Truth is a powerful entity. Some wield it like a weapon, others like a tool, and as much as we want to believe there is an objectivity and rigidity to truth, it is a lot more elastic than we care to admit. Though two people experience the same event, the truth of that encounter will […]
In Bernard Malamud’s The Magic Barrel, God can only be found through humanity. While seeking connection with others, we discover God and the meaning of love. love your neighbor as you love yourself. The Golden Rule is key to connecting with those around us and with God himself. I suggest that we actually do love […]
“Mem’ries light the corners of my mind…” The appeal of revisiting happier, simpler, more peaceful times remains strong in all of us even if we are not nostalgic by nature. Those we have loved dearly and who have dearly loved us live on in our hearts becoming a place of refuge and solace. And yet […]
How could any of us survive our losses without each other? The kodachrome of our life becomes black and white. Disoriented in our grieving, time is distorted and so is our perspective. We are no longer the same person. So much has happened that we can’t begin to express it. My soul feels the woundedness […]
What Sustains Us? A simple meal, a moment of rest, a kind word, a heartfelt prayer. What sustains us? Sometimes sustenance merely keeps us going through the day, a way to string the moments like a rosary and reach a satisfying type of conclusion. But sometimes sustenance must pierce more deeply and bolster more strongly […]
THE NECESSITY OF ART What is essential Recently, there have been a spate of articles on how to pack a “go” bag in the event of a natural disaster or calamity that requires leaving in a hurry with only what is necessary. Of course food, water, medicine, and documents are the type of essentials […]
From God’s Lips to My Ears Years ago there was a popular song, One of Us by Joan Osborne that questioned “What if God was one of us? Just a slob like one of us? Just a stranger on the bus tryin’ to make his way home….” Because God is so vastly beyond our comprehension, […]
Seeking Permanence Sometimes we find ourselves in the unlikeliest places – a church rummage sale on a summer Saturday, for instance. Moreover, sometimes we find our selves in the unlikeliest places. A serendipitous situation, the “right place at the right time,” or a chance encounter with a stranger illumines something in ourselves we have not […]
When cure isn’t possible, wholeness holds us. Cure is when God changes our circumstances. Healing is when God does not change our circumstances instead changes us. Wholeness is when we choose to embrace our circumstances and find a way to say, God is good all the time. “If we are absolutely grounded in the absolute […]
Crisis of Faith When we feel blessed, it’s easy to say, “God is good, God is good all the time”. What happens when life becomes hard and unbearable due to financial reversal, illness, divorce, loss of a loved one or….? In our first story, The High Places by Fiona McFarlane, it takes five hard […]