Real Life Reflections

I stood there taking in the sights and sounds: the water as it gently lapped the bank, the playful twitter of what I could only assume were birds of some sort as I couldn't see anything through the dense foliage, the tall - monstrously tall - trees, thick with leaves of deep green, gold, red, orange, and purple (I swear - purple leaves!). How had he done that? How had Mr. Throgmorgenson transported me here? This island shouldn't exist anymore. The Naterans took care of that hundreds of years ago, and yet here I am. I'm not complaining. I mean, this is amazing. Awesome. I scanned the landscape, but it was impossible to see anything through the pack of trees that stood at attention like a massive army. The center of the island could be mountains, or valleys, a huge crater, or maybe marshes, it could be forest all the way through to the other side. There was only one way to find out. I headed inland, but just as I began to walk, enjoying the peace and the time to t

Oh January! That month of the year that has pushed me to the edge of early retirement every year since 1994. I don't want to jinx these last few days of said month, but I just may make it through without checking the balance in our retirement fund and calculating possibilities. So what's different? My task list is every bit as long in 2012 as it has been in previous years. This January isn't running any smoother than past Januaries. I've run into just as many problems (if not more) with my January responsibilities as in years past, but here we are with less than a week to the month left, and I haven't walked out on the job or even cried (though, I admit, tears did threaten to trickle at one point last week). I'm actually heading into the home stretch with a more positive attitude than when I started. I'm not complaining, but what's the deal, Schlemiel? In a word - God. God's the deal. I kind of have a thing for books (I know, big surprise for t

Once we cleared the trees, we instinctively ran towards the river. I could hear them behind us. We didn't have much time. Our only hope lay on the other side of the water in front of us. We were going to have to swim for it. We had no other choice. Breathing hard from our escape, we stopped, both of us bent at the waist with hands on our knees as we tried to catch a breath. My lungs were usually the stronger between the two of us, and they didn't disappoint me today. Sam continued to wheeze, but at least, she was standing and not passed out or coughing uncontrollably as she tried to catch her breath. That's good. Her asthma was under control. She'd be able to go on. I stood up and breathed in deeply of the salt-water river smell. With my eyes closed, I could easily believe that we were at the ocean. I opened my eyes half expecting to see flip flops scattered along a beach and sun-bathers asleep on their towels, but instead I saw the dry banks of the river with dozens of

Somewhere in my early years of faith, I read a little book entitled, The Practice of The Presence of God by Brother Lawrence. It's about being mindful of God every waking moment of your day. Many years later, I discovered Practicing His Presence by Frank Laubach and Brother Lawrence, which is the original work plus Frank Laubach's diary of his experience of following The Practice of the Presence of God . I'm now on my fourth reading, and it's getting a bit dog-eared, and the highlighting makes the pages quite colorful. Unfortunately, I've found that life continues to get in the way of being mindful of God with me, and I end up relegated Him to a corner of my life set aside just for Him.Then life goes from being in-the-way to overwhelming, and I remember that God isn't a part of my life, He IS my life. Out comes Practicing His Presence . Perhaps if I read it one more time, I'll get it. That's what I hope anyway. It's not easy to keep God in the for

You know that feeling you have when you know someone else is in the room or even just looking at you? That's what it felt like. I was face-down on my bed, folded into my sheets like a big pile of dirty laundry, my pillow balanced on top of my head but my eyes had popped wide open. The room had suddenly become chilly. I usually get hot and throw my covers off this time of the night, but here it was, about half an hour before sunrise, and I shivered. The bunny was here. In my room. Knowing that he'd come to our world was one thing. Knowing he'd made it into the house and into my room was something else altogether. He was following me. He wanted something from me. Revenge? Did he blame Sam and me for his incarceration? Did he come back here to bite us, to inject us with his poison? Was I about to die? I knew one thing for sure: if I got bit, no one in any hospital in this world would be able to save me.

Do you ever feel like you have to learn the same life-lessons over and over and over? Like Jethro Bodeen, you repeat the sixth grade countless times? Yeah, me too. Of course, this wouldn't be the case if I would just get the point the first time around. The latest in my litany of lessons is Love. Not love, but Love as in "God is." 2011 was a tough year around here. Many of you know about just a few of the things that helped it earn that descriptor, and you know what I do when life gets overwhelming? I focus on the overwhelming of course! I rant against the wrongs. My faith gets crowded out by the problems that surround me. I don't want to do this, but it seems to creep up on me, and before I know it, I'm in that place yet again - a shrinking shadow backed into the corner by a bully. As it happens though, God turned out to be the walls of the corner into which the issues and circumstances of 2011 backed me. I'm still in that corner, but I've realized (f

I think the holidays are the ultimate test of familial love (though weddings may very well be a strong contender for that title). Expectations run high: the food, the festivities, the gifts, the time together - it's all part of the magic of the season. The problem is that the magic falls flat when reality crushes our expectations. Not that I've ever experienced that of course. I'm just sayin' it's a possibility. One of the biggest issues for couples, though, is how much time to spend where and with whom. If you're like me, you have very little family in-town, so every celebration of the season involves out-of-town travel either personally or by other family members. This often involves an over-nighter if not multiple nights, and this is where the rubber meets the road. You either raised the now-adult people with whom you will be temporarily cohabiting, you or your spouse grew up with them or they are the spouse or off-spring of one of the above. Generally spe