When I first thought about this topic to write on, I felt a little overwhelmed and inadequate to write something that I know so little about. I thought about the idea of putting our Creator first. I am a pretty stubborn and independent person. Just to give you a few examples: I broke my foot…
The Hands of God
Today I came across an article that I wrote while working at New Haven, a residential treatment center for teenage girls. What a job that was! It changed my life in so many wonderful ways. I recognize that being sent there, the girls had the tendency to feel discarded and displaced. I understand that. I…
Men of Valor
The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Part of being single is constantly having people around me who either want to set me up or tell me why men are stupid for not…
Jean Valjean in Kenya
Several weeks ago I found myself in downtown Nairobi at the chaotic bus terminal/stage/nasty dirt lot after dark needing to find my bus back to Ngong, a suburb I was staying in at the time. After finding several buses full and the bus stage beginning to empty, panic rose inside me. Would I get a…
Visions, Violins, and the Landfill of Cateura
The world sends us garbage, we send back music.” – Favio Chavez, Orchestra Leader Cateura, Paraguay is a city built on a landfill. The nearly 25,000 families there, who live in deep poverty, rely on garbage picking to stay alive. With their children, they rummage for something they might recycle or sell in the 1500…
Shield Your Eyes From the Sun
I’d been frustrated by various things for most of the day. Little things just kept going wrong and making everything take longer, become more difficult, and ultimately upset me worse and worse. Usually it all just adds up and I lose my patience, which leads to my poor husband having no choice but to listen…
Walk With Your Spirit
Walk With Your Spirit We were high in the Smoky Mountains, well on our way to our anxiously anticipated destination. Across a precarious land bridge and over a treacherous peak was the view of a precious waterfall that awaited our eager enjoyment. At that moment, however, we were 14 miles into our hike, and…
Be Your Own Superhero!
A guy once said to me: “I don’t approve of all those self-development, ‘be a better person’ books. If everybody read them and became perfect, life would be so boring!” For a minute there, I thought he had a point. Then after a while I strongly disagreed, but couldn’t convince him because I didn’t use…
Be Excellent To Each Other
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle Most people are probably familiar with this quote from Aristotle, the renowned philosopher of Ancient Greece. He is known for his teachings, which have influenced all of Western culture ever since circa 300 BC. The substance of this…