Down time

Thank you so much for all who have responded to my survey about church. I’m really thankful for all of your answers and the perspectives they give. Reading them, I feel like one of the blind men in the story of trying to comprehend an elephant without being able to see–each person’s perspective is a [...]

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Church

[If you're going to run off without reading this post because it's too long, I understand. I use lots of words to think, but know lots of people are frustrated by such excessiveness.  If that's you, I would be really grateful if you'd skip over the wordy part of the post and consider answering the bolded questions at the end, before you leave. Thanks [...]

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Preservation at any Cost

My thinking on several topics that I’ve been hashing over and over in my mind came together a little bit tonight when I read this statement at Kruse Kronicle, quoting from an article at Zenit.
Once people no longer draw the meaning of their lives from religion, society’s highest value is now related to bodily existence.
The [...]

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So, I blog anonymously

It’s a privacy thing and not a secrecy thing. I really do like the privacy of blogging more or less anonymously.
My extraverted friends have a hard time understanding how intensely private I am, even though one-on-one in personal conversations, I can be very open and vulnerable. I like being able to share my heart personally [...]

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Out of my Control

Every Friday, my children are picked up by their father, and I do not see them again until Monday morning when I pick them up to take them to school.
They spend great quantities of time on the weekend doing things which I am not comfortable with, but which are out of my control. They, of [...]

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How lucky you are…

…to have been born birds and have freedom–after all, look at what we humans are doing to ourselves.
–Immaculee Ilibagiza in her book, Left to Tell, about living through the Rwandan genocide.
These were her thoughts as she heard birds singing outside the window on her first morning in the 3 ft. by 4 ft. (.9 m [...]

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Fighting versus hating

It is very difficult, I think, to fight against what we believe is wrong and not have the passion that drives our persistence in persevering in that struggle turn into hatred of those who hold the position we are against.
I also, think, then, it is very easy to either run from the things that make [...]

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A thought from the Pope

But what has Jesus really brought, then, if he has not brought world peace, universal prosperity, and a better world? What has he brought? The answer is very simple: God. He has brought God!
from Jesus of Nazareth, by Pope Benedict XVI
What is your reaction to this quote? If you disagree, what is it that you [...]

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Two New Books

My week has been a mumbled, jumbled and messy–but very much alive–mixture of grief, joy, longings, loneliness, delight, sadness, awe, pain, gratefulness, uncertainty…and the list goes on.
I deal with that mess in a variety of equally messy ways, some more honorable than others. Sometimes I face the pain, sometimes I deny it, sometimes I cover it up, [...]

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HAPPY New Year

Maybe I don’t want a Happy New Year, he said.
Maybe I want an intense New Year
with a lot of growth experiences

& I had to admit I’d never thought of that

 
Then again, maybe I’ll just stick with the Happy New Year and put the growth experiences on hold for a while.  Last year [...]

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