In a class I attended recently the speaker said, when we make changes in the way we live to address issues raised by a crisis the changes we make outlive the crisis they were set up to address. For example ranchers began using fences and windmills to provide water to cattle during a drought. The […]

I’ve been impatient with my Lenten experience this year. Somehow I expected deeper more earthshaking results. I wonder if my expectations have grown from the culture I live in that so often promises instant health, weight loss, or happiness. Perhaps I’ve fallen into the trap of wanting a quick fix for my impatience. I remember […]

I spent an eternity in the Easter aisle at one of the big box stores yesterday. Honestly, it was only about eight and one half minutes of what felt like an eternity. Candy and trinkets filled both sides of the aisle for about the length of a soccer field but not nearly as wide. There […]

The Psalm Sunday homily caused me to think a lot about peace today. I found myself thinking about the Peace Prayer attributed to Saint Frances. Praying this prayer is a good way for me to begin Holy Week. So, I pray “O Lord, make me an instrument of Thy Peace! Where there is hatred, let […]

Standing on the cusp of Holy Week I wonder, am I ready to celebrate Holy Week? Like the athlete waiting to take the field for the big game I question, has my training been strenuous enough? Was my work focused enough? I fear I am not prepared. I resist even writing those words because I […]

Of all the lessons of Lent the lesson of detachment is the hardest for me to learn. Detachment is challenging to accept and integrate into my life. My Lenten practice continues to show me how attached I am to the stuff in my life. I’m attached to my possessions, my thoughts, my religion, my judgments, […]

Lent feels like a burden today. I just want it to be over. Yet I know from experience this is the time to rely on my discipline. This is the time of greatest temptation. This is also the time of greatest potential. So today in the words of Isaiah and Paul I pray: “[God] gives […]

As I reflect on my Lenten experience today I’m reminded of a Quaker saying. “Do not speak unless you can improve upon the silence.” Silence has the upper hand today. “Glory and praise for ever!” (Daniel 3:52b)

It is such a beautiful day today. The temperature is pushing the upper 60s and the sun is warming the earth. Spring flowers have broken ground and are reaching for the sky. I know people throughout the country have experienced the dark side of spring with sever spring storms. Nevertheless, in our part of Nebraska […]