Phillip Berry | Orient Yourself

Sundown, yellow moon, I replay the pastI know every scene by heart, they all went by so fast Bob Dylan Our world has a natural ebb and flow to it. The tides come in and retreat, rhythmically, predictably. The seasons come and they go, moving us with them as change comes to everything we know. […]

We are creatures of extremes. Take a look around. Extreme sports. Extreme drama. Extreme entertainment. Extreme violence. Extreme luxury. Extreme poverty. Extreme politics. Extreme generosity. Extreme selfishness. Extreme. In nearly every direction we look, we see the extreme. We seem naturally drawn to our edges. What is an edge? An edge is the outer limit, […]

I don’t need to believe all the dreams you conceiveYou just need to achieve something that rings true Martin Gore, A Pain That I’m Used To I once worked for a dynamic leader who would frequently say that there are three things that employees want to know: 1) Where are we going? 2) How will […]

This summer’s cicada invasion has provided a curiously biblical book-end to 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, the plague of insects has had little affect on life, limb, or livelihood for those of us living amid their brief and frenetic existence but their presence cannot be missed visually or aurally. In honor of their appearance this summer, […]

Love proves itself by deeds, so how am I to show my love? Great deeds are forbidden me. The only way I can prove my love is by scattering flowers, and these flowers are every little sacrifice, every glance and word, and the doing of the least actions for love. Therese of Lisieux Walking across […]

In a time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell A few weeks ago, we attended a college commencement ceremony. Though attendance was limited, we were fully masked, and the speeches were pre-recorded to be delivered via big screen, the event held most of the normal pomp and circumstance of such […]

As for me, my life is already being poured away as a libation, and the time has come for me to depart. I have fought the good fight to the end; I have run the race to the finish; I have kept the faith. 2 TImothy 4:6-7 Signs of the old house remained: deep, chestnut-stained woodwork trimming the doors and windows. […]

I thought I could describe a state; make a map of sorrow. Sorrow, however, turns out to be not a state but a process. C.S. Lewis, A Grief Observed The great Christian apologist, C.S. Lewis, wrote two books dealing explicitly with suffering and loss. In The Problem of Pain, Lewis reconciles the existence of an […]

Thank you, women who are mothers! You have sheltered human beings within yourselves in a unique experience of joy and travail. This experience makes you become God’s own smile upon the newborn child, the one who guides your child’s first steps, who helps it to grow, and who is the anchor as the child makes its way […]

My wife, Sally, and I were recently discussing one of our employees and she commented, “She’s made for this.” What a powerfully evocative expression. Think of the people you know. How many would you characterize as doing something for which they were made? Hold that thought for a moment, we’ll come back to it. Just […]