The Cedar Life
Living for the Long Run
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Artistic License Working in a public accounting firm, the opportunities to be expressive are somewhat limited. Dress codes have loosened in recent years. When I started out, most men wore a business suit, tie-optional, with some variation of a blue check shirt. Work processes were standardized throughout the organization. We all used the same computers and software. The one place my coworkers and I had some freedom to express ourselves was the… Read More
Lyrical Reminders Sometimes a song I have not heard in a while will come on and capture my attention. It might remind me of the place I first heard it or the lyrics trigger a particular memory. This happened recently. A song called ‘Whispers’ by the artist, Passenger, popped up on a playlist. For me, the song captures a longing for something more and the difficulty in finding that ‘more’ in a… Read More
Learning to Love Before getting married, I had never heard of Gary Chapman’s book, The 5 Love Languages. Marriage does not come with a manual, but if it did, the concepts within the book could cover off a few chapters. For those not familiar with it, the premise of the book is that there are five primary ways in which we ‘speak’ and receive love. They are: Acts of Service, Quality Time,… Read More
Gone Fishing Last summer, my son asked me if I could take him fishing down at the river near where we live. He had done this a few times with my father-in-law, but this was the first time I got to take him. I was thrilled that he asked me. Spending one on one time with my kids is something I really enjoy, understand the importance of, and do not do enough… Read More
Early Warning “Beware the Saboteur.” The text on my phone did not make sense when I first looked at it, but as I thought about it for a moment, things became clearer. The text had come from a good friend. Later that night Katie and I had plans to meet with him and his wife at their home. We had been trying to get together for a couple of weeks and had… Read More
Long Nights In the early months of 2012, I was working at a large accounting firm in the midst of ‘busy season’. This meant long days, late nights, and little room for anything other than work. It was an annual season within the industry as we worked on client files. Most clients closed their books at the end of December and needed annual reporting completed early the next year. During these months,… Read More
Clutch Shooting The 1998 NBA Finals ended with an iconic moment. With the Jazz up by one point in Game 6 and the game on the line, the Chicago Bulls regained possession and handed the ball to Michael Jordan. Seconds remained on the clock, as Jordan squared up his defender. He then drove to the hoop, stepped back, and shook off the defense before clinching the Bulls’ third consecutive NBA title with… Read More
Practical Solutions Two weeks ago, I wrote a post, Light in the Darkness, in which I reflected on some of the unrest that has been unleashed on the globe over the last couple of years. After I published it, I started to notice the theme of light overcoming darkness emerging in other places. On the Tuesday I published the post, the daily readings for Catholic masses around the world included St. Paul’s… Read More
This post was originally published on March 1, 2021. I will be publishing a follow up to last week’s blog, Light in the Darkness, next week, but the theme of seeking quiet is one I have been reflecting on in the past week and wanted to re-share this post from earlier in the year. Life is Loud On a typical weeknight, our family will sit down together for dinner sometime between 6… Read More
Time Out It is fair to say that humanity on the whole is not enjoying its best moment. We all experience difficult and dark moments. But for most us alive in this time, we have never experienced anything with such global reach. A time when the whole world is struggling and answers seem in short supply. The light that at the end of the tunnel we keep seeing has turned out to… Read More
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The Cedar Life 