“Compassion has a price. It does not come without a cost, the least of which is the pain that pierces our own hearts as we accompany one who is suffering.” Joyce Rupp, The Cup of Our Lives: A Guide for Spiritual Growth.
Saturday morning. Dappled sunshine, clouds scudding across the sky at a good clip, temperatures […]
I’m sitting on the deck of an A-frame cottage on the shores of Silver Lake, Michigan. It is windy, and it’s a good thing the orange sun umbrella on the edge of the deck is tied down tight. It twists and turns in the stiff breeze, looking as if wants nothing more than to fly […]
Have you ever given birth? Remember the stage of labor called “transition”?
Transition: “A period during childbirth that precedes the expulsive phase of labor, characterized by strong uterine contractions and nearly complete cervical dilation.”
Ouch!
I’m 57, soon to turn 58. It may be physically impossible, but here I am, in the throes of transition. No, I’m […]
I sit on the deck in the (relative) cool of the evening. 96 degrees has dipped to 89, and a hint of a breeze plays through the walnut’s leaves in the humid soup of air. I sit, limp and dejected. While the humidity has frizzed my hair, anxiety over Joel’s new placement at Safe […]
We moved Joel in to Safe Haven Farms yesterday. He was fairly agitated the first 90 minutes, while Wally and I worked in his bedroom, making his bed, hanging pictures, putting away clothes, etc. With one of the staff, Laura, following him, Joel ran from the barn to the pond to the office, and […]
“It’s can’t be much different than getting a kid ready to go to college!” I’ve heard that comment numerous times as I’ve prepared our 25-year-old son, Joel, for his move into his new home, Safe Haven Farms, a farming community for adults with autism located in Butler County.
Wrong. Sure, we all shed a few tears […]
Reading Henri Nouwen’s book, Here and Now: Living in the Present, I am pierced by his use of the wagon wheel as a metaphor for our life with God. He writes, “These wheels help me to understand the importance of a life lived from the center. When I move along the rim, I can […]
In my Lenten reflections this morning, I came upon this strange passage from the book of Numbers:
“The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord […]
“…(Jesus) said to Simon, “Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch.” Simon said, “Master, we’ve been fishing hard all night and haven’t caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I’ll let out the nets.” It was no sooner said than done—a huge haul of fish, straining […]
“The most frequent commandment given in scripture is so simple, so plain: ‘do not be afraid.’ And it is so hard to practice, so hard to model, so hard to live.”
Thom Shuman, Occasional Sightings of the Gospel
I am most likely to shed my well-worn cloak of fear over Joel’s future when I take […]