The Discipline of Giving Up a Discipline

Revelations and New Year’s Eve. A Natural Pairing.  Living Green in the WordI told you, back on New Year’s Day, that my one word for 2013 is green. Green, I told you, means living (not dying), means new (not stale). Later I learned that Pantone had chosen emerald as its color of the year, but that’s […]


No Photos: Be and Do, A Both/And Week

The First Grandboy Overnighter. Ayden, 5, and Cadence, About-to-Turn 3. September, 2009. The Incredible Sweetness of Being, Part TwelveI put my camera away the last time we had grandsons under our roof. Not because the camera was broken. Not because I don’t adore pictures of our grandchildren. Not because I think I have enough photos of […]


Passion, Public Discourse, and Politics

Little League All-Stars.  Heard the one about the candidate who was caught burning a flag on a fire built of banned books, while making out with his seventeen-year-old boyfriend in the back seat of his wife’s car, parked at the hospital where his special-needs child was undergoing emergency treatment for cancer? Me either.Not yet.But I think […]


The Day my Tongue Caught Fire

Just Don’t. An Answered PrayerMy tongue can be much sharper than I want it to be. Sometimes at work I’m so focused on the goal that I forget that real people are working to accomplish that goal. Sometimes my speech doesn’t take into account their needs or feelings. It’s worse at home. My sweet, loving, devoted […]


Cripples and Crutches

My Maternal Grandparents. Ca. 1970 Lists, Leaning, and the Lord “‘Pa,” I said, “I need a piece of paper.” I eyed the steno pad on his desk. “What for?” “Grandma and I are going to the store and I need to make a list.” “Lists are crutches. Just remember what all you need–it’s good for […]