by Guy Sayles | Jan 2, 2014 |
Most of us know something about the insidious effects of speed; the relentlessly hurried pace and increasingly hassled pressure of our lives aren’t good for us. From early in the morning until late in the evening, a lot of us sprint from one thing to...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 31, 2013 |
Here is my benediction from the last Sunday of the year. The idea (and phrase) to “bless the year” came from John O’Donnohue. His blessing of the year is different from mine, but there are echoes of his here, especially in the phrase “bless the year for all you have...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 27, 2013 |
Increasingly, I think that “growing up” means moving from childishness to childlikeness. So, one of my hopes and intentions for the New Year is to become more childlike. I want to live with more wonder, openness, playfulness and, most of all,...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 25, 2013 |
The Gospel of John compressed the Christmas story into a single and shimmering sentence: “The Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s unique son, full of grace and truth.”’ No peasant parents, singing angels,...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 23, 2013 |
Jesus is the bright dawn of hope toward which we rise from nights of despair; the searchlight of justice, which leads us to peace; the candle of joy which even the high winds of sorrow and gusts of grief cannot extinguish; and the blazing fire of love which...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 19, 2013 |
Many years ago, my family bought me a sweatshirt that pictured a grim and sour-looking man who stood, arms folded tightly against his chest, in a shadowy corner at a Christmas party. Below the picture was this caption: “Mr. Bah-Humbug.” It’s not a good...
by Guy Sayles | Dec 12, 2013 |
I was hiking in the Pisgah National Forest on a trail which was new to me. I had an old trail guide, and, after I had been walking for a long while, I realized that that map didn’t match the territory. Markers on the trail were scarce, and they weren’t as...
by Guy Sayles | Nov 27, 2013 |
When I was in elementary school, my dad worked as a salesman for a wholesale company that provided sundry items to mostly small town drugstores. Occasionally he would take me on the road with him. One day, at a store in Hogansville, GA, an aging farmer came in;...
by Guy Sayles | Nov 20, 2013 |
When we push aside distractions, allow our hearts to rest in the grace of silence, and fill our minds with memories of God’s goodness to us in the past, gratitude rises from deep within. We remember that God embraces us in strong-tender love. ...
by Guy Sayles | Nov 10, 2013 |
Many years ago, when we were trying to sell our house, a realtor gave us a long list of small things we could do to improve the house’s appeal to potential buyers. One tip was to bake bread before a showing. “It makes a house smell like a home,” she...
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