+ In Inner Work at Inner Frontier Joseph Naft offers important wisdom on "Persistence." He begins: "Persistence underpins our most significant endeavors. This holds as true in the spiritual path as it does in other pursuits. Indeed, in spiritual practice persistence is the key, secret ingredient, the will that enables the whole process to move forward."

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+ In Inner Work at Inner Frontier Joseph Naft offers "Inner Body for Inner Life." Excerpts:

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+ We can all find ways to do our part in the important work of earthkeeping. ZenHabits offers a Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life. Surely, we can all choose some ways to simplify our lives and help restore creation among these options.

• Go to the 72 Ideas

+ The National Council of Churches of Christ offers "Faith Principles on Global Warming" and asks churches in the USA to endorse these principles. The principles are organized by four categories: Justice, Stewardship, Sustainability and Sufficiency. Here's an excerpt from the Justice section: "Strive for justice and acknowledge that global warming’s societal impact already falls, and will continue to fall, most heavily on the people around the world who are least able to mitigate the impacts—poor and vulnerable populations in the U.S. and in developing countries. As a leading industrialized nation that has disproportionately contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, it is incumbent upon us to rectify this injustice."

• Read the Principles

+ No matter who becomes President, we the people need to take charge and let the leaders know that the planet is in peril and earthkeeping must be an absolute priority. It is encouraging to see how much the Lutherans are doing to raise our earthkeeping consciousness. Presbyterians have a developed a clear and comprehensive policy for restoring creation. Many concerned Presbyterians are involved in a network called Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. An inspiring and informative organization emphasizing the necessity of a spiritual awakening to save the planet is Celestine Vision. I intend to blog consistently on this crucial concern. Thank you Al Gore for helping so many of us to realize that the planet is in peril and that we can and must act rapidly.

+ Ellen Goodman has been a longtime Liberal columnist. She has really come through in her latest column. She differentiates the two candidates in a very perceptive way. Excerpts:

It's not news that both these candidates share the same fundamental goals. But one believes that change is fought for in a kind of trench warfare. The other believes that it can come in a transforming wave. And in some ways, this whole primary contest is over which way Democratic voters believe the political world really works.

To some, hope is just another word for naivete. To others, experience is an excuse for cynicism. What people believe about this seems to fall along the actuarial table.

• Read column

+ Beliefnet offers "The Nature of Faith" by Caroline Myss. This article has been available since 2003. (I'm going through some of my 2003 abundancetrek blog posts.) Excerpt:

Faith is power. It is the power to stand up to the madness and chaos of the hysical world while holding the position that nothing external has any authority over what heaven has in mind for you. That kind of power is perhaps the most enviable internal strength that any human being can attain. Like any good Catholic schooled in the lives of the saints and mystics, I know an endless string of stories that show why their faith was the proof of their sainthood. Against all odds, these individuals were able to resist forces of the outside world that others would cave under and hold steady on their course. That course could consist of believing in the process of inner revelation that was taking place within their spirits, or of trusting that their needs would be met regardless of the odds.

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+ Thanks to Dana & Jonathan of the PC(USA) staff in Louisville, I have changed my blogging ways and have really gotten hooked as has my daughter, Sharon, since I shared my enthusiasm about the user friendliness of blogger.com. I have updated the abundancetrek.com homepage and the links page to reflect my new blogging situation including 3 other blogs I now do. The top of the Abundancetrek home page now looks something like this:

+ In Inner Work at Inner Frontier Joseph Naft offers important wisdom on "Self-Acceptance." Excerpts: "All our inner shortcomings and outer imperfections lead us to obsess about them and reject certain aspects of our body and personality. That rejection wastes our precious time and energy in a self-absorbed, fruitless, and unnecessary battle among our rejected parts and our rejecting ego. Contrary to some views of spirituality, that inner battle hinders our spiritual path." "The basic and enduring resolution to the whole predicament must be founded on love for ourselves, on a radical, all-inclusive acceptance of ourselves as we are, today. If we embark on a program of self-improvement, we shall never reach its end. Neither our personality nor our body can ever be perfect enough, nor can our financial net worth ever be large enough to satisfy our ego."

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+ Last summer Mary & I traveled through the White Mountains. We hiked along this beautiful stream.

+ I'm getting the hang of this great user-friendly blog format. My daughter caught the bug and is now blogging. You can find her brand new blog at http://sharonwildeellison.blogspot.com/.

+ ExecuMusings offers "Hunger Strike: the Wisdom of a Street Jester" by Clint McCoy, Executive for Partnerships of the Presbyterian Synod of the Northeast. Excerpt:

“I’ve completely given up on organized religion,” he said, shaking his head a bit. “I don’t mean any disrespect to you, but I’ve given up on the church.”

As he said the words, and I thought about his unconventional protest, it came to me that many in the church didn’t have too much to do with people protesting as he was either.

“I’m out here 24-7,” he said. “This is what I do.”

“My name is Clint,” I offered, wanting not to leave him without some kind of connection.

“My name is Start,” he said, offering me his hand. “Hi Stark,” I said, not hearing him correctly the first time, and thinking it was a peculiar name, as we shook hands.

“Start,” he said, not as though correcting me, but more as an affirmation. “Start Loving.”

Did I hear him correctly? I thought to myself. You’ve got to be kidding! “Start Loving.” Who would really have a name like that? But he hadn’t said it as some kind of joke. He was straight faced as he said it, as though he was eager for me to remember. Why would he trust me at all with his real name, anyway? He had no idea about whom I might really be, or what I might do that could harm him.

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+ It is Earth Day. One of my favorite corners of the web for reflecting on and acting on sustainable abundance is Celestine Vision. It is loaded with many informative and inspirational and challenging articles and offers links to many environmental organizations.

+ The Presbyterian Church (USA) offers many resources for restoring creation as does an affiliated advocacy organization, Presbyterians for Restoring Creation. This year's Earth Day Sunday theme was "The Poverty of Global Climate Change."

+ IDOLATRY AMERICAN STYLE: $$$$$ is an important post by the Prog(ressive)nosticator for Earth Day. Excerpt: "Somewhere, we were sold the false idea that whatever is profitable is also good and justified. We make ourselves gods, our petty desires become needs in minds twisted by greed and bloated with consumption. We become like locusts, devouring everything we depend on to live. If we continue to live like this, there is no question that we will destroy the capacity of the planet to sustain us. At this rate, in a few generations our descendants will be living on landfills if they are living at all. We have no need of a rapture to destroy the world and plunge it into tribulation. It has been plunged into tribulation for a long time, and there is no question in my mind - that which is Antichrist rules in power already."

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+ Ecumenical News International reports that the Uniting Church in Australia has found that "global corruption benefits rich nations ... the real beneficiaries of the 'boom industry' of global corruption that is making the world's poor even poorer. That is the central finding of a new report, "From Corruption to Good Governance", about global bribery and malpractice, by the Uniting Church in Australia. The report calls for an all-out attack on tax havens that, it asserts, help wealthy individuals and businesses prosper at the expense of the poor.

• Read Article
• Visit Uniting Church in Australia website

+ We enjoyed seeing Children of Heaven, a delightful film about children coping creatively with extreme poverty in Iran. Excerpt from the Spirituality & Practice review: "This bright jewel of a film is a cross-cultural masterpiece that touches the heart and reveals the universality of familial love and the determination of children to make do even in the most dire circumstances. For the talented Iranian writer and director Majid Majidi, less is more and little things make all the difference in the world."

• Go to Netflix info page
• Go to Spirituality & Practice review

+ Greg Palast offers "José Can You See? Bush’s Trojan Taco." Excerpts: "First, the summit planned for the N.O. two years back was meant to showcase the rebuilt Big Easy, a monument to can-do Bush-o-nomics. Well, it is a monument to Bush’s leadership: The city still looks like Dresden 1946, with over half the original residents living in toxic trailers or wandering lost and broke in America." "The second reason Bush has kept this major summit a virtual secret is its real agenda - and the real agenda-makers. The names and faces of the guys who called the meeting must remain as far out of camera range as possible: The North American Competitiveness Council."

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+ My delightful granddaughter, Emily, turns 4 today.

+ The Red Sox winning streak continues.

+ Another sunny day along the Erie Canal.

+ I have moved The Abundancetrek Travel Blog to Blogger.com.

• Visit The Abundancetrek Travel Blog

+ Altercation offers An Open Letter to ABC News signed by many journalists after the disgraceful questioning of the 2 Democratic candidates in the debate last week. It begins: "We the undersigned deplore the conduct of ABC's George Stephanopoulos and Charles Gibson at the Democratic Presidential debate on April 16. The debate was a revolting descent into tabloid journalism and a gross disservice to Americans concerned about the great issues facing the nation and the world. This is not the first Democratic or Republican presidential debate to emphasize gotcha questions over real discussion. However, it is, so far, the worst."

• Visit Altercation
• Read An Open Letter