Happy Saturday and Good Morning, Digital Neighbors! I hope you had a great week and if it wasn’t a great week and hope the weekend brings you some welcome relief from its demands. Begin the day on a good note and it has a chance to get better, begin the day on a sour one and it will likely only get worse. I don’t think that is a hard and fast rule, but my first venture of the day is prayer and reflection. I remember when I got into the habit of looking at the morning news first, it was in graduate school. 35 years ago it did not seem as toxic, divisive and deceitful as it does today. It is good to be informed, but it is not good to be poisoned by the foul spirits of the day. Nature and people who have more to live for than politics is a good antidote. Although I am concerned about politics and often dismayed at the current situation in so many parts of the world, my first movement is to seek beyond that by going to prayer, reflection or some sort of contemplation.
"We pray because our hearts are broken. We pray because we know God listens. We pray because we know that God works in mysterious ways, and can inspire us to further action. Why do you feel the need to attack other people for praying when kids were just killed praying?" – JD Vance. That is one of the more important reasons to pray, I know he was mocked by many unbelievers on X, but I am ok with that. Their miserable state of living is all the indication I need that I would rather plant my flag with the VP. God bless them, even if the other half of my heart thinks they need a therapist more than an internet platform. Faith is about seeing clearly, not just in this reality, but beyond it and the much larger frame of my existence. Nature is God’s first revelation of beauty, wonder and awe for those with the mind and heart to receive it. A few quotes for the day and something beautiful to remind us of the bigger realities of life. Blessed Saturday known and unknown neighbors, I'll be praying for you later this morning when I join my flock for worship. It is the best part of my day.
“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson
“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.” — Henry David Thoreau (That one is for Martin & Westy)
“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.” — John Burroughs
“Looking at beauty in the world, is the first step of purifying the mind.” — Amit Ray
Autumn forest - jklugiewicz - Pixabay
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
Quite apart from the fact that I utterly admire, even love, her, this is the best possible response to an idiot, who, in his defense, asked a pretty good question.
https://x.com/TBifford/status/2087992591279407133/video/1?s=61
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved. So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.”
