From the beginning of time, I know mothers say, “never talk about people behind their backs.” The trouble is not in the advice but the recipient. Everyone talks about other people. Some stories are complementary and praise-infused. Others are critical and dismissive. Life has a simple, that if followed, gives you control of the narrative. People will tell stories about you, but [...]
The speed of life tramples time in a cloud of dust. Meeting after meeting drains the day, leaving you spent. Nerves fray, and numbness results. Deloitte commissioned a study that discovered 77 percent of employees encounter and suffer from “burnout,” Herbert Freudenberger coined the term to describe helping professions—nurses and doctors—whose brutal work schedules left them exhausted, listless, and apathetic. They burned [...]
To have more in life, you need less of it. Let me explain. In front of our house, we planted a red-tipped photinia a few years ago. Our goal was to hide a chimney that seemed to stick out of the view. The shrub grew...and grew...and grew. It shot up and spread out, becoming misshapen. We knew we had [...]
Who has not opened their mouth at the wrong time? For most, the taste of shoe leather is something familiar. In today’s Bible class, I taught about James 3, where James instructions about the damage inflicted by careless speech. He says: We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep [...]
Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I’ll love ya tomorrow, it’s only a day away. -From the musical Annie- Tomorrow. We bet on it. Free time sprouts. Problems vanish. Life relaxes. More money. More friends. Weigh less. The problem is tomorrow never comes. It only arrives in the disguise of today. A hamburger joint hung a sign designed to draw customers. It read, “Free burgers [...]
Scott Thompson's family has farmed the Wisconsin soil for over 70 years. He usually plants strawberries. Then, in the fall, he grows raspberries and pumpkins. This year, his crop looked different. He planted joy. You can't plant joy, but you can plant sunflowers. Thompson planted 22 acres of sunflowers. Thompson Strawberry Farm attracted families who picnic, wander fields of florals, and take [...]
In the 1860s, the merchant marine fleet of England suffered many losses. Ships sank in record numbers. Many sank in the harbor. It fell to Samuel Plimsoll, a young naval officer, to spot the problem. As long as a ship had space, cargo kept coming. Soon, the weight pushed the keel lower until it sank beneath the waterline. Plimsoll had the solution, [...]
All of us sit on a powderkeg of emotions. The worst of all is anger. Anger throws bricks through windows. It speeds up behind another driver, draws a gun, and starts shooting. It slaps a wife, batters children, and burns forests. It holds a keyboard as it types bitter all-cap letters into Twitter or Facebook. Harsh words wound. All are the results [...]
Tick…. Tick…. Tick… The clock counts down to midnight to close out the weird year 2020. For most, it is something to forget. It’s essential, though, to start a new year better after such a challenging year. We should take our cue from the Romans, who created a god to express what we all feel. He had two faces. One looked backward, [...]
Today is Thanksgiving Day. We mark Thanksgiving differently than in the past. We buy out the supermarket, stuff ourselves full, sleep through boring football games, and wake up in time to look for Black Friday deals in the stores. We know the story of the pilgrims. And we say that is where Thanksgiving came from. That's only a smidgen of the truth. [...]
