The tradition began slowly. Someone in our family would voice a complaint, and my husband would sing it. While gifted with many other talents, the voice of a Nightingale he does not have. Imagine an off-key, lounge singer crooning: “How come you didn’t put the smelly beans outside instead of in the kitchen trash?,” “Why are there dirty socks scattered throughout the house?,” or “I asked for beets, but you brought me a sixth bunch of celery.” The effect was instantaneous.

This is a question not of religion, nor even of spirituality per se. It asks you to describe the underlying narrative in your life, the lowercase 'god', that fabric which connects the "big events" in humankind: life, death, mortality, fear, birth, family, and countless other primal themes which deeply influence our everyday life.

Please bear with me on a quick stroll through millenia of human habitation on Earth.

Last Sunday’s sermon contained a Cherokee teaching story, which (apologies to Leslie, who told it so beautifully) I will paraphrase: A Cherokee elder is teaching his grandson about the two wolves which do battle within the soul of every person. One wolf represents all that is evil—jealousy, greed, anger, apathy, prejudice, selfishness. The other represents all that is good—compassion, love, patience, inclusiveness, wonder, self-restraint. The grandson asks anxiously which wolf wins, to which his grandfather replies: “Whichever one we feed.”

I danced with the Laughing Buddha this week. I also danced with my son in the rain.

We gathered yesterday to celebrate the return home of our son Felix, who was badly injured in June in a fall from a tree. After 10 1/2 weeks in the hospital, countless breaths at the edge of death, we were gifted with the chance to celebrate yesterday, his joyful return home.

Earlier in the week, we had watched the weather avidly. Rain was forecast to be heavy, 100% guaranteed, for exactly the 5 hours encompassing the gathering, which was held outside on a late Portland Sunday afternoon.

[edited, 9/19/07: Preamble. The following provoked a response from two people. Devon fired back at the mere mention of satan, keeping that weak spirit far from this sacred space. My wife Tina asked why i even brought that energy to this place, which is dedicated to finding Sacredness Everyday.