They met in grade school, exchanging insults on the playground. He pulled her hair. She stuck her gum on his seat in school, where it neatly lodged on his pants. They were together in high school, sharing triumphs and disasters, hopes and dreams, romance and heartbreaks, always remaining “just friends.” Then they went away to […]
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How deep is God’s love? How far and how wide? Psalm 89 has something to teach us about this. Steadfast Love The Hebrew word which is translated as steadfast love in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, is mercy and loving kindness in other translations. I personally prefer the term steadfast love to mercy […]
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Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, and when attending one of the many Irish Festivals popping up all over Michigan. In particular the one in Muskegon that goes on for four days of non-stop music, Irish beer and whiskey, Irish games and dancing. Together we celebrate all things Irish. If you marry an Irishman, […]
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“The rest is silence,” Hamlet’s last words – an interesting word choice for someone who never had an unspoken thought, or so it seems to me as he shared with us, the audience, all of his ruminations. He could have as easily said, “The rest is darkness.” The Prince of Denmark was no stranger to […]
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I don’t know if it is one of the world’s Top Ten Human Made Wonders, but it is definitely a wonder to me. What trip “up north” would be complete without stopping to look at the bridge, long and beautiful, stately, over an expanse of amazingly blue water? The bridge appears in the distance as […]
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“He’s looking at me! Tell him to stop!” “She’s touching me. Ooo, cooteys!” Sound familiar? If not then you are not a parent to two or more kids. Siblings fight. It’s part of the reality of having kids. We love our brothers and sisters, but they also drive us crazy when we are little and […]
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I have heard that camping is good for marriage. I agree. However, in our decades of camping we have encountered a few situations in which an RV had become a small cell for two unhappy partners to endure the company of each other. More often, we have witnessed hundreds of relationships obviously healthy and happy […]
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Pierre Tielhard de Chardin, a French priest and theologian who lived in the first half of the twentieth century, integrated science and theology with the spiritual exercises of Ignatius. One of the concepts of Tielhard is loving the “not yet,” the potential, the future. We love people as they are now, but also love the […]
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Few things are more difficult for two people to do than accept things they don’t like about each other. “Why do you let that bother you?” someone once asked when I complained. I thought for a long time before I realized the answer: I didn’t know why I let it bother me. It did no […]
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There is a new sense of time that can come with age: gero-transcendence, or climbing over, transcending, age. Memories of past events from childhood seem like only yesterday. They are as real now as when they first happened. You can hold the past and present together in a new way you couldn’t before. The veil […]
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