The tragic deaths of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others in a helicopter crash felt intimate to me, though I do not follow sports, nor have I ever met them. Yet imagining the sudden loss of a father and daughter is a dread I can feel in my bones. Also, all of […]
Can you be completely unworthy, but also believe you are unconditionally lovable? In Christianity, this is a common underpinning to understanding God’s love. I’ve long struggled with the emotional disconnect between the two. I used to bridge the gap with guilt. Nowadays God and I have a reproach-free relationship. Does that make me arrogant or […]
We are in a new moon phase entering the third decade of the 21st century and I’m relieved to see 2019 in my rear view mirror. Perhaps I’m not alone. Now it’s time to assess the hurts, disappointments, betrayals, and plain bad luck of the past year. Why? Because I’m packing for a new decade, […]
The heroes of Thanksgiving are the family cooks. They chop, slice, dice and roast. Like mathematicians, they figure out how to stagger five roasting pans over eight hours using one oven. They make it look so easy, greeting guests with a breezy, “Come on in!” even as they tick off a mental to-do list with […]
(Photo by Suzette Martinez Standring, Houghton’s Pond, Milton, MA) Thanksgiving celebrates togetherness and family feasting, and perhaps, it also calls for restraint. I am not talking about the groaning buffet and ten desserts. I am talking about not talking about hot button issues. Live for the greater good and show mercy to the poor cook […]