Category: Faith

  • Making the Most of Every Opportunity

    Today I took a step back to readjust my perspective, refocus my priorities, and  recalibrate my values. We live in an age of distractions as multiple media outlets flood the digital ethos for our attention.  Facebook rants politicize seemingly every issue. The meaning of words continue to be distorted, and sexual identities are growing so…

  • Theology Lessons from a Three-Year-Old

    Theology Lessons from a Three-Year-Old

    If meat and potatoes are comfort food, then spending time with my grandchildren is soul food —  in more ways than one.  You finally understand why  the word “grandchildren” includes the letters g-r-a-n-d.  Watching them sleep redefines the word precious.  And listening to their observations of the universe makes you want to fall on your…

  • One More Day

    Yesterday was a rainy day in Georgia, with the kind of rhythmic dance upon the roof that prompts you to either take a nap or read a good book.   The calming, constant pitter-patter promoted a healthy ambiance that comforted my soul.  Rather than reading or napping, I used the soothing backdrop of tranquility to…

  • Praying for Dead Birds

    My youngest grandson, Luke, has been spending some time with his Nonni and Poppy this Spring. He is three and a half years old, going on thirty. He is at that stage where seemingly every question begins with “why,” his favorite exclamation is “Mine,” and every sentence includes the word “exactly” — as in “Poppy,…

  • Bingo and the Value of 20 Quarters

    I found a quarter in the street this week.  Holding the twenty-five-cent piece in my hands flooded my mind with a sweet memory — the kind of recollection that produces a smile and a heartwarming reminder of the value of giving. It was in 2014, while playing bingo at a Nursing Home, that I discovered…

  • Ask Me in a Hundred Years

    My response was immediate when a friend questioned the prudence of one of my decisions. Without much thought, I blurted out, “Ask me in a hundred years.”   Some of life’s decisions are uncomplicated.  Yet life has taught me that many others, the kind that reverberate for generations, are not always so readily or easily…

  • Barrabbas and Me

    Barrabbas and Me

    During Holy Week this year, I pondered the familiar story of  the most eventful week in history, those days between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday.  Hollywood could not have written a better script or assembled a more fascinating cast.   I mused about the diverse list of characters who witnessed the Easter drama that climaxed…

  • Simple Pleasures

    In the elusive pursuit of happiness, 21st Century man has learned the more you have, the more you want. Once we obtain it, we must continue to get more, do more, or experience more to remain happy.  More, it seems, is never enough in a culture drunk on materialism. It almost seems as if the…

  • We All Need A Ninja Zone

    I rarely visit any of my grandchildren when this Poppy does not come away with some new life lessons.  A few years ago, one of my grandfather therapy sessions (i.e., babysitting) with three of my grandsons provided a prime example of the insights available to anyone who has eyes to see and ears to hear.…

  • My Imaginary Friend Did It

    My Imaginary Friend Did It

    My three-year-old grandson ran down the hallway, dashed into our master bedroom, and took refuge in his favorite hiding place – a spot behind my LazyBoy rocking chair.  Having just knocked something over in our living room, he knew the noise would bring Poppy to see what havoc his rambunctiousness had wrought. Young Luke sought…