I’ve carried this idea with me for a couple of days, hesitant to share because of the gravity of the loss for the families of those who were killed in the plane crash in the Alps. I decided to risk it nonetheless. black box for all of the tragedy that has marred human history there…
Failure. It’s one of my favorite words. I did a search on this blog and it brought up sixty-four posts in no time at all. Several years ago, when I was doing a mass mailing of my resume in search of employment, Ginger said, “You fail better than anyone I know.” That sentence remains one…
Palm Sunday is always a bit of a struggle for me. I feel conflicted, torn, not really up for the celebration because it doesn’t ring true since I know the rest of the story. I understand how Jesus’ “triumphal” entry into the city fulfilled the prophecies and made for good theological theater, but I also…
Dance. If Ginger were writing this blog post tonight with this word in mind, I can guarantee it would have a completely different feel and would involve “Uptown Funk” in some way. What’s really played in the record player of my mind for a couple of days are waltzes, which are, I think, my favorite…
Passageway. I was one of the words that showed up when I crowd-sourced my Lenten Lexicon. Tonight I figured out why. My plans for the evening have been laid out for a week: cook and watch basketball. I’ve been looking forward to it. I was flipping back and forth between the early games when Ginger…
we gathered for dinner on this penultimate thursday because this is the night that we eat dinner together for no other reason than we eat dinner together. fourteen around the table— a couple more than were there the night Jesus broke the bread, poured the wine and spilt his love all over his friends, hoping…
rush hour was a contradiction this afternoon—I could see the stalled cars for what looked like miles in front of me, so I dove for the exit and the open spaces. I saved no time, but I did keep moving, winding down Durham roads I rarely travel; my daily world is small. I would do…
Saturday when I arrived at work I met one of my colleagues who was wearing a t-shirt that said, “Stories Matter.” Naturally, I wanted to know the story behind the shirt. He told me it was for something called the 12×12 Initiative that is a twelve week road trip across country, starting yesterday from Raleigh…
Ordinary. Look it up and you will see the dictionary doesn’t deal with the word too kindly: of no special quality or interest; commonplace; unexceptional; plain or undistinguished; somewhat inferior or below average; mediocre; customary; usual; normal. And yet, I’m happy to report today was an ordinary day—and it was good. According to the same…
One of the people who has mentored me through her writing over many, many years is Madeleine L’Engle, going all the way back to Ms. Reedy at the Lusaka International School reading A Wrinkle in Time to us at the end of the day if we finished our work. One of the sentences that has…