reflections

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Positioning the Nativity

I remember the year that we bought a beautiful and somewhat large-figured nativity set for Christmas. I had unpacked and set it up on a piece of furniture in the dining room and I suppose without thinking through how to position the animals and humans around the manger, I had them placed some of them – probably all but Mary and Joseph – facing outward from Baby Jesus, toward the viewer. One day I noticed these were all turned around...

Violent Words

I woke up this morning to find this article when I checked for an update on the tragic deaths of (presumably some or many being children since I read last night that 12 adults and 13 pediatric cases were transported, at that point) were now at five from last night’s rampage upon people by a fast-moving red SUV during a Christmas parade in Waunesha, Wisconsin. I now saw another headline this morning…five dead and forty injured… I learned – among...

The Secret ‘O Life and Enjoying the Passage of Time

I’m not so sure that I’m enjoying the passage of time lately. There is a song by James Taylor I first heard about twenty years ago which I quite enjoyed. It had such an easy-going and visionary feel to it…and at thirty-eight years old and having not yet reached that over-the-hill pinnacle of life, I could listen to this with a somewhat contemplative-but-all-is-right-in-my-world-pretty-much feel. My oldest son was around twelve and my youngest around seven at that time. Life was...