I am on vacation this week, but am sticking close to home for much of that time. I visited my mom who lives about 100 miles away in Ely and went canoeing with my wife and golfing with my mom and her husband. Later in the week we will go to the Twin Cities where our youngest daughter is participating with two of my wife’s cousins in a triathlon. She is subbing for our older daughter who is recovering from leg surgery.

At their best, vacations are for relaxation and for taking time to remember what is important. We need to do both more often, but vacations remind us of that as well.

In the spirit of relaxation and reminding myself of what’s important, I offer a few quotes that serve as powerful reminders to me of what I hope my life is all about. If you have read this blog before, some of this will not be new. What can I say, I am on vacation!

If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the aching
Or cool one Pain

Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his nest again
I shall not live in Vain. Emily Dickinson


Whatever happens,
those who have learned
to love one another
have made their way
to the lasting world
and will not leave,
whatever happens. Wendell Berry


Let all that you do be done in love. I Corinthians 16:14


And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8


And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make. The Beatles

Do good. Heal. Do justice. Love. I believe I have the strength to do this when I am in relationship to God, who I understand to be the creative energy for love and justice in the world. Entering God into the equation means I have to quibble with The Beatles. With God, I believe the love we create can be multiplied in the world. How do I come up with this stuff about God? For me, as a Christian, I understand God best, and see what life can be like in relationship to God most clearly, in Jesus.

All of this is easy enough to remember. It is always an adventure and a challenge to live.

With Faith and With Feathers,

David

P.S. I won’t be writing in this blog next week. Next week I will be in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the meeting of the North Central Jurisdictional Conference of The United Methodist Church. I am a voting delegate and I am one of the nominees for bishop, and it is the primary task of this gathering to elect one new bishop for our jurisdiction. If you want to know more about the conference check out www.ncj2008.org (click below). If you want to know more about my candidacy, check out the link on the right or go to www.davidbard.org (again, you can click below). Whatever happens – do good, heal, do justice, love, stay in relationship to God. Whatever happens – the adventure continues.


North Central Jurisdiction

David Bard.org