Lessons from Mother’s Day
We spent part of Mother’s Day with three of our grandchildren (and their parents!). It was delightful. The outpouring of love was tangible. My children went together on a new food processor, to replace my 45 year-old processor I inherited from my mother-in-law. My...
Misery Loves Company
Let me start by saying I am not miserable! But life is full of trials, small and large, which prevent me from carefree happiness. Even in our smaller trials, the adage I have used for my title today holds true in my life. Sometimes I relate a trial with a friend and...
Wordsmithing
I was recently reminded of how God has transformed my attitude about writing. When I was a child, I remember thinking carefully about my speech, a precursor to writing. Your first impression of that statement might be positive. Shouldn’t we all be concerned to be...
Solitude and Moving Towards Human Contact
I imagine many of you have seen articles, books, and podcasts on the current trend toward solitude in our culture. Robert Putnam wrote a book in 2000 entitled Bowling Alone and he was more recently interviewed on The Daily (July 13, 2024 – “Robert Putnam Knows Why...
Giving Thanks
Growing up, I had an aunt who was prosperous and generous. My family was not prosperous. When we would visit my aunt, or she would visit us, she would treat us to a meal out, which was always something special for us. Somehow our relationship with her became...
Banishing the Negative From Our Lives
In rapid succession this past weekend I saw two posts on Facebook – one an article from the Atlantic and another a post of a friend – advocating for eliminating the input of negative friends in our lives. The article was by Arthur Brooks from May 2021,...