Vignettes of Light
breaking through

How odd that the more forms of communications the 21st century has created, the less we seem to say. Chatter fills the air and mind with both foul and fair words. Daily activities that require direct involvement drain our lives of energy; choosing a contemplative life rather than a reactionary one takes precious time we do not seem to have. When I left teaching some years ago, I set out to study my way through the Bible, not just because I had a generosity of time but to e

I do not wish to die. Not yet, anyway.
 Nor do I wish my loved ones to pass from this place.
 Yet at the back of my mind niggles this question: am I too comfortable—always knowing what comes next?
 Do I not choose to repeat, over and over, the same mistakes?
 What plans does God have for me, plans that I would mourn if I knew now but later rejoice?
 Everything here is measured: time, performance, beauty, intelligence, work effort, productivity…
 In some ways, there is

Sitting at my desk, I watched the dust motes float in the air around me, sparkling in the diminishing sunlight. I knew that teenagers can be cruel because I too was once a teenager. But some teenagers are crueler than others. Her words typically centered on how much she despised her mother, who was too fat, had too many lines on her face, wore awkward clothing and was always lying on the couch after work, exhausted. Her mother was single with more than the girl under he

Sometimes I think I am invisible. I must have been the other day because you almost slammed me with your SUV. Perhaps because I am invisible you did not see me. I was invisible when I looked for you to talk to me, the day you averted your eyes and walked away (still laughing a wide laugh with your mouth open, your sound echoing down the hall). I’m never invisible when it comes to paying and never when that salesclerk needs someone to spray with perfume. But I cannot be

Little flying creatures we call birds add so much to a life, even if through a mere glance. I love pretty colors, too, and so I painted some birdhouses years ago, not thinking they would be used as homes but just a way to brighten the day. But then, of course as it does, time weathered them and, since I’m not very good at throwing away things I love, I simply moved them just outside my back door.
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 Off and on for years, various families of Gos

Sanibel Island On gloomy mornings, there is no first light, at least from the view of the earth on which you stand. That does not mean the sun is not there. *************** I had an older friend long ago who had survived her childhood in Hitler’s Germany. 
 After the war, she eagerly left Germany to live in Ohio to build a life and family; she was highly intelligent and eloquent and wrote this of her transition from Germany to the US.
 ”As I settled into my new ho

At the moment Jaime was born, I asked, “Does she have everything?” to which her father laughed and said, “Everything but a ——.”
 Girls were rare in our families, so we certainly expected a boy, whom we would name Peter. Perhaps because she arrived late, her face was perfect: no redness, no baby flaky skin, no sunken cheeks. 
 Her birth was difficult; after, I clearly remember my nurse cuddling her, stroking her exquisite little face and whispering so only I could hear, “I