Gaining a heart of wisdom
Part of the delight of spending time with my tiny grandson is that he takes nothing for granted. Nothing. “Bam, why bubble pop?” “Because you stood on it.” “Why?” Well, good question. Why, indeed, but our conversations routinely run on in this vein of relentless curiosity. They move forward not because “Bam” comes up with… Continue reading The Importance of Becoming Curious at Mid-life and Beyond
Last summer, sitting on a rocky beach with family all around, I noticed a small white shell among the scramble of stones and shards of driftwood. Soon I had collected a handful, all pure white and perfectly whorled, the former dwelling place for some diminutive, absentee mollusk. For a few days, I carried them around… Continue reading The Ancient Way of Praying Made New
Time has a way of eroding the sharp edges of a story. Details become foggy and the setting becomes indistinct. Fully alive, three-dimensional characters may lose their identity in stereotype, becoming mere placeholders in their own story. This was the case for Lucy Walter, the heroine in Elizabeth Goudge's Child from the Sea. Born in… Continue reading How Do Stories Increase Your Empathy for Others?
He placed one hand on the door frame, shifted his weight to one foot, and then placed the other small boot toe-down on the floor. Looking at his dad, he checked his hand position and then assumed the facial expression he deemed appropriate to the occasion, a conversation among "the guys." My grandson's imitation of… Continue reading 10 Ways to Reflect God’s Character
A week of teaching children in a backyard Bible club can have a clarifying effect on one's theology. Just exactly what is it that happened in Zaccheus's heart when he changed from being a dirty rotten tax collector to a repentant and honorable Christ-follower? When Jesus spoke to Saul on the road to Damascus, how… Continue reading Madeleine L’Engle and the Practice of Believing
It's a common experience: the brain goes in search of a word that just will not materialize. Finally, eventually, the elusive word does come, even if it takes a thesaurus to prime the pump, and we rejoice because in conversation and in writing, finding and savoring the just-right-word to frame a thought is supremely satisfying.… Continue reading When Words Fail: Living and Lamenting through Dementia
Encased in a body that you recognize in the mirror, your soul is the "you" that's always been there peering back from your reflection. It's the part of you that infuses all the roles you play (parent, spouse, friend, leader, employee), and it's what makes those roles uniquely yours. Your soul is the place where… Continue reading Leadership Lessons from the Soul of Moses
I did not set out to live at the same address for 25 years, and, technically, I suppose my deep roots in this country hill may disqualify me from reviewing a book entitled Born to Wander: Recovering the Value of Our Pilgrim Identity. At the outset, I actually thought I had been born to wander,… Continue reading Reclaiming Our Pilgrim Identity
It's the terminal milestone on the parenting journey: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." III John 4 Even so, there are a good many ways of measuring its achievement. It's what we aim for and pray for, but how do we know that are children have made the leap from… Continue reading The Beauty of Sacrifice and the Joy of Giving
I shut off the mower's whirring blades, removed my hearing protection, and there it was: the splash and whoosh of the Atlantic Ocean, always restless, continually wearing away the granite at the bottom of the embankment in the back yard where I had been mowing. Clouds above were heavy with rain; therefore, sunset would come… Continue reading A Praying Life
Living Our Days 