One of the benefits of being a chauffeur for your children is that somehow the minute the car starts, you become invisible. Conversations go on in the back seat that you would never have been privy to under other circumstances. I
I forget what I am called to do: to live a fearless life. To choose in my relationships, not the way of fear, but the way of love.
Once I asked my mother what it was like to live through really hard times, like Pearl Harbor and WWII. Mom was a young woman in nursing school when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Mom told me that they gathered around, listening to radios… She said it was hard to believe it had happened, that it didn’t seem real.
How did my mother, who grew up so poor, develop such a strong sense of her own self-worth, such a sturdy self-reliance, and such a strong hope and belief that life had wondrous experiences for her?
Waiting has its gifts. Waiting has taught me patience. Humility. Waiting has knocked the top layer off my ever-present and arrogant assumption that I know what’s best for myself and for everyone else in the world. Best of all, waiting has brought me closer to an always loving, always compassionate God.
This year, I pray, may I focus on the goodness and kindness I see every day in my life, no matter how small.
What does it feel like to be 70? What it feels like to be 70 is to be living in a kaleidoscope, where past memories and present experiences and glimpses into the future all come at once.
Little Lucas Alexander, born July 19th, is our latest grandchild, and our latest joy. Watching him, I see all over again how very powerless newborns are. He cannot move his arms and legs consciously. He cannot lift his head, although every day he gets a little closer to that goal. He cannot even turn over.… Continue reading Staring at the Angels
Six-year-old Hanah is back with her family now and me, I want to be more like her. I want to see the wonder in ordinary things. I want to realize how lucky I am, to have all the good things that I’ve never noticed before.
What I love about women is the way we gather as a community to celebrate other women. We seem to do it almost instinctually, at every major milestone. Recently we gathered here at my home near Chicago for a baby shower for my daughter Shannon.
