Tips for the Road

"If you are still in the first half of your life, chronologically or spiritually,

I would hope that this book will offer you some good guidance,

warnings, limits, permissions, and lots of possibilities.

If you are in the second half of life already,

I hope this book will at least assure you that you are not crazy -

and also give you some hearty bread for your whole journey."

Richard Rohr, from Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life.

I've read and written a lot about self-actualizing and serving heroically.

Gaining and giving experiences, treasures, and gifts on our life's journey.

Going through struggles and resistance and finding courage and strength on the other side.

Having just finished, Arthur Brooks's From Strength to Strength, I reached for this book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for a few years, patiently waiting for me to grow ready for it.

I bought it before I had any real understanding of the "two halves of life."

Now, I'm beginning to see that I've been in this transition for the past several years.

I'm putting on this new set of clothes and shoes and embracing the uneasiness and excitement that comes from crossing yet another threshold in life's journey.

Moving from strength to strength and falling upward and forward.

The thing about reading Richard Rohr is that it takes me forever to read his work.

Because I can't just read it.

I have to continually pause, reread, underline, make notes in the margins, and write notes in my notebooks.

He doesn't just have a few great quotes; his entire books are packed with great wisdom.

But part of the wisdom is that there is no rush to "get through" this book.

It takes time to grow, to be transformed, and to internalize the important lessons of life.

So I love that this book will offer me guidance, warnings, limits, permissions, and lots of possibilities.

But I'm more excited that in these next few weeks, I'm going to gain some hearty bread for (my) whole journey.

Beginning each day, here, as I fall upward with Richard's "Tips for the Road."