Posts – Page 3 – Deepening Our Journey

I’m Right, You’re Wrong

December 24, 2024

Last month’s post on loving intentionally, extravagantly, and unconditionally to heal the growing division in our country led to some direct and honest discussions with several regular blog followers. After these discussions, a related topic that has been on my mind for a long time moved to the top of my list for our January post even though I have been putting off writing about it for as long as possible. The reason for my resistance is easy to identify. I have been getting a lot of positive and affirming

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Healing

December 2, 2024

I recently came across a statement that stuck in this bald-headed, aging knot which seldom quiets, for better or worse! “Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” ~ L. R. Knost This quote—especially in the context of the escalating discord in this amazing country in which we are blessed to call home—gave me a

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Boxing

November 3, 2024

When we hear the word stereotyping used today it’s usually and accurately referring to putting another person or persons in a category with negative and harmful consequences for them. In this post, I want to reflect on what happens to us when we initiate or participate in that type of behavior. Reflecting back on myself as a child growing up in a small town in Schuylkill County, I have come to realize how much stereotyping actually took place. Just to name a few, persons of color, members of various ethnic

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In Search of Happiness

October 12, 2024

Before I get to this month’s post, I would like to express my gratitude that it even exists! After several weeks of struggling with various major life changes and challenges, I had decided I was too tired and overwhelmed to write a post this month. Then I received messages—one from my childhood friend Dave and the other from a newer acquaintance named Tracey—thanking me for the blog and urging me to “keep up the good work.” Those two notes unknowingly motivated me to rethink my decision! Could it be that

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The Gift of Forgiveness

September 2, 2024

I seldom hear anyone mention the word ‘forgive’ in conversation and that includes myself. I do repeat it several times during weekly worship, including the Lord’s Prayer, but honestly do not give thought to what I am saying. Choosing to forgive someone is often difficult, challenging, and complicated. We may not want to forgive for a number of reasons. We might withhold forgiveness because it gives us control over the person or persons who caused the hurt. We may feel that forgiving implies that what was done was okay, that

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A Journey Through Stuff

August 7, 2024

That one word—stuff—has shown up in my conversations with a wide variety of folks more in the last few months than it has in many years! For the most part it held a negative and burdensome connotation, not something we wanted more of, but something we wanted to be free from. As you might know from past posts, Rita and I have been struggling to downsize as we prepare to put our home on the market and move into a continuing care community. When we received notice from Willow Valley

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Life’s Crap

June 2, 2024

None of us gets through life without encountering our share of hardship, adversity, pain, frustration, loss, and a whole bunch of other crap that we’d prefer to avoid. In fact, sometimes it can feel like life is nothing but crap! Before we go any further, this is probably a good spot to put something on “the table” that has been showing up in feedback from time to time. On occasion a few followers of my blog have politely shared that they find some of my references, adjectives, etc. a bit

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Little Bigs – Part 2

May 4, 2024

This is the second in a two-part post on what I call, “little bigs,” small things we can do to possibly help create some degree of understanding and healing in what I see as an increasingly divisive, antagonistic, and fear-driven climate. Your feedback on the first post about taking time to thank folks for a wide variety of services and small acts of kindness was overwhelming, refreshing, and empowering. Thanks! For those of you who have been following my blog over the years, you may remember a post I wrote

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Little Bigs – Part 1

March 31, 2024

As I have mentioned in prior posts, this is the most divisive, antagonistic and fear-driven climate I have experienced in my lifetime, and as a result, I have become increasingly more committed to identifying common opportunities for connecting and healing. I call these “little bigs” because they take little effort but can have outsized results on everyone involved. One of my “go-to” little bigs is thanking folks! It is clearly an effective and low-risk strategy for connecting with folks. I’ve long been trying to make a habit of affirming any

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