(singing) “Christ is risen from the dead. Trampling down death by death, and to those in the tombs bestowing life.”

I love that chant, the Paschal Troparion chant about Christ being risen from the dead.

And sometimes I feel like I need to be risen from the dead. And to be mindful of the gift of life.

Hello folks, I’d like to tell you a story about my granddaughter, my seven-year-old granddaughter.

I asked her, “You ever see the movie Forest Gump?”

And she said, “Yes Opa.”

And I said, “What scene do you remember and like the most in the movie?”

I sometimes see myself as invisible – pure consciousness. I like how this feels: liberating, free, as if I’m the wind.

It’s so much easier to feel connected, when there’s no body to have to connect to. The body I see suddenly is just a vehicle, going on by itself, a made-up projection of my thoughts. I set this viewpoint in my mind.

Where I am is more open, since there’s no skin and bones to show where I end, or think I end.

I don’t have to project an image wherever I go, or talk. I’m just sort of the watcher, the observer. I like this feeling.

You’re staying home.
You’re washing hands.
You’re drinking water.

Now what?
Are you still anxious?

Do you realize the entire world is now focusing single-pointedly on well-being?
Everyone in their own way.
Vast numbers, hidden, like stars in the sky in the daylight.

The doctors and nurses and researchers in their way.
The caregivers in their way.
The people of all religions in their way.
The light-workers in their way.

I am on the beach.

The sand feels warm and inviting on my feet.

I love the “swish, swish” of the waves.
The pebbles are tumbled, soft clear white.
The seashells call to me to look at them.

A child is making a sand castle, with a red, metal pale.
Another child is blowing bubbles.
A single bubble floats by me.

I am happy.
I see myself in the bubble, happy, along with this whole beach, sky, and ocean, in that little bubble.
It floats away to carry my happiness beyond me.

One of our favorite summer days was blueberry day.

We’d put on old clothes, our straw hats, then gather our baskets and make our way to the Jones’ Family Farm in Shelton. We’d hitch a ride on the “berry ferry”, and be driven out to the blueberry bushes.

Blueberries are easy to pick and practically popped into our small baskets. When our small baskets were filled, we’d dump them all into the big basket and fill that up. The camera was always on hand.

After the picking, we’d drive to Huntington Center and have lunch and dessert at Sassafras Restaurant.

During my working career, most of the time I worked with people similar to myself: left-brain dominant, detail-oriented technicians, aka "nerds". Most of us took pride in being nerdy.

Every now and again, I came across someone different: a "big picture" guy. You probably know the type - they usually are in management, arrogant as hell in many cases, claiming to be focused on the important stuff, with no time for insignificant matters such as the details that nerds wallow in. Numbers people they are NOT.

Two four year old girls in my nursery school class were the best of friends. When one entered the room, the other would run to give her a big, welcoming hug. They managed to sit side-by-side throughout all activities and held hands when they walked around the room.

These girls were bright, creative and mature beyond their years. Every so often, something of interest would happen at home and they would turn this idea into a little two girl play.

These plays delighted me so much I’d stop what I was supposed to be doing and watch (from afar, of course).

It is popular among many people of my generation (that is, people in their 60's and 70's) to speak of their "spirituality". People like to claim that they are spiritual. I have even been described as spiritual myself, by a handful of my acquaintances, even though I espouse a strictly rational, science-based world view. I can accept this attribution only on the basis of a definition that I read somewhere recently: "religious people do as they are told to do, no matter what is right; spiritual people do what is right, no matter what they are told".

My friend called the other day, and was very frustrated, and disappointed.
He was quite upset about something that was going on in his life,
something he could not control. It was something he actually brought into
his path by not taking actions that he should have taken,
on something that he knew he was supposed to take.

He ignored the situation and just went on to continue to move forward,
and then there were consequences to the decisions he chose to do.
And he didn’t like the outcome and had to wait to hear what the final outcome would be.