living in light of eternity
There's something about packing that really brings home the big truths about life: I do not need that many shoes. I have bottles of cardamom, turmeric, and coriander that I have used maybe once but that have been occupying space in my little cabinet for a whole lotta years. And I really do not plan... Continue Reading →
I've been thinking a lot lately about prayer, the bringing to God of our deep desires. You've got to be willing to hold them loose and let them go. I suspect Dietrich Bonhoeffer would give an earful to anyone who claims God is in the wish-fulfillment business. A Christian life is the life of the... Continue Reading →
I have been thinking a lot lately about goals. There's been an empire of self-help books built on Specific Measurable Attainable Realistic Timely goals, goals that get results. Michael Hyatt, in his recent book Platform, devotes a good deal of time to the subject, giving helpful examples like: "Make one hundred thousand dollars a year... Continue Reading →
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 →
Zeke ate a mouse the other day. Bit the head right off. Zeke is the name of our neighbor's 7-year-old son, but fortunately, he does not come into this story. Zeke also happens to be the name of a very fluffy black cat that has adopted us. I am not a cat person. I hear... Continue Reading →
It started on Sunday. There we were, eating cinnamon buns, when a neighbor knocked on the door. "It occurred to me you probably don't realize today is the time change," she said. Daylight Savings? Uh-oh. We are a little unplugged up here on the mountain -- no internet that doesn't require a hike, no phones,... 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 →
It's really not hard to conjure up an entire place and time with just a few choice words. Who says "bully-o!" anymore? or "grody"? (Well, I might, once in a while, but then I also persist in eating creamed chip beef, so apparently I am not really all that rooted in the times.) Certain foods,... Continue Reading →
I was in third grade when I figured out I was... different. My beloved teacher, Mrs. Sands, made me stay in from recess to clean out my desk. She showed me the other desks, pencils neatly lying in the pencil tray, notebooks and a couple papers stacked inside. Then she showed me my own desk,... Continue Reading →
Catherine's Letters 