Category: Along the Way

Shelter

distracted by the antics of sun and cloudssashaying in and out, around and under each otherit was the quiet that eventually stopped me mid-strideno wind whispering in the pinesno cars on their hurried wayno people walking the dogexchanging greetings as we passno chain saws, leaf blowers or hammers at workeven the birds have silenced their …

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White Bird Hill

I’ve stuck to my rut far too longglued to the familiar laneI’ve followed what I knowplayed by the tried and truehanding off adventure and exploration to my companion until the day I veered onto the exitoff the highway, we dove to the canyon floornavigation called repeatedlyurging reason turn around and turn backyet we pressed on …

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My Inheritance

Owning and operating a farm was his life’s dream. For years, my father worked for others. Then he worked for a dairy cooperative, serving those who farmed. Finally in 1957 the dream was realized with the purchase of 200 acres and a string of buildings tied together as one. The house stood at one end, …

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First Sunday of Retirement

Beloved One, this letting go, sitting back, putting my feet up thing is harder than I anticipated. What was I expecting? Do I not remember who I am or where I come from? Remind me again that I have already placed in your loving heart and capable hands the dear ones for whom I most …

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Gone are the Old Ways

have you seen my comfort zoneit was wrenched away when I stared into the barrelof a video cameraspoke my pieceand released it into the wildwith hopes of nurturing the Body of Christ it retreated further in my failed attemptat conversation with colleaguesa tablet masqueraded as meand an invisible button denied methe ability to speak when …

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Mending Wall

Dear Mr. Frost, Does it trouble you that people so freely credit you for having said “Good fences make good neighbors”? True, you penned those words, but these days people pounce on them and yank them completely out of context for their own purposes. We delight in latching on to the sentence, and then point …

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Addiction

It all began with harassing phone calls and threatening texts. Or to be more precise, my most recent snapshot into a much larger drama began with harassing phone calls and threatening texts. While I was the one being harassed (a total of 16 phone calls, 15 texts and 8 messages before I got everything blocked), …

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The Morning After

Okay, I admit it: I’ve never been a Halloween devotee. Sure, it was fun as a kid, but my memories are pretty dim (as is true in most categories). We lived out of town on a farm so we didn’t get many trick-or-treaters. Most years we drove into town and made the rounds of the …

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What Can I Do?

WHAT CAN I DO?   screaming at the television does nothing to undo the unthinkable allowing the poison of his lunacy to feed the lump in my soul erodes like acid and serves no good as for slinking in my seat while neighbors rail against elitist liberal crap fake news protection of our comforts and …

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A Family Opening

A few weeks ago, a couple hung back as other worshipers left the sanctuary, and then stopped to talk with me when it appeared we were alone. They quietly told me about their nephew, how his young adult life went through a really bad patch, spiraling out of control in part due to alcoholism, during which time …

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