Fear Drives Out Love
Today, I was not surprised to learn that “the exact meaning of the term” religion “is subject to debate among some scholars.” Of course it is. After all, if you control the language, you control minds and hearts, and once…
Love is Not the Answer
Assuaging fear is, because we are all filled with it, even when—especially when—we tell ourselves that we’re afraid of nothing. In fact, the farther back in the closet we shove the fear, the more powerful it becomes, because it grows…
Longing to Be
I recently read an essay that laments the unrest in the world, concentrated, as usual, in the Middle East. Two specific statements (sentiments) shared by the author (editor of an art magazine) caught my attention, because each purports to be…
Thinking about Love
If you do not know or understand someone, can you truly love them? The desire to love needs to include the desire to understand. To know, one must believe that knowing is possible. Communion, which encompasses authentic sharing, cannot be…
Heliocentric
Laughing at Icarus as you watched him fall,you built your fortress: a heavy investment in happiness.Imagining a life of light suffusing the courtyard,you made the walls high and covered the ground with mirrors. But the sun will not be told…
Free Yourself
Early in life, we build cages to protect ourselves. From the inside they look the way Wonder Woman’s jet does from the outside: invisible. Sometimes other people see what we’ve built and furnished and comfortably live inside, but in order…
Autry’s Humility
It was love and it was desperation.It was need and pure charity. It wasn’t perfect. Only God is. But it was enough to save a life. Thank you, Reynolds Price, for writing “Endless Mountains.” Thank you, Mom, Dad, God? Whoever…
Three Reminders
Conformity to a religion and adherence to its dictates neither indicates nor proves an authentic, healthy, loving relationship with God or with other humans (sometimes referred to as “neighbors”). Fear is not love. Sometimes ugly art is absolutely necessary.
Are You Patient or Just Acting that Way?
Sitting at my computer with coffee still in my cup, I scrounged for a good title, telling myself all the while to just chill. You’ll probably change it anyway. That’s true, but I need to name the file so I…
Touching the Tangential
My husband is a good man with a great mind that he is constantly exercising. His daily workouts include writing, something each and every one of us should be doing. Did you know that writing things with a pen or…
Know Thyself
Thoughts of this languishing writing platform have been gnawing at me for weeks. I keep telling myself that I should post something new, but I always get stopped by those demons of doubt telling me I’m not good enough. That…
Before the Lips Go Still
I don’t know how or when it happened, but at some point in life, I began to let myself have my own opinions. I reached a point at which I became okay with not liking something I was told I…
