We reflect on the meaning of our lives not because we believe we are so important; we reflect on our lives to discover that we are not alone. We need to know whether or not our lives are taken up…
When I was growing up, Easter moved me the least of all the holy days in the church year. I am not sure why this was so. Perhaps I was too young and life too full of possibilities to think…
Our lives consist of an innumerable succession of moments, and most of them seem to pass unremembered into oblivion. We cannot remember in the evening the thoughts and feelings we had in the morning, much less the thoughts and feelings…
I said, "Yes!" without really thinking about it. This group of young people had become my friends. We had worked together in the expansive greenhouses of Nes Ammim, a moshav nestled in the Asher valley of Western Galilee, Israel where…
Homemakers From the immense and undifferentiated space in the world, all of us claim our own. In one way or another, we raise four walls and cover them with a roof, filling the space inside with everything that makes life…
Nearly every summer since 1983, my extended family has rented summer cabins on Pine Lake near Wellston, Michigan. The cabins are what is left of an old lumber camp, the oldest ones made of logs and the “newer” ones of…
I was out of town on the day that my Grandma Gillespie died. As soon as I returned, I went to the funeral home and asked if I could sit with the body. The funeral director instructed me to wait…
At least once every year, my Grandma Gillespie would pack my sister, two brothers, and me into her green 52 Chevy and drive us past her old homestead near Honey Creek in Ada, Michigan. On the way, she would regale…
My doctors have told me that I can help myself in my fight against lymphatic cancer by eliminating sugar from my diet, eating more fruits and vegetables, and exercising. So I have been trying to do just that. Eliminating sugar…
I was surprised to discover how many books and blogs are devoted to the practice of decluttering. A simple search of the word “decluttering” yielded hundreds of references. The sheer numbers of people writing, reading, and conversing about it is…
