Madeleine loves cell phones despite my husband and me trying to prevent her from using them at this young age. She already has figured out swiping and if I am not careful she will grab my phone hide behind the couch and swipe away all my notifications and then lock me out. She has gotten … [Read more…]
Now there may not be too many of us who have experienced adult baptism, or can even say that they remember their baptisms. My first baptism happened when I was 5 months old and recovering from chicken pox. I have no memory of my first baptism. My second baptism was done by the same clergy … [Read more…]
When I was in seminary, the first on campus job I had was with maintenance. It was my job to handle night watch. My basic duties were to be the on-call person on campus during none business hours. This meant opening doors to rooms for people when they locked themselves out, handling maintenance calls from … [Read more…]
When I was in my undergraduate program at Eastern Connecticut State University, I took a class called the Philosophy of Religion taught by an ex-Jesuit priest. There was a small group of us in the class, maybe 10 to 15 students. Now learning philosophy only really works if you know which questions to ask in … [Read more…]
Every year, on Christmas Eve I traditionally have the children place baby Jesus into the mangers. He is never there before Christmas because Advent is meant to be the season of expectation and a time for us to work on displaying welcoming hearts. But this tradition has struck me this year as reminding me of … [Read more…]
I tend to be someone who believes that people are always giving me their best and always being honest and forth right. By nature, I have always been very trusting or gullible as my brothers would fondly tell me. This has not always bode well for me. My older brothers and sometimes friends took advantage … [Read more…]
Life can be so difficult. Humanity in general is not always compassionate, caring, generous, or just plain kind. In a world where people call each other names, bully one another online, and where there seems to be so much violence and war, it can be hard to feel hopeful. Yet this is what the season … [Read more…]
We communicate a whole lot before we even open our mouths to speak. If we are aware and invested in the relationships around us sometimes words are not even needed to communicate needs. Children do this all the time as they are developing their communication skills. I myself have had to rely on these other … [Read more…]
When I worked as a preschool teacher, we were all required to do a certain amount of hours of continuing education every single year. One of the trainings we often had, focused on teaching us the importance and practice of good listening. Then we would split into groups and practice the art of listening. Most … [Read more…]
I listened to a whole podcast on Monday all about the history of Veteran’s Day and its link to Armistice Day which preceded it. In the podcast, it spoke about the need to do more than to just honor our veterans once a year and how for many veterans they would much prefer that we … [Read more…]
