Perception of Christianity in One Word This is the time of year when “one-word” posts begin appearing. You may be familiar with them—you may even select one word for yourself as a focus for the new year. It’s something I began doing a few years ago. But this...
Grace Givers I’ve been thinking lately about stewardship. That’s not a word we hear very often anymore. It’s one of those words that seems to have fallen out of favor. Most people haven’t noticed. But maybe we should notice. A steward is someone who has the...
Colorblind sin Sin is ugly. Horrific. Heartbreaking. And colorblind. It’s not white. It’s not black. The murder of George Floyd by an abusive authority figure is sin. Ugly, gruesome sin. The perpetrator—as well as those who stood by and watched—must be charged,...
Do You Know a Late Bloomer? The amaryllis flower was a Christmas gift more than a year ago. Thankful that I live in Florida, I planted the bulbs outside after the blossoms died. Then I waited for one year, eager to see a repeat of the beautiful blooms the...
Scientists say it’s possible for us to see the light of a distant star, farther from the earth than our own sun, after that star has died. The star might be long gone, but we may still benefit from its light gleaming in the heavens today. Mentee This past week I lost...
We want love. We need love. More than one thousand song titles contain the word love. We write books about it. Recite poems. We chase it and sing about it and fall for misconceptions of love. And no matter what we do, we can’t get enough. Maybe that’s because we don’t...
Do you remember the song, Jesus Loves the Little Children, written by C. Herbert Woolston? Even if you don’t know all the stanzas, you probably remember the refrain: Jesus loves the little children, All the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, All...
Regardless of your political persuasion or opinion of the author of a book by a similar title, I’ve learned “it takes a village” for adults, too. It’s been more than a year since I experienced the most significant loss of my life. The loss of my better half left me...
Pocketing and cookie jarring. To paraphrase a line from The Princess Bride, “I do not think it means what you think it means.” One thing is for sure: neither phrase means what I thought they meant! Both terms are now used to describe dating trends. Pocketing occurs...
I’m a person of strong opinions. It’s a rare occasion when I don’t have an opinion on a subject. Lately, though, I’ve been wondering about the art of disagreement. Without meaning to, I’ve come up against passions that run high and emotions that run deep. The subjects...
Hot Buttons We all have them. Hot buttons. Sore spots, tender to even a verbal touch. When poked, these sore...
The Order of Submission If ever a word could be identified as an emotional trigger, it’s submission. And if...
Feelings, Rights, Preferences, and Honor “Honor” is not a concept often mentioned in our culture these days. I...