More or Less

"Just when I think I have a handle on what is enough in my life, I am confronted by new ways to ask the question. There's a continuous line that we all must define and redefine at many different points in our lives."

Jeff Shinabarger

More or Less

     How much is enough?

     John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club, was part of an expedition funded by a wealthy businessman. A story is told that one night the campfire conversation turned to the subject of the expedition's patron. After a few of the men speculated the man's worth, John spoke up. "I've got more than he does."
     "How do you figure that?" asked one of the men. 
     "I have all I want. He doesn't."

     More or Less by Jeff Shinabarger is one of those books that convicted me on one page, while offering a practical solution on the next; it goes beyond the usual question- How much is enough money? More or Less asks- How much is enough food, clothing, transportation... enough time? 

     Shinabarger writes:

     "There was a time, not so long ago, when the polite answer to the question, "How are you?" was, "Fine." It seems that busy is the new fine."

     "...we now determine the significance of a person by how busy they are. Somehow, busy has become better than fine."

Jeff Shinabarger's solution to an ever-busy world?

Presence.

     "Presence is a physical expression of love in the midst of a culture that never stops- it is to stop and be with someone that matters."

You will have to read the book for a beautifully simple way to practice presence with others in your home.

     America is fat with excess and slim with generosity. Graham Cooke posed this question- "Do you want to be known as a careful person or a generous person?"

More or Less is scheduled to be released March 1. Thanks to the good folks at Story Cartel I was blessed with an advance copy. If you want to challenge your lifestyle paradigm, read More or Less by Jeff Shinabarger. I am glad I did. 

Dash of Life

Elementary Rules of Usage

Strunk & White, The Elements of Style

On a gravestone,

there is a significant mark that is often missed- the dash between the date of birth and the date of death; an engraved summary of all that occurred between two moments in earth time.

Today I am living in the dash.

A dash is, of course, the stuff drawings are made of.

Artists call them lines.

Psalm 19 begins, 'The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. Their line (sound, precision, musical string) has gone out through all the earth, and their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun.'

The Hebrew word for line in this Psalm is kav. One Rabbi says of kav- "The precision of the universe is likened to a surveyor's tape stretched out to the ends of the earth. This means that the precision of the cosmos is evident all over the earth to any observer."

Maybe that is why John Muir said, "Tug on anything at all and you'll find it connected to everything else in the universe."

A language of line

The Letter

oh, the power in a line

to ascend and descend

arc and loop

open close

thin becoming thick

as thought begets

a river of black-

and there is Life