“This grade is going to be on your permanent record. Colleges will see this.” I remember that oft-repeated phrase that teachers reiterated, starting in the ninth grade. It created a sense of dread and anxiety deep in my gut with each pronouncement. I perceived that teachers were holding it over our heads, as if they held the key to the door of our futures. Prior to high school, we played after...
Christmas decorations start going up in many stores in October or earlier, so how is it that many families get a late start with their Advent devotions? I think it’s precisely because Christmas decorations start going up so early. We roll our eyes and think, There’s plenty of time. But the fall is usually a busy school season. Before you know it, you find yourself paging through grocery store...
In 2018, suicide was the second leading cause of death for young people between the ages of ten and twenty-four, resulting in the loss of 6,807 lives in the US. An article in USA Today cites statistics that show that between 2006 and 2016, youth and teen suicide rates increased 70% for white youth and 77% for African American teens. Clearly, we are facing a crisis. An increasing number of teens...
“Some people just seem to get a larger dose of suffering.” Ashley was sitting in the passenger seat as we drove away from a day in the city taking in a Frida Khalo exhibit, a little giddy about our brief reprieve from pandemic lockdowns. She was raised by an addict and had then lost this parent at an early age. Ashley has become very familiar with suffering, much of it borne from a childhood of...
If you have kids and know how they make all sorts of requests, then you’ll also know the favorite parental answer: “Maybe; we’ll see.” When one of our sons was four and received this reply, he said to my wife, “Just say, ‘Yes,’ mom—that’s much better.” Yet saying “No,” often feels like better parenting. I find myself occupied with protecting my kids from whatever might harm them. We’re vigilant...
