The Smith family purchased property in the early sixties and built themselves a home. Mr. Smith did most of the work alongside his father and father-in-law. Mrs. Smith and her preschool son visited daily to watch the men work. They moved in the day after their home was approved by the building inspector, and they […]
Category: family
In a canoe on a river
Canoeing with friends is a relational sport. You drift along, enjoying the scenery and conversing at length with no pressure to beat the traffic or make your next meeting. We spent two summer vacations canoeing the Colorado River through Canyonlands National Park. There were entire days of gazing up at the soaring orange canyon […]
Who will you thank when you look back on today?
Some day, we’ll look back on today with more perspective than we now possess. The good news is, it doesn’t take years or trials to gain perspective. We can glean much from those we know — and especially from our elders. By going through old photos together. Or asking Grandma what she learned about life […]
What work isn’t.
When I was nine, my father built a giant sieve to separate stones from the soil. He wanted a lawn back where the yard was still piles of rubble from a construction project. At dinner that night he asked me to help him shovel one of the piles through the sieve. At nine, my idea […]
Taking root and bearing fruit.
People leave. They leave marriages, families, churches, communities, and companies. Leaving can be innate, as when birds leave nests. It can be natural, as in leaving town for a new job elsewhere. It can even be necessary. Dangers, deprivations, and emergencies insist. But just as often, leaving reveals brokenness. Something isn’t working, so we leave. […]
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