Re-Champ!

There's an article in the Parade section of the Sunday Star-Ledger about Champ, who I posted about here. One of the new take-aways I received from that was how his new human companions explained how they couldn't let him go, saying something to the effect of "Who else would be able to look in his eyes and know what he needed? How could I train someone to do that?"

Everything works out for the best, and Champ would have been OK however it turned out. However he has himself a good set of human companions, and isn't it wonderful when you can experience that kind of connection, whether it be with another animal or a human or even a piece of art?

Children

Children are almost always happy. And most everyone that looks at them cannot help but smile.

This is because children have no resistance, no built-up 'life experience' and so they believe everything is possible. For the life of me I can't figure out a valid reason why this should change in adulthood.

If you want to feel happy and you are an adult, go find a child to look at.

Prayer

Last week I had the honor of sponsoring my nephew for his Catholic Confirmation. At the end of the ceremony, the Bishop asked the confirmants "What is prayer?" and I thought "What an interesting question!".

Regardless of how you feel about prayer, I think most everyone does it in one form or another. There are of course the many religions that practice it, and you can also say it's evident in 'non-religions' too: meditation, yoga, walking in the woods, etc.

When no one offered the Bishop an answer to his question, he gave his. He said that, to him, it's a conversation. That means you pray but you also listen. He was making the point that it's a two-way street, that you have to be ready and able to hear a response.

How many times have you received an answer to a 'prayer'? How many times have you paid attention to the answer?