Easy After Church Salad
Instead of my traditional fancy bag salad from the grocery store, I decide to make a chopped salad. Yes, even I did that. Folks love it. They want more. I think I saw someone actually lick the bowl afterwards. Just rinse and chop three romaine hearts. Add one chopped avocado (drizzled with lemon juice), four […]
Imagine If
I’ve been talking to my oldest daughter about what would happen if people were kind and included everyone. Can you imagine? I’m starting to realize that everything from our shoes to our titles works to divide us and put us into certain groups. We’re taught to exclude others in order to form an identity for […]
Amazed Again: Viewing the Powers of Ten Film
Last night, I see the short film Powers of Ten, and I’m amazed. Most of my neighbors have seen this, but I somehow missed it all these years. Trust me. You want to see this. Here’s the link: Powers of Ten Film. It’s 9 minutes long, but you will love it. What did you think? […]
How to Avoid Heart Rot
My youngest and I examine a tree trunk by our home. Once, it stood tall over the neighborhood, but experts knew something wasn’t right. The tree suffered from heart rot and had to be cut down. The entire inside of this externally beautiful tree rotted. (And yes, the heart rot possesses the shape of an […]
Just Knowing Made Me Happy
We see a hot air balloon rising just about the treetops as we’re driving to a friend’s house. “Let’s go find it,” my husband says. So we do. Just knowing that one could–if she wanted to–ride up into the sky in a hot air balloon makes me so happy.
Your Enchanted Healing Hands
This morning, the Dragon Boy falls down and scrapes his hands. He comes to me and presses his wounded palms against mine and closes his eyes. We stand there for a moment, palm to palm, right in the middle of the morning rush to the school building. “You have enchanted healing hands,” he says. He […]
You Don’t Know What You’re Missing
Five years ago, a student of mine designed an ad campaign encouraging college freshman to stop drinking on weekends. He created a picture of a passed out college student on the front of a t-shirt. He wrote above it, “You don’t know what you’re missing.” Beneath the image, he began a list of all the […]
How Would You Define It?
I read Psalm 119:164: “Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.” A heart at peace? How does one define it and know it? It goes deeper than emotion, like a fixed anchor for the soul even as turbulent waters crash about. It’s a steadiness. It’s an assurance. It’s […]
A High Alert Situation
Every morning when I open wide the back doors to let the fresh morning air come through the screens, the chipmunks come and taunt our cats. The little chipmunks pop their heads up through the deck and stare at the cats. The cats stare back. It’s a high alert situation. The cats stand like statues […]
What I Learned This Week
In the spirit of quizzing, I decide to ask myself what I really learned this week. I’m picking raspberries, and I reflect on all I’ve learned this week about unity and what destroys it. As I think about living in unity within families, neighborhoods, classrooms, and larger communities, I’m learning that our default state tends […]