I find myself burdened by the weight of my own humanity. Photo courtesy https://pixabay.com/images/id-2964231/ Despite taking melatonin pretty consistently (by that I mean at nearly the same time each evening with few missed nights), I am again waking in the wee hours of the morning. Two nights (days?) ago, I was up at 1:30. I mean, wide awake. I got up to not disturb my beloved and went back out to the family room to finish watching a movie I’d started. I discovered that HBO Max has the entire Studio Ghibli collection and I’ve been methodically watching every one of…
-
-
And the hits just keep coming … Was it someone at Motown who came up with that line, or was it a radio disc jockey? Either way, the phrase certainly sums up 2020 for a lot of people. The year hit like a boxer or MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter, slamming health and finances in ways many have never seen in their lifetime. I had to go out yesterday and I was shocked at the new developments being built in what seems like every nook and cranny. Rumor has it that a shopping complex is coming to my neighborhood (all…
-
I just re-took the Clifton StrengthsFinder assessment in preparation for a webinar this weekend. I hadn’t taken it in several years and was curious to see if my results were in alignment with the old ones. They were pretty different. But then again, so am I. Life has taken many twists and turns, professionally and personally, since … 2007 or 2008, which is about when I last did the StrengthsFinder. I would say it’s pretty accurate to where I am now. My primary identified strengths include ones that relate to creativity and thought, which is completely me. I was able…
-
It’s a Steely Dan sort of day. It’s technically fall, at least in other parts of the universe outside Southern California: here, the leaves on most trees have done a smashing impersonation of certain moths, fish, or other short-lived creatures; they’ve tossed themselves, headlong to the ground in death, creating a foundation of birth and growth for grass, while their now-nude trees reach their empty (or, as is the case of my trees, partially empty) arms to the sun to grasp birth in the tips of their limbs that will yield new leaves, soon. Sooner than we probably want to…
-
Today, I am weak. My eyes are tired, I don’t want to do any more work, and I’m hungry. I’m going to eat the cake (I made one yesterday. I’m not going to eat the entire cake … just a piece), but I will have to convince myself not to feel poorly about doing so. And that’s not a thing about body image or weight or any of those other things that might come to mind by such a statement. Here’s the thing: our church leader called for a seven-day fast from social media, television, and from day meals to…
-
Now there’s an interesting word … People of faith tend to poo-poo the notion of revenge. You know what the Scriptures say: Revenge is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. That is very true, however … there’s more to it. 5 Now you know what Zeruiah’s son Joab did to me. You know what he did to the two captains of the armies of Israel. He killed Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether in the time of peace as if it were in the time of war. He put the blood of war on…
-
In case you were wondering, I’m alive, even though my presence on so-called social media isn’t. Me, November 2020 I’m alive in the time of the ‘rona. Despite its horrors, I call it that because it reminds me of the song ‘My Sharona’ (1979), the debut single from The Knack. It makes the covid not so frightening in a way, but not completely. I’ve got to find something to smile about in the midst, so please don’t judge. Just. Don’t. I’ve heard a lot of up-close horror about the ‘rona. People I care about have had people they care about…
-
It’s Election Day in the U.S. It feels funny to title this blog ‘Love’ on a day that is a first culmination of so much vitriol. But I have a reason. Let all that you do be done in love. – 1 Corinthians 16:14 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. – 1 John 4:8 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. – 1 John 4:18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his…
-
I’d seen the title of the documentary in the list, several days prior but hadn’t clicked on it. It was about a long-lost Egyptian tomb, the find of a lifetime for people who dig in the hot sand, hoping to find an undisturbed resting place of someone long-gone from this mortal plateau. There were job titles that made my eyes grow wide as my brain asked questions. There were men and women whose sole employ was to cipher the knowings from bones, to identify how old the person might have been when they died, to determine if they were healthy…
-
Think of the ocean: or a pool. What comes to mind when you see or hear the word ‘shallow’? The water is so low, I’m barely getting wet … I can just dip my toes in … It’s too cold to go all the way in … Shallow means a lack of commitment in a way. Staying in the shallow end means it looks like the person is in the water, but they are only in a wee bit. There’s little risk in shallow. Think about the deep end. I nearly drowned once as a kid after getting pushed into…