Summer came early in Charlotte this year; well before the solstice the heat soared into the 90’s with humidity to match. Now we’ve endured a two-week long heat wave with no relief, not even from the frequent thunder showers that were predicted in the area, but failed to materialize. As each day heats up, the […]
I sit with a cup of coffee on my deck and watch life happen in my yard. I take a slow walk around my neighborhood, way below the pace of exercise, in order to observe what is there or happening in the present time. I just sit and contemplate without objective. These are the actions […]
Listen to what a woman in her late thirties or early forties reported to me last week: she has two kids, one in middle school and one a rising high school student, and all their activities; she works two part-time jobs that together are more than one full-time one; and she is married with a […]
Everyone is a gift to the world, a neat package of talents, passions and even weak areas, that, if realized and fulfilled, would make a real difference in this world. God has created each of us to be a certain kind of person, to pursue certain interests, to contribute with all of ourselves to life […]
Charlotte has had a particularly dry year this winter and spring, although no one is saying the “d” word yet. I moved here from Northern California where two particularly bad droughts have imprinted on me a need to keep track of rainfall, mostly on the subconscious level. The droughts I lived through there required us […]
Very early in the morning or very late at night, when there is no traffic noise and for some reason I am awake, I can hear the train whistle from far away. It sounds to me like a call to wander, to see new places, and something within me trembles a little at the thought. […]
What is your heart’s desire? Please note that the question is not “what do you THINK you want?” I am asking what your whole being wants, what the real you wants, not the you in the advertising-induced coma who wants what he or she is told to want. To answer the question “what is my […]
This morning I’m singing the “What’s it all about, Alfie?” song. What does it mean that we come together as a church? Is this all there is? I want something more dynamic and alive, more connected and contemporary. I am looking for the people with the most depth and capacity for love. I’m looking for […]
From the quiet, intimate melodies of Keith Jarrett’s “I love you Porgy” to the uptempo blast of Duke Ellington’s “Take the A train”, nothing illustrates individual expression better than Jazz music. Think of Count Basie, Oscar Peterson and Dave Brubeck. How different they are from each other and yet they all fall within the Jazz […]
I was brought up in a hell-fire and damnation church in Kentucky with the preacher yelling and screaming about how sinful we were and how consigned to hell we were, pounding his fist on the pulpit for emphasis every Sunday. This was a powerful and toxic drama that had these effects on me: 1)a tendency […]