It is indeed a joy to be rediscovering this truth!
What my soul loves
Speaking of Wodehouse
Yesterday I shared how I was introduced to Jerome K Jerome; it was a number of years later that I made the acquaintance of PG Wodehouse.
This was back in the days when pretty much the only place to buy a book was in a bookstore, and one of my favorite pastimes was browsing used bookstores.
Of course, this was before personal computers, so the only way you heard about a book was either word of mouth (like when my best friend in 4th grade told me about The Hobbit) or by reading a book review in the newspaper. Otherwise, you “judged a book by its cover” and hoped for the best (and no going online and reading reviews before deciding to buy it!).
So, somehow, in some used bookstore in San Francisco, I managed to pick up my first Wodehouse book and started reading the adventures of Bertie and Jeeves. It was like Jerome K Jerome all over again! I was in love with another British humorist. At this point, I felt that I was perhaps a little odd; I mean, no one else I knew was raving about Wodehouse or JKJ.
Another number of years later, I found a new spiritual home at Ananda Palo Alto. Imagine my surprise and delight upon attending my first Thanksgiving banquet when, after pie and coffee, we settled in to be entertained by a readers theater version of The Amazing Hat Mystery…by PG Wodehouse! There was much I already loved about Ananda, but in that moment I knew that I had truly found “my people”!
Jerome K Jerome
If you enjoy reading PG Wodehouse (as I know many of my friends do), I suggest you also give English humorist, Jerome K Jerome, a try.
I read his Three Men in a Boat for the first time when I was nineteen years old. I had borrowed it from my father, who didn’t get his copy back for…oh, about twenty years or so. Having that book had become essential to my well-being because I could pick it up at any time and be assured of reading something that would make me burst out laughing.
In fact, I realize that I should have gotten it out last night when I was feeling so glum (yes, I eventually purchased my own copy so that I could return my dad’s).
Before writing this blog post, I google Jerome K Jerome and started reading quotes from the book. Sure enough, I was soon laughing out loud. Here are just a few. If you like them, you’ll know what to do…! 😂
“With me, it was my liver that was out of order. […] I had the symptoms, beyond all mistake, the chief among them being “a general disinclination to work of any kind.”
What I suffer in that way no tongue can tell. From my earliest infancy I have been a martyr to it. As a boy, the disease hardly ever left me for a day. They did not know, then, that it was my liver. Medical science was in a far less advanced state than now, and they used to put it down to laziness.”
― Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
“It always does seem to me that I am doing more work than I should do. It is not that I object to the work, mind you; I like work: it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours. I love to keep it by me: the idea of getting rid of it nearly breaks my heart.”
― Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
“George got out his banjo after supper, and wanted to play it, but Harris objected: he said he had got a headache, and did not feel strong enough to stand it. George thought the music might do him good—said music often soothed the nerves and took away a headache; and he twanged two or three notes, just to show Harris what it was like. Harris said he would rather have the headache.”
― Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men in a Boat
That nowhere feeling
Tonight I’m feeling like all my recent endeavors have gotten me exactly nowhere. Intellectually I know it’s not true and that this feeling will pass. But it’s not very fun in the moment.
A little “aha” moment
Today we sang More Boxes? No, Thank You! for Sunday service and I had a little “aha” moment while we were hamming it up during rehearsal.
Just like we don’t go all “dreamy” when we sing Life Is a Dream, we don’t actually come from our egos while singing More Boxes. (“I, my, me, mine! I, my, me, mine!” — see rest of lyrics below)
Now I’m looking forward to identifying other songs to which this insight can be applied. And that’s it for tonight!
More Boxes? No, Thank You!
(A sailor from England remarked to a foe,
“The reason we win is, We pray ere we go.”
“But we pray as well, and just look at our dead!”
“Ah, but we pray in English,” the Englishman said.)
(I, my, me, mine! I, my, me, mine!
I, my, me, mine! I, my, me, mine!
I, my, me, mine, I, my, me, mine, I, my, me, mine, I, me, mine,
I, my, me, mine, I, my, me, mine, I, my, me, mine, I, me, mine!)
I had a little box when my Lord made me,
And in that little box I did put a tree,
A pony, a teddy bear, a bright green sled:
Everything around me that my eyes did see.
How can a little box ever hold a sled,
A pony, and a tree?—puzzles your poor head?
It can’t, of course, but in a tiny baby’s mind
This whole wide world becomes a little box instead.
Well, as I grew older my box grew, too:
Held airplanes, and ships, and a birch canoe,
And school books, a foreign trip, and college proms.
Good times, and friends aplenty—yes, and also, you!
But somehow in this box would only fit one school,
One family, one country, and one social rule,
And certainly one church, for only my way’s right,
And anyone with other ways is just a fool.
Well, so I used to think, but now I must confess
At judging fools I wasn’t any great success.
Truth somehow lived without me, though I called it mine:
What box could hold the world?—it’s just preposter-ess!
Tax time joy
I’m pretty sure we have the best tax preparer in the world.
I mean, when you go to have your taxes done, do you see a sign like the one above next to the desk?
And when you arrive and start walking up the pathway to the front door, do you feel like you’ve wandered into a serenely beautiful and scenic park?
And are your ears and your soul soothed with gentle instrumental music so enthralling you simply have to find out what it is…only to discover that it’s devotional music recorded by musicians you knew years ago when at conservatory?
And as you drive away do you feel more uplifted and prosperous than when you arrived?
We’re so grateful that we can answer yes to all of the above. And this is the altogether delightful annual experience which — for us — is “getting our taxes done”!
I listened and love was there
I was thinking about Valentine’s Day….and reflecting on what — if anything — I wanted to say about it. And I realized I just wanted to share this about love…
Love is all I know:
Sunrays on the snow
Of a winter long
In darkness, without song.
Oh, my heart’s afire,
Burning all desire:
Only You remain,
And life again!
Too long I did stray,
Flung lifetimes away—
Imagined You did not care!
I know now Your smile
Was mine all the while:
I listened, and Love was there.
I can’t breathe for love!
All the stars above
Call to me: “Come home!
Life’s waves all end in foam.”
Only love can heal
All the pain I feel.
What a fool was I
To turn away!
RIP Lyle Mays
Lyle Mays was a keyboardist and co-founder of the Pat Metheny Group. He also happened to be part of one of the most beautiful experiences of synchronicity and serendipity in which I’ve ever participated. I want to write the whole story but for today all I can do is listen to this…my favorite Metheny/Mays composition, written in honor of the great jazz pianist Bill Evans, who passed away on September 15, 1980.
Happy birthday, Randy!
Love you, Randy! You’ll always have a place of honor in my heart.💖
Firefly memories
Native Californian that I am, I had never seen a firefly until I traveled to Italy for Ananda’s Oratorio choir tour in 2000.
Midway through the tour we stayed at the Villa Sacro Cuore outside of Milan. This is a religious institute with beautiful gardens; the weather was warm and still, as we were there in late May. And that’s where I saw my first fireflies! There were great masses of them clustered in the dips and hollows of the garden landscape. I had never seen anything so magical in my life.
In looking for an image of fireflies for this post I happened upon this video, which transported me right back to that magical moment. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!