Anyway

Your emotionally immature parent Took things as they came Gave everything they had Hoped it would be enough. Your emotionally immature parent Saw the best in you Believed the best in you  Tried to see the best in themselves. Looked.  Hoped.  Believed.  Your emotionally immature parent Actually cared Tried to make life good for you…

Fly Free

There’s a passage in the Bible about becoming as little children that I often ponder. It’s worth considering whether or not you’re a Christian. I don’t think for a moment that it’s a call to become like fifth graders or even two-year-olds in terms of self-seeking behavior. What I do believe it means is flying…

Model for Life

I’ve tried out a few models for life in my 57 years. Some dictated by tradition, some by religion, some by the preferences and opinions of stronger personalities in my life who I looked up to or feared as the case may be. I’m still trying new things, but one model I’ve rejected is charting…

Must Begin

Love must begin with respect. Two people cannot move forward merely tolerating each other’s differences and looking down on each other as ignorant idiots who can’t see past the noses on your faces. No relationship can survive that. Neither can a country. There must be mutual respect for the genuine value that others bring to…

Good Soil

I gave up on the garden idea this year and have just tried to keep the weeds at bay and the birds happy. Then I realized some plants were growing from the seeds I put out for the birds—not in places where I would have planted them but in walkways and in tight corners against…

Too Much

To some, you’re too old to understand how things are. Too young to remember how things were. Too experienced to be innocent. Too innocent to have half a clue. Too educated to be in touch with reality. Too uneducated to comprehend the complexity. Too left to be right. Too right to care. Here’s to those…

Fundamental

Many of us build our lives, our identities, our platforms, on the bitter declaration, “Look what has been done to me!” That, I believe, divides us more than any of our social, political, economic or religious differences. On the other side are those who ask, “What good can I do for others?” The distinction is…

Recipes

Don’t criticize a recipe you’ve never actually followed.

Outcomes

Your actions and outcomes are affected not only by what you put in your mind but also by what you fail to put there.

Boats

Locus of control is the extent to which we take responsibility for the circumstances of our own lives. Change is certain, but we are free to determine how we respond to it. We tend to look for excuses and sources of blame outside ourselves—family, friends, teachers, religious leaders, employers, employees, customers, pandemics, movements, the economy,…

Still Never Fails

Love never fails. That eternal, profound realization hit me long ago when my kids were small and I was still struggling just to keep my patience. How incredibly all-consuming and eternal. It extends universes beyond human politics, philosophies and bottom lines. It has no geographical limits or borders. It has continued to hold me accountable…