The Message Our Body Brings to Life

Does it surprise you to look at these two photos, side by side? The one on the left is among the tiniest of miracles, a cell in the brain. The one on the right is perhaps the grandest of miracles, the universe. Their similarity is striking. It’s all a matter of scale… and perspective. One wonders […]

The Trust Game

Have you ever played the trust game? Where someone demonstrates trust in his or her fellows by falling backward into the waiting arms of a team of people set to catch her or him? Blind fall. Big risk. No guarantee. Complete confidence. TRUST. Whom do you trust like that? I just played a new trust game. […]

What did God mean when He spoke me?

What right have I to be here on this earth? Here, taking up space, demanding time, using resources. What right have I to demand that things be done my way? according to my plan, within my specifications, according to my schedule. I have no right to these. Not any claim on these. Any more than […]

Breath of Creation

A million lights twinkle above me in constellations I once knew. Bright lights from bodies trillions of miles away scatter the early morning darkness. I whirl in wonder at their glorious display. How, O Lord, can I fail to believe you are here? My feet, rooted in dust and dirt, are heavy in the sand […]

When Hide and Seek Becomes Here I am

Ready or not, here I come!” I always loved hearing those words because that’s when the fun really began. I knew all the best hiding places around our house. In the stairwell, behind the bushes, between the pine trees, by the swing set… What made them good was this: you could see the seeker, but […]

Suddenly Still

Stillness is a shock to the system. The screeching of tires, the squealing of wheels, the swerving and maneuvering to get out of the way. When the smoke clears and the dust settles, it takes a bit of righting to find balance. Turns out, forward momentum can keep you upright through pretty much any squall, but stillness…now […]

Every last little one

The little ones who cling and cooperate who listen to instructions who raise their hands and smile to answer questions… They fill you up and keep you coming back. They’ll do fine. The ones who resist and refuse who defy you to “make them” who turn a cold shoulder or don’t turn at all and […]

When Chemistry became Biology

What are we made of? the stuff of starsthe elements of the periodic tableconcocted of chemicals that explode,ions that interact,molecules that relate. We are the stuff of life.No more, no lessand yet. Yet,we think, and moveand have our being. Somehow we animated,went from sketch to living color.Our chemistry became biology,we moved from dead in our […]

Firm Outside, Flexible Inside

Inflexible, rigid, immovable, carved in stone…There’s a place for these, but in me is not that place. I’m meant to give. My body says so. I’m meant to be flexible, able to bend against the storms of life and not snap. I’m meant to be supple, easily folded, twisted and worked into shape. I’m meant to be […]

Did the Resurrection really happen?

Does it matter if the Resurrection actually happened? This was the question we considered in my adult Sunday School class at a church I used to belong to. I was a regular at Sunday school, where we considered issues of faith and its practice as a matter of course. Sunday school was organized and led […]