300 words a day

Monumental.

I think incrementally. A step at a time. And I think inductively. Things make sense to me after a bunch of steps have happened. I see the pattern more than I decide what should happen. Which makes it strange that the word “monumental” came to mind just before I went to sleep the other night. […]

by Jon Swanson

Unbelievable

I was talking to a patient’s family. Her son talked about having faith but being analytical. He likes data. He likes information. His wife knew little about God but has faith. He described in detail what the doctor had said about the inside of his mom’s head. A fall had jostled it in ways that […]

by Jon Swanson

Pick one thing. Do it well.

“I’m completely stuck,” I said. “When you say ‘completely’,” Tim said, “What do you mean? That you sit in one place, permanently unmoving?” I wanted to nod, but I understood the irony of having the capacity to walk into Lystra Tea Company and to order a medium bold and to have the money to pay […]

by Jon Swanson

Between

I’m writing this between a hospital shift and a memorial service. I’m sitting in the sacristy, a space between the rest of the hospital and the chapel. My list of projects has given me a pile of papers to read between the time they were due and the time my grades are due. We’re living […]

by Jon Swanson

Genuine.

When Paul was giving his last instructions to Timothy, he said, “You know all about me.” It’s easy to read that as an arrogant statement, I suppose, Paul holding up his excellence. It’s easy to read it as confidence or as some other adjectives I can’t think of right now. But I think that Paul […]