At the beginning of Lent, I distinguished harmony from unison singing.  When I longed for harmony, I wasn’t longing for total agreement, but for a melody of multiple voices in tune with one another.  So here, near the end of Lent, I go back to a similar refrain—I am longing...

Jesus is the one who has broken down the walls of hostility between humans.  I must be oh, so careful not to build them back, through unkind thoughts or broken systems.  So, this week I long for HUMILITY and EMPATHY. 

I’ve put these two words together because both require me...

I used to believe that if I kept to my workout regimen, I wouldn’t ever lose my muscle tone.  I could keep my body and fitness forever.  I didn’t take into account the debilitating effects of plantar fasciitis.  An overuse injury, common to tennis players of a caliber...

“Open the eyes of my heart, Lord.  Open the eyes of my heart.
I want to see You; I want to see You.”          Michael W. Smith 

Today I am longing for VISION…. vision to see God and learn from him.  To know that what...

I enjoy the magazine “Real Simple” with its space-saving solutions, its paired down decor and clean lines.  I like the concept, but I can’t live that way.  My house is filled with so much stuff, and each item carefully placed in view has a memory attached or a useful...

During the season preceding Easter, the devoted of certain Christian traditions often give up something or find a new discipline to adopt. One appropriate way of experiencing a holy Lent is to go through an extended period of self-examination.  Beginning on Ash Wednesday (today!) and...

Last week I wrote about rainbows, those fleetingly ephemeral manifestations of water and light.  Over Christmas I saw one as I was driving through a brief shower on the freeway.  I wanted to stop and take a photograph, but by the time I had pulled off the highway it was gone.  Many...

As we emerge from the worst days of Omicron, the third but probably not the last of the COVID variants, we’re hanging onto a cautious optimism.  Some of us are angry at how long this difficult season has gone on, and we look for someone to blame for all the upheaval of the last two...

Just shambling and rambling my morning away,
  I’m roaming through yards on my A.M. sashay;
I’ve rummaged through garbage and eaten my fill,
  I’m zigging and zagging through gardens at will. 

Though some find me scary or startling at best,
  I have no intent of...

“Marvelous” was my mother’s word.  I think she loved the sophisticated way that the first syllable could be drawn out, as in “MAH-velous.”  She used it all the time.  I mean ALL THE TIME!  On the other hand, she objected to my dad’s overuse...