living in light of eternity
I have been thinking a lot lately about desire, the deeply rooted longings that define our unique identities. John Eldredge writes, "We are desire. It is the essence of the human soul, the secret of our existence. Absolutely nothing of human greatness is ever accomplished without it. Not a symphony has been written, a mountain... Continue Reading →
We stood at the top of the hill, at the particular bend in the road where we always turned around, pivoted in the mud, and stood rooted in it, our boots sinking in with stubbornness: here is where we will stay. The sun was setting in a rush; already the shadows rose up from the... Continue Reading →
sabbatical 1645, "of or suitable for the Sabbath," from L. sabbaticus, from Gk. sabbatikos "of the Sabbath" (see Sabbath). Meaning "a year's absence granted to researchers" (originally one year in seven, to university professors) first recorded 1886 (the thing itself is attested from1880, at Harvard), related to sabbatical year (1599) in Mosaic law, the seventh... Continue Reading →
When we started walking, the sun was out, the day was blue and gold and green, hopeful. By the time we started back, the sky was dark, heavy with rain, which fell at an astonishing rate -- 2 billion drops per second square, or thereabouts -- and soaked us through. That was not the plan!... Continue Reading →
January 2 ought to be known as Anticlimax Day. The turkey is getting a little... ripe, the lights are coming down, the New Year's Resolutions have already been broken, the batteries in the new toys have died. The parties are over, the eggnog's run out, the radio is playing the same old songs from October... Continue Reading →
“No one has yet believed in God and the kingdom of God, no one has yet heard about the realm of the resurrected, and not been homesick from that hour, waiting and looking forward joyfully to being released from bodily existence.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer Well, I wrote a few days ago about the end of... Continue Reading →
So tomorrow is the Christmas Tea, our church's annual ladies' event. Guess who's speaking? Tonight we set things up, the miles of garland, enough lights to reach from Colorado to California, plates enough to stack to the moon, all things glittering, all things white, all things shiny. We worked, and worked, and all the while... Continue Reading →
Thomas Edison is known to have said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” 10,000? Here are a few. 1. Whining doesn't work. Just makes yucky things take longer. 2. Being crabby. Ditto. 3. Being prideful. Love falling on my face, but perchance a little humility goes a long way?... Continue Reading →
I live with my family in an impoverished sector of the sprawling Denver metro area. In 1995, I spent a summer here, my first summer immersed in inner-city life, inner-city ministry. I lived with 17 other college students on old mattresses in the dusty back rooms of an urban church, housed in what had been... Continue Reading →
Sometimes "I don't know" is me at my most intelligent. What's the capitol of Uzbekistan? I don't know. Where are my car keys? I don't know. What direction should I go? Where is God? Why? I hate not knowing. I would like to be Lucy with her nickel-a-proverb psychiatric business, always with the answers. But... Continue Reading →
Catherine's Letters 