“Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.†A well-known proverb used by Jesus as he was confronting those who had accused him of being of Beelzebub and were in the early process of figuring out a way to get rid of him. This is a tr…
We are fascinated by newness. The younger generations will always grow weary of the older generations slowing everything down. We fall into the trap of confusing enthusiasm with wisdom. I am now old enough to be bemused by those who have just…
What I have learned is that my attitude has a lot to do with how I perceive the world. It is the controlling factor in how I react to life. All of us look outside ourselves for guidance on what attitudes we have toward other people. This begi…
I am tired — not the kind of tired that requires sleep. The kind of tired that requires a change. The kind of tired that will not go away and will not let me do anything about it either. The kind of tired that happens when everything and ever…
I like green beans. I like purple hull peas. I don’t like picking green beans. I don’t mind picking purple hull peas. For my own reasons, when I plant green beans, I plant bush beans. Picking them requires getting low to the ground and moving the plants around to find the fruit. Purple hull …
I was recently in a part of the world where leaf-cutter ants thrive. I am fascinated by them and nearly always stop my hike to watch them for a few minutes. It is amazing to me that creatures so small can cut a very visible network of paths hundreds of yards around their nest. They are an en…
Most of the time, I have written something because I believe I am either correct in my statements or want to put an argument out for others to consider. If I am doing the latter, there are times when I am still processing a matter and want to set something in front of a reader to think about…
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent …
According to Ipsos, 73% of Americans who were asked, “Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, or not happy at all?†answered that they were happy or very happy. Our founding fathers would find this a ridiculous question. I am not certain th…
Sometime before 10 p.m., on the night of April 18, 1775, William Dawes left Boston to ride to Lexington and warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that there was a detachment of British soldiers on their way. Around 10, Paul Revere left by a different route to do the same thing. On the way they …
I enjoy hiking. Not to the extent that it could be called a hobby, but I do look for moderately strenuous walks in the two-to-four-hour range when visiting a new place. My tendency is to seek places that are not theme parks or crowded beaches…
The corner of the world that I happen to live in grows more amazing daily. The pace of change is beyond what even our most brilliant minds can fully process. Even our most visionary leaders admit, when they are honest, that no one knows what …
It’s hard being on both sides of a dispute between friends. Maybe “sides†is not the best way to think about it. It’s hard to support both people caught in what seems to be an intractable situation. It happens in businesses, churches, and mos…
I am perpetually conflicted about Memorial Day (and Veterans’ Day). I think that is not only O.K. but is the stand that those who love people and hate war are likely to drift toward. War is awful. I say that having never been within 300 miles…
Most of our lives have a cadence. Even those of us with jobs that we know will challenge us every day because of unpredictability have routines and training that keep us grounded and centered. Some of the rhythms are short — the breaths we ta…
The first key to making the day better for others is to intentionally make your own day better. There are days when that is not possible, but that is not most days. I don’t think the world is full of rude people. I think that most of us, on m…
I was having a conversation with my son a few days ago. He is a Marine Corps pilot. We were talking about the phenomenon of someone excitedly sharing a brand-new bit of knowledge that they gained with a friend or a parent, and the parent or f…
If you have been reading this space for very long, you may recall that I refer to some days as “Noah days†and others as “Jonah days.†I stole this from someone a long time ago, but it has served me well when calibrating my attitude.
