's right! I can't tell you how…
The ancients kept the stories of their past alive through storytelling and through communal memory. It was just expected that a young person would memorize the tales of the tribe so that he could pass on this communal memory to the next generation. Now don't laugh, but when I think of this, I think of…
I suppose the whole world couldn't contain the poems, stories, and memories we children collect about our mothers. I know I owe much of my good qualities to the brave lady who raised me and my little brother. And the one quality I always remember is that, no matter what was going on in my…
Have you ever thought about all those people Jesus healed during His ministry here on earth? They were so happy, grateful, and changed. In some cases (the illness of leprosy) they were now free to rejoin society, be reunited with their families, and finally get their life back. They went on to live their lives.…