Thursday, December 25, 2008 by Jay T.

This blog represents just me.  My reflections and insights are drawn from my experiences as a husband, Friend and teacher, but what I write doesn’t attempt to reflect the views of my wife, my Friends meeting or the school where I teach.

This blog is hosted on my wife’s website.  Linda Johansen is a fabric artist and teacher.   Her spiritual insights are quite different, but complementary to my own.

I don’t speak of my faith as I teach.  I wish to assure my students, their parents, my colleagues and my supervisors that my teaching is a reflection of the curriculum and best practices within the discipline of Physical Education.

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Wednesday, December 24, 2008 by Jay T.

I’ve been out of sorts.  Prayer has been pretty dry and perfunctory.  Journal writing and blogging have not been happening.  I was concerned about it.  I’m less so, since I realized it’s been Advent.

For me that’s long been a time of reflection and introspection.  In that season, I’ve often listened to Gregorian chants and appreciated their haunting polyphonies.  Perhaps due to my memories of O Come, Emmanuel, they speak to me of desires for fulfillment, held for generations in anticipation of something more:  enlightenment, world peace, the coming (first, second or third) of a savior.

I’m not so concerned since I remembered I often feel this way at this time of year.  It’s part of the long slide to the winter solstice, which promises celebration after.  From that cycle, I gain more awareness and understanding of the natural and spiritual realities of life. Read the rest of this entry »

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Monday, December 15, 2008 by Jay T.

I have some journal entries that I’m slowly uploading onto this blog.  I’ve been doctoring the time stamp to reflect the principal day on which I wrote them.   So the new entries won’t always appear at the top.

Feel free to scan down for more morsels and tidbits.

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Friday, December 5, 2008 by Jay T.

And for the principles of the Society, I would claim no inflexible, invariable form of manifestation. They are principles of life, and in life there is growth,and variety, and adaptation to time and place.

                   from Joel Bean, Why I Am A Friend, 1894

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