What’s in your Spiritual Toolbox?
When the first signs of green mold emerged on the railing of my deck, I grabbed a scrub bucket and sponge. Two days of scrub, rinse, repeat convinced me there must be a better way. Enter the power washer, my…
Fall down six times, get up seven
Babies are remarkably resilient. Without our coaching they manage to learn to walk. They learn by falling. They fall again and again and again. And every time they fall, they get up and try again. Somewhere along the way, some…
Sweet Sleep
If we listen to our bodies, we often know exactly what our most important habit of resilience is. Mine is sleep. If I don’t get enough sleep, I am less creative, less fun to be with, and less energetic. It…
Brain Power
I sat listening to the Minnesota Orchestra. The soloist played Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto #1 in B flat minor. Wearing a dress covered in bright pink sequins, she played aggressively; as she moved, light bounced off her dress in an ugly…
Cabin Time
Life at the cabin has a different cadence. We know this, and yet somehow it continues to surprise us. We drive north a few hours for a week away, but ideally, the cabin feels a million miles and a hundred…
National Hammock Day
Saturday was National Hammock Day. Not that I needed encouraging. I own three. I’m a fan of Hatteras Hammocks, the traditional cotton rope with an oak spreader. My favorite is a single hammock on our screen porch. I nap in…
Books to share with mourners
Sending flowers to a funeral is the easy way out. With one quick click online, you've picked an appropriate arrangement to be conveniently delivered. There for the world to see is your name on a card tucked neatly among the flowers. Voilà, grief…
Small Moves
Albert Einstein gets credit for the definition of insanity: trying the same thing again and again and expecting different results. By this definition, most of our New Year resolutions are completely insane. We know this. Some of us are not…
All are Welcome
Depending on your viewpoint or how much wine you’ve consumed, my family falls between “Modern Family” and a skit from “Saturday Night Live.” With four generations, our family gathering was not nearly as purebred as the original Pilgrims and Indians.…
Not all about me
An elderly, immaculately dressed couple, who introduced themselves as Peter and Mary, approached me between the two services at my church last Sunday. They were visiting for the first time, and asked if we would be singing “For All the…
