Joe Niemiec

I read with interest an article that Congressional approval rating was at 12 percent in August 2012, three months before election, and 90 percent of the lawmakers were re-elected and sent back to Washington, D.C.. I am trying to understand what this really speaks to.

In this new year my only real resolutions are to deepen my connection with Spirit...

I ponder this simple poem and wonder that we, as individuals, spend so much time focusing on the differences, while God may see only humanity. When do we release our need to see all that is wrong and take the time to celebrate all that is right?

It is no longer a simple question, as more people become “unchurched” and the United States becomes even more diversified, there is a larger population that celebrate the holiday as a nonreligious holiday — an opportunity to party and give gifts.

This time of the year, I often sit in a place of deep gratitude. Gratitude for life itself, for the opportunity to be present one more day, and for all the gifts that have been bestowed upon me. I work at taking each moment and savoring it, for I don’t know how long I’ll be here to enjoy this thing we call life.

There are no words that will wipe clean the slate of yesterday’s senseless violence in Newtown, Conn. It will go down in our consciousness as a day without explanation, a day of pain and mourning.

Evolution is the time between an idea being formulated and the outcome or manifestation to materialize. Revolution is when a seemingly foreign idea is realized and we do everything in our power to internalize and manifest it.