As is usual during Reading Week, I desperately want to read… anything but the works of John Calvin, or (though less fervently) the work of contemporary scholars and theologians wrestling with interesting ideas. Nope, I want to read something with sweep and scope and propulsive narrative. Something like… ‘Prairie Fires’ reveals complicated world of ‘Little […]
I don’t know what to do here today. I had already thrown over the one potential obligation I had (a pre-exam review session on campus) in favor of all pajamas, all the time. The sky is the shade of white that frequently passes for grey here; I hear snowflakes have fallen in Fredericksburg. A wind […]
It’s an odd habit of mind, that in an expanse of day like this one I decide that nothing has happened. Perhaps it’s because, since it’s Reading Week, this is my third day with wide swaths of unclaimed time. What actually happened: Finished some research/shopping that I’ve had at the top of my list since […]
One: the air smells cold tonight. I forget that cold has a particular scent, living here in central Texas. Two: The guest on tonight’s podcast-for-the-commute made a comment like: “Group therapy was super useful when I was completely disconnected from my feelings. I could help others figure out their feelings, because I’m helpful. And I […]
I keep thinking that Real Grownups ™ can’t be allergic to weather fronts. And then I have another day like today, where there is no reason, no matter how much I rummage around, for feeling like I’m under a steamroller and that the only appropriate thing to do is sleep it off. So: Cold Front […]
Roll Away Your Stone Roll away your stone, I’ll roll away mine Together we can see what we will find Don’t leave me alone at this time For I am afraid of what I will discover inside ‘Cause you told me that I would find a hole Within the fragile substance of my soul And […]
As I was preparing to head out to this lunch, the thought flitted through my mind: What if she gets there first and has to wait? Then, immediately, I thought: Well, what if she does? Somebody has to get there first and wait, at least a moment or two. It might as well be her […]
We had a chocolate pudding pie for Thanksgiving. Not because anyone’s heart beats for chocolate pudding pie. Because I was standing between My Sweetie and the pantry as he limbered up to make his usual Thanksgiving baked goods—pumpkin and key lime pies—and I noticed that there was a storebought graham-cracker crust next to the allium […]
In my Monday-morning class, our final lesson had us riffing on an image included in our workbook—a pyramid built out of one-dollar bills. Kind of like the ones to the right, yes. Given that we’ve been reading the book of Exodus, which begins with the Israelites all living in ancient Egypt, my group felt the […]
In American mainline denomination life, we recently wrapped up “stewardship season.” My congregation held it a little later than normal this year—it’s usually October-ish—for a handful of reasons particular to us, but we still held it (celebrated it? can Americans say that?), tossing our pledge cards into the baskets on the floor as usual. It […]
