Love Is Who We Are

Love is who we are.  Lovingness is an attitude.  It transforms our vision and experience of the world.  We focus on gratitude and forgiveness rather than being right.  We express love by acknowledging contributions others have brought into our lives. 

Love is a way of being.  Love is the way we relate to life.

"I did do something."

Past the teacher came the depressed child, and the abused child, and the addicted child, and the impoverished child.  Loving them all, the teacher knelt and prayed, “Dear Heavenly Father, how is it that a loving creator can allow such pain in his children and do nothing to save them?”

And out of the silence, God said, “I did do something.  I made you.”

Everyday Miracles

There are two ways to live your life. 

One is as though nothing is a miracle.

The other is as though everything is a miracle.

- Albert Einstein

I live with miracles every day.  I know that tears heal, courage is embracing vulnerability, forgiveness nourishes both the giver and the receiver, and kindness is great strength.  We all have experienced loss and pain.  We all have had others ridicule and reject us.  We stand up in life because we can and we must.  We love because it is our nature.  We see beauty in all things because we are unafraid of being authentic.  We are not alone. 

You are the miracle the world needs now.

LifeSkills Conference 2014

“No one can really know what you are called to or what you are capable of but you. 
Even if no one sees or understands, you are irreplaceable.”
– Mark Nepo

Every summer the Pennsylvania Masonic Youth Foundation brings children ages 12-17 from throughout the world to the Patton Campus in Elizabethtown, PA to experience what they are capable of.  Through a series of social emotional, mental, and physical challenges, we invite over 100 students and 30 staff to explore leadership from the inside out.  Through safe and supportive, developmentally appropriate groups (teams) we explore our capabilities, significance, and worthiness.  Some students arrive cautious and tentative and leave empowered, knowing they are capable of greatness.  They leave with written plans of action defining how they will be servant leaders to their schools, communities, houses of worship, organizations, and families.  The Pennsylvania Masonic Youth Foundation, through the Life Skills Conference, is positively impacting school organizations, school buildings, and school districts.  The Life Skills staff and participants return to their schools and help them understand the integration of social emotional learning with academic achievement. 

The essence of our work in the Pennsylvania Masonic Life Skills Conference is to create caring and compassionate young men and women.  Change agents who understand that leadership is not about accolades, but about helping all to achieve.  An essential ingredient in that achievement is the service we must provide to our communities and fellow human beings.  As we serve others, we improve.  Our prosperity is not only measured in acquisitions and bank statements.  Our prosperity is also measured in the joy of making our world a bit better because of our contribution.  Kind-heartedness and genuine concern for the welfare of others is our life’s work.  Every step forward in service and leadership benefits everyone.

The Pennsylvania Masonic Life Skills Conference will be held July 20-25, 2014.

Christmas 2013

I am your friend.  My love, respect, and appreciation for you go deep.  Although I have attempted to give you all that I have, I am aware there is nothing I can give which you do not already possess.

There is very much, however, that you can claim.  The peace of heaven can come to us, when we find peace in the smallest gift in our day.  Claim the peace of heaven.

The negativity and judgment of the world is a shadow.  Behind the shadow, within our reach, is joy.  In every challenge, there is a gift.  Claim the gift.

Life gives abundantly.  We judge the gifts and ignore or cast them away.  Open the gift; rejoice in the splendor woven by God’s love, wisdom, and power.

Claim it, grasp it, and you touch the Holy Spirit that brings it to you.  Everything we call a trial, sorrow, or duty - the spirit’s hand is still there.

Life is bursting with meaning and purpose, full of beauty.  What we refer to as reality, cloaks the true reality – the reality of heaven on Earth.

Courage to claim it is all that is required, courage you have.  It is your spiritual birthright.

We are pilgrims together - brothers and sisters finding our way home.

So at this moment - I greet you, I acknowledge you, not quite as the world greets you, but with profound esteem, respect, and love.  I acknowledge you in daily prayer.  I greet you now and forever as the daybreaks and the first light of morning sends rays of spirit to banish the night.

Our Spiritual Evolution

To bring more spirituality into our lives, we need to shift our motivation.  We need to shift away from gain and advancement, which are “ego” and survival needs, to love and service, which are spiritual needs.  Work to serve, put your love into action.

Our spiritual evolution occurs by moving through the obstacles that our ego has created.  This process is sometimes painful.  The ego perceives a “letting go” as a loss and we are thrust into survival, flight and fight mode.  This is all part of being human.  No need to judge ourselves.  We should accept our humanity, be gentle with ourselves and use the learning as an opportunity to focus on the higher self.  Our only goal need be to do the very best we can at each moment of life.

Our spiritual evolution is our greatest gift.  As we evolve spiritually, we uplift others.  Spirituality is radiant and shared.  We touch all life with our kindness and every thought, word, action.  Gratitude and forgiveness benefits all life, forever.