I wonder how long the woman would have kept sweeping if her house was bigger. If she had a million square feet to search through for her one silver coin rather than a small one-room, first-century widow-income home. Because my car key is lost somewhere in the million square-foot hospital building and I’m not willing […]

“I’m so glad we had this six months.” That’s what the woman said to her sister, talking about the time they’d had since the diagnosis until now. It was a time of clarifying what matters to them, about putting arrangements into place, about tying up loose ends. I kind of laughed when she said it. […]

God. We are a sad and fearful people. Not all of us, of course. Some of us some of the time are happy and confident. And we don’t want to be fearful. But all of us know that we will face pain and will face death. And it shapes our thinking. Sometimes we work hard […]

I cannot keep up with all the news reporting on the experiences and thoughts and motivations of others. I cannot keep up with the commentary on all the reporting on all the experiences.  I cannot keep up with all the experiences of the people I know from every part of my life, from every decade […]

“God, I ask for courage for this family.”  That’s what I often say when I’m standing next to a hospital bed. It’s in my top five requests, along with requests for peace and for presence and for wisdom and whatever seems appropriate for the particular situation.  The other day, as I was asking for courage, […]