Growing up on a farm, I learned to watch for buzzards. One or two soaring overhead is no cause for concern but when you see a kettle of them, swirling around, you begin to grow uneasy, wondering if they smell a wild animal or one of your cows. A buzzard will sniff out a dead…
Category: Personal Essay
Tears and strength
I’m sorry. I don’t know why I’m crying. I’m sorry I can’t hold my tears. They just seem to come out of me and I have no control over them. I’m sorry. Do you have any tissues? I’m sorry I’m crying. I know I should be over this by now. I’m sorry. Women tend to…
All the Noises…Still Discovering
A grandfather clock stands in the entryway of my parents home. It’s the first thing guests see when they’re all through the door. When it arrived, my dad showed my brother and me how it works, telling us to be mindful never to overwind it. We were fascinated by the mechanisms and I looked forward…
Listening To What Our Bodies Have to Tell Us: A Lesson From My Shoulder
I have a bad shoulder. I never broke it or injured it in any way. I don’t have a torn rotator cuff or labrum, and never had to have surgery on it. You might say, in a way that this is all a self-inflicted injury. Since my freshman year in college, my right shoulder has…
“Doubting” Thomas: A GOOD Role Model
The Sunday after Easter is known by several names. Most people will call it, “Low Sunday” because it is one of the Sundays churches experience the lowest attendance in worship. Everyone makes a big push on Easter to get the family to church, especially the members who normally don’t come. I think that takes so…
The Prodigal and the Pigs
A few weeks ago I stopped by the barn because I saw my brother walking alongside it. He had a terrible scowl on his face and I asked him what had happened. “I got attacked by a stupid pig!” He had grabbed one of the piglets to tag its ear. Apparently the mama didn’t take…
All Will Be Well…And Hell.
During the COVID quarantine, my friend and I read some of Julian of Norwich’s work. My friend had heard the saying, “All shall be well,” but was unaware of its origins. I was more than happy to introduce her to St. Julian, which felt especially fitting during lockdown. Julian of Norwich’s most often quoted text…
Discovering Answers Because of my Kids
In a fit of anger, my son throws his gaming headset on the floor and shatters the plastic connecting the headphones to the bridge that crosses the top of his head. They are irreparable and unusable. He comes in my room, sobbing, telling me they are destroyed then saying what an idiot he is and…
Pleasantness and the Post Office
You’ll call me a liar but the most refreshing part of my week was just spent in the post office. That’s saying something considering I also had the first pedicure this week that I’ve had in three months. Tina soaked and scrubbed my feet then painted my toes an appropriate holiday red, bringing me physical…
Saint Francis and the Error in Fundamentals
My friend and I are reading as a daily devotion Matthew Fox’s Christian Mystics: 365 Readings and Meditations. The selections are short and the meditations with accompanying questions encourage thought without requiring a day’s worth of contemplation and consternation. Today’s selection called up the moment of history when Saint Francis of Assisi stood before Pope…
Prayerful Kitchen 