Everyone has an ordinary life. The Pope has an ordinary life. Movie stars and rock stars have ordinary lives. The person you would most like to be has an ordinary life—every bit as ordinary as yours.
Author Archives: Mike Mason
Wash Your Bowl: The Ordinary Way (Part 2)
Most of life is ordinary, and God gave us ordinary life as a means of knowing the truth.
How To Fail Successfully: The Ordinary Way (Part 1)
I once attended a church conference where a Tent of Prophecy was set up in the parking lot. At some point in the conference we were invited to enter the tent and receive a prophetic word.
Eternity’s Sunrise: Verses On Joy
Last time I published a selection of quotes about joy and happiness. This week I offer some of my favorite verses on the same theme. To begin with, two poems by William Blake:
A Joyful Mystery: Thoughts on Happiness
In 2003 I published a book about joy entitled Champagne for the Soul. While working on the book, I began collecting quotes about happiness, a practice I continue to this day. I wish some of the recent quotes I’ve found could have made it into the original book. But as it’s too late for that, I present a few of my favorites here:
I Asked for Wonder: Abraham Joshua Heschel
In a preface to a book of his poems, Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “I did not ask for success; I asked for wonder. And You gave it to me.” A Jewish rabbi, his wise and prophetic words often speak also to Christians. Here’s just a sample of his writing from a wonderful anthology entitled I Asked for Wonder :
Horse and Train: How a Photorealist Portrays Angels (The Art of Alex Colville, Part 2)
Alex Colville’s art is full of black animals: dogs, cats, crows, horses. Consider his most famous painting, “Horse and Train.”
Dog and Priest: Which Is Which? (The Art of Alex Colville, Part I)
The Canadian painter Alex Colville (1920-2013) was that most curious of artistic hybrids, both a realist and a modernist. In fact art critic Jeffrey Myers, in an article entitled “Dangerously Real,” called Colville “one of the greatest modern realist painters.”
Let’s Pretend: Prayer as Serious Child’s Play
The backyard of our former house featured a neighborhood playground. While sitting on my deck one day, I overheard two little girls at play.
The Mirror of the Cross: A Meditation by Walter Wangerin
In mirrors I see myself. But in mirrors made of glass and silver I never see the whole of myself. I see the me I want to see, and I ignore the rest.