Gaining a heart of wisdom
The number of plates on my dining room table had been a constant so dependable that I could set the table on auto-pilot. Often the number would swell to account for guests or shrink when one of us was visiting elsewhere. However, the ebb and flow always had a fixed point of return–until it didn’t.… Continue reading Holding On, Letting Go, and Doing the Work of Loving Your Empty Nest
An Author Q and A with Dorothy Greco It couldn’t have been original with me, but one life goal, scribbled into a journal as a teen, comes to mind often in this season of midlife. In adolescent, loopy handwriting, I inscribed the words in hope. GOAL: Organize your life in such a way that when… Continue reading Marriage in Midlife: A Crisis or an Opportunity?
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
C.S. Lewis described the human condition as a process of always becoming more of what we already are. These are cautionary words for me at this point in middle age, particularly as I consider the possibilities. In Lewis's The Great Divorce, the Teacher speaks regretfully of a seemingly harmless woman who has come to the end of… Continue reading Half Way to Entirely
I can just barely admit this, but I have finally hauled all the cassette tapes -- John Michael Talbot, Carole King, Billy Joel -- out from under my bed. And I’m going to throw them away. Letting go of this one thing may not free my hands to grab hold of an entire universe, but… Continue reading Faith Going Forward: A Mid-Life Following
I can just barely admit this, but I have finally hauled all the cassette tapes -- John Michael Talbot, Carole King, Billy Joel -- out from under my bed. And I’m going to throw them away. Letting go of this one thing may not free my hands to grab hold of an entire universe, but… Continue reading Are We Following?
A senior executive at Focus on the Family, seminary graduate, and seasoned Christian, there was every reason to think that Bruce Peppin should have scaled the mountains of midlife with skill and enthusiasm. However, with his marriage and his family relationships deeply broken and his faith in God taking a nose dive, he realized that he had veered… Continue reading Finish Well
Living Our Days 