On its way to becoming the world’s top search engine, Google stumbled across the power of questions. It turns out, we human beings are a never-ending source of questions! Even before we can put together full sentences, we’re asking “why?” (If you’re a parent, you may remember that relentless stage your toddler went through.) As […]
Articles
The Gap Between Us
Even in the newly brisk temperatures, I have made a habit of taking long walks during this COVID time. It’s one of several new habits I’ve acquired. Making time to walk every day is a way to reach for calm and routine in a year of unsettling uncertainty. When I’m out I see squirrels and […]
What Negative Space Can Show Us
Even this year the stores began putting up their Christmas decorations in October, to signal to us all that “the happiest time of the year” had begun. It’s a strange sort of getting ready. Governors in multiple states are renewing lockdown orders. Travel is down. My next-door neighbor has gotten creative. She’s focused all her decorating […]
Happy Lamentsgiving
Don’t you find it annoying when people try to cheer you up? When they jump over the negatives and instantly offer soothing platitudes? Many of the people who do this are very nice people. Helpful people. Good people. (You may meet a lot of these folks in church.) Of course, none of us likes to […]
Choosing Safety, Choosing Life: Are They Always the Same?
Will the vaccine work? Will it be safe? Even as we head into the holidays under renewed restrictions, we are wondering whether or not we should trust the new COVID vaccines. Is it wise for me to take the shot? Will I regret it if I don’t? These nine months of pandemic have pushed us […]
Beyond Data: Living Well in Uncertainty
You would think, with the amount of data that we collect these days—polling data, customer data, climate data, economic data, geological data, astrological data, medical data— that we would have a crystal clear picture of how we’re doing and where we’re headed. But more and more data doesn’t seem to help. It’s as if we’ve […]
COVID, Politics, and Sibling Rivalry
This time of COVID is feeling like a long, tiresome car ride. We’re strapped in, counting the miles and the minutes until we reach our longed-for destination– “Back to Normal”– although no one seems to know exactly how much further we have to until we get there. We want so much to arrive back home– […]