Ask any adult child caring for an aging parent what they are experiencing and how they are doing and you’ll hear things like: “All told, Mother is doing okay, but money’s tight. It’s about time Dad stops driving—that will be hard! Yes, it’s a lot to juggle with the kids and work. I definitely feel the tension with my siblings. I’m not very pleased with the home she’s in, but there aren’t many...
You may have seen some of the talk going around about Pixar’s feature film, Soul. Maybe you’ve even seen it yourself and were left with questions. Those sheltering-in-place at our house watched it together. Toward the film’s end, my twenty-one-year-old daughter was so moved she wept. We’ll return to her later. Clearly, there’s something to this movie that deserves discussion. (C) Disney/Pixar...
No one wants stress, anxiety, and fear. The exceptions might include daredevils and those who enjoy being frightened. For them, daily life might be mingled with boredom and traces of emptiness. The jolt makes them feel alive. The rest of us would be fine without the jolts and background jitters. But your anxiety has its advantages. Anxiety speaks important truth. Anxiety sees the fragility of...
The new year is often a time to take stock of our lives. As we look back over 2020 and look forward to the year to come, most of us will be acutely aware that there are some habits in our lives that we want to keep and other things that we’d love to change. After all, the past twelve months have brought us all a heady mix of things to celebrate and things that have left us reeling, maybe even...
More than twenty-five years ago, Miss Mary Lou challenged my teen Sunday School class, “If you say you believe the Bible, you should know what is in it.” Someone had given her that challenge forty years before, and she rose to meet it. She read the Bible cover to cover. That morning, she sought to inspire another generation with her testimony. It worked. My New Year’s resolution was set. I would...
