The day came, as it comes in some part of the day to all, when Kate’s copacetic vista vanished like a vapor. That was the problem. Too often the substance of her copaceticity consisted of nothing more than vapor. This is not the stuff of stability. This is not the stuff of a truly copacetic nature (note previous post). A nature is faithful to itself, though weathered through the seasons. In contrast, a vista exists only when one peers from a particular pinnacle. Continue reading
Spiritual Growth
Though her Planet was Spinning Chaotically, Kate Smiled Copacetically
Los Abrigados Resort in Sedona
The word, copacetic, has a more recent yet uncertain origin. My father-in-law liked this word. “How’s it going, Dad?” “Oh, everything’s copacetic!” Is copacetic in your vocabulary? If not, maybe you’d like to add it. Well, maybe you need to know what it is!
I spent most of this past week in Sedona, Arizona (less than an hour from home) at a beautiful resort with a friend who invited me to join her there. Continue reading
The Room of the Last Season
Tick – tock, tick – tock — entering the door marked 2014. For me, this is also the door into life’s last season. Of course, these seasons have no official dates and actual doors, but the number 60 rings of older age to anyone looking up to it.
I remember when my dad was in his 70s, doing yard work and handy man jobs for a lady in her 90s. She called him “young man,” which pleased him very much. However, he was retired, receiving social security and taking two naps a day! He was in his golden years. His golden years were pretty golden, largely because he was a positive person, expecting good things. I remember Dad saying not long before he died (at nearly age 86), “I’m just a happy boy!” Why was he a happy boy? Was it easy to be happy? Why do I have to work so hard at it? Why do I and others feel a sense of disorientation or disequilibrium? Continue reading
The Near Drowning of the Bells
You’ve heard the song. You have probably sung it. But do you know the story? Continue reading
Yadah, Yadah, Yadah!!
“O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good: for His mercy endures forever.” Psalm 107:1
We all bring our own baggage to the day, to every day, and often especially to the holidays. As we approach our country’s official Thanksgiving Day, most of us are grappling in our hearts with deeper things than the busyness of our schedules. Life is a mixed bag. There is an Old Testament concept of “thanks” that can help us sort things out, experience real catharsis and growth, and please God all at the same time! Continue reading
The Intersection of the Material and Spiritual Worlds
The Incarnation (God becoming a human being in Jesus Christ) is a foundational claim of the New Testament and thus of Christian theology, shaping the mindset of a biblical worldview. Christianity offers a holistic perspective on reality, not a dualism segregating material and non-material realities. I (as do you) encounter this intersection of the material and spiritual worlds every day and every hour of every day. Today, I’m struck by several intersections. Continue reading
Good Books for a Tired Reader
Grandson, Aiden, reading in his bed!
My daughter, Amanda, has been reading The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. Woven into her full life, this dense volume has taken her many months to read. She has been reading it along with three other friends who’ve formed a small, reading circle, gathering periodically to discuss their progress through the book and their interpretations. Proud of them. For me, my mind is too weary for such mental demands from my “recreational” reading. Yet, reading of various sorts and genres is crucial to my life. Recently, I re-read a book in two sessions in two days: The Summer of the Swans, by Betsy Byars — winner of the the Newbery Award in 1971. A children’s book? You have it!
Categories: Parenting, Spiritual Growth
Tags: Dostoyevsky, good reading, Newbery Medal Books
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Autumn Potpourri
Paul & Karen at Pebble Beach in Crescent City, California, Paul’s home town, two blocks from where he grew up. 2012
Autumn days. Favorite for me. Why? I’ve always enjoyed all the seasons. Each has its focal attributes. This reminds me of a reply my mother made to my question to her when I was probably seven or eight years old. I asked her, “Mom, what’s your favorite age for us kids?” (I was asking her what age of children she most enjoyed mothering, what stage of our short lives she liked best.) With the slightest of pauses she said, “Oh, whatever age you are!” I liked her answer, feeling very secure in it. So, I learned to like whatever stage I was in, wherever we lived, and whatever the season. But part of that changed 33 years ago today.
“How Can You Explain God’s Grace?” She Sighed.
I talked on the phone with Dustin DeFord’s mother at the end of August, before leaving on my cross-country trip. Tall (to me) and lovely with strawberry blond hair and pleasant features, Celeste DeFord talked graciously about her family: “God is working uniquely in each person.” (I took notes.) At the very beginning of the conversation, she replied to my inquiry into how they are doing with a little sigh: “How can you explain God’s grace?” Obviously, many folks have asked this question. Continue reading
Tick-Tock
The big barn as the sun is setting.
Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Tick- tock. I’m listening to Grandpa’s 150 year old mantel clock. (This post was written on Tuesday, September 17.) Leaning back in an old, floral, upholstered chair with my laptop, I view Grandpa’s big, green roofed barn out the window of the old, farmhouse window. Continue reading
Journey North Character 