This past weekend my family and I escaped to the beach with three other families, as part of a Labor Day tradition where we’ve had the blessing to witness each of our ten total children grow in their relationships with one another, and in their appreciation for the beautiful setting of Cailfornia’s Central Coast. There were multiple nights of campfires, guitar music and singalongs, and a beautiful experience of community and belonging. Thank God for family, friendships, and nature…and the privilege of time away.

I am pleased to share Dave Matthews’ recent tribute to Jimmy Buffet, along with a powerful poem on journey and voice by Mary Oliver. Blessings on your week ahead!

Mary Oliver The Journey

One day you finally knew what you had to do, and began, though the voices around you kept shouting their bad advice — though the whole house began to tremble and you felt the old tug at your ankles. “Mend my life!” each voice cried. But you didn’t stop. You knew what you had to do, though the wind pried with its stiff fingers at the very foundations, though their melancholy was terrible. It was already late enough, and a wild night, and the road full of fallen branches and stones. But little by little, as you left their voice behind, the stars began to burn through the sheets of clouds, and there was a new voice which you slowly recognized as your own, that kept you company as you strode deeper and deeper into the world, determined to do the only thing you could do — determined to save the only life that you could save.

This week I finished the book Leadership is a Relationship on a plane, and am pleased to share the except (depicted) on everyday practices to inform our approach to leadership. I also read this pearl of wisdom (below) the other day in my daily reflection resource, Give Us this Day. And I am pleased to share a song by artist Gaby Moreno, who I also read about this week given that she will be performing in San Francisco later this fall at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival.

Blessings on your week ahead!

To be fashioned in the image of God is to be life-giving, generative, and imaginative. All of us are gifted with this potential. We’re not merely consumers, we’re creators! To the point – create more than you consume. Create peace and justice. Create connection between diverse peoples. Create art and music. Plant, grow, cultivate life. Create love and support for family, friends, and community. Our gifts, whatever they may be, are to be used to bring about a more life-giving world.

-Michael Peterson, OSB

FRONTERAS (Borders)

–Gaby Moreno–

There’s a path that brought us here.

It knows nothing about the borders of the passion inside of me.

Longing is what pushes me forward with every new sunrise,

with my fears, illusions, and the remains of yesterday.

Hope is with us.

With it nothing can stop us.

I (go) holding you hand, and you (go) holding mine;

there is nothing to fear.

And I laugh and dance.

It’s in my veins,

and I dream, free.

I belong here.

I belong here.

Who knows what gift

Tomorrow will make to us?

Today is all I have;

I will treasure it.

Thereby manifesting

as much light as I can give off.

And to be happy is the solution;

it can make everything better.

And I laugh and dance.

It’s in my veins,

and I dream, free.

I belong here.

And I laugh and dance.

It’s in my veins,

and I dream, free.

I will go on until the end

I will go on until the end.

I belong here.

Today I share some golden nuggets from a few sources of inspiration. Author Thomas Groome and his work, What Makes Education Catholic: Spiritual Foundations, continue to be the focus of my team’s professional development and group learning. And one of Sheryl Crow’s final songs in her Tiny Desk Concert struck a chord with me this week. “Out of Our Hands” is about 20 minutes in, intro’d by a wonderful reflection on compassion from the Dalai Lama.

God is good, as we journey along toward the Resurrection time that serves as the bridge toward hope and peace. Blessings on your week ahead!

From Thomas Groome:

As Catholic educators we can constantly encourage our students to be confident that ultimately no falsehood can become true, no tyranny endure, no oppression triumph, no injustice prevail, no slavery remain, no discrimination become just, no cross be too heavy, no addiction be beyond recovery, no bad habit unbreakable, and the list goes on. What a spiritual foundation of faith-based hope this is for all people, and one in which to ground Catholic education. (p. 36).

Sheryl Crow, Out of Our Heads

If you feel you want to fight me
There’s a chain around your mind
Something holding you tightly
What is real’s so hard to find

Losing babies to genocide
Oh, where’s the meaning in that plight
Can’t you see that we’ve really bought into
Every word they proclaimed and every lie, oh

If we could only get out of our heads
Out of our heads and into our hearts
If we could only get out of our heads
Out of our heads and into our hearts, oh

Someone’s feeding on your anger
Someone’s been whispering in your ear
You’ve seen his face before
You’ve been played before
These aren’t the words you need to hear

Through the dawn of darkness, blindly
You have blood upon your hands
All the world will treat you kindly
But only the heart can understand, oh, understand

If we could only get out of our heads
Out of our heads and into our hearts
Children of Abraham, lay down your fears
Swallow your tears and look to your heart

If we could only get out of our heads
Out of our heads and into our hearts, oh
Children of Abraham, lay down your fears
Swallow your tears and look to your heart

Oh, let them go
Let them be, let them go

Every man is his own prophet
Oh, every prophet just a man
I say all the women stand up, say yes to themselves
Teach your children best you can

Let every man bow to the best in himself
We’re not killing any more
We’re the wisest ones, everybody listen
‘Cause you can’t fight this feeling anymore, oh, anymore

If we could only get out of our heads
Out of our heads and into our hearts
Children of Abraham, lay down your fears
Swallow your tears and look to your heart

If we could only get out of our heads
Out of our heads and into our hearts
Children of Abraham, lay down your fears
Swallow your tears and look to your heart

If we could only get out of our heads
Out of our heads and into our hearts
Children of Abraham, lay down your fears
Swallow your tears and look to your heart

If we could only get out of our heads
Out of our heads and into our hearts
Children of Abraham, lay down your fears
Swallow your tears and look to your heart, oh