Inside the Minds of Valerie and Mike (and Anna)
Throughout this past fall and up to now, I’ve been hearing and engaging in conversations about the importance and power of stories and storytelling. It’s not that this is new to me as I’ve been part of confirmation classes and retreats using the hero’s story as a launching point, had conversations on the hazards of... Continue Reading →
We tend to think of truth in absolutes, in something being true or not true. Sometimes it doesn’t work that easily. There are different kinds of truth that we live with. Merriam-Webster says truth is the body of real things, events, and facts; the state of being the case. The entry also includes the body... Continue Reading →
What does that mean. We seem to be able to recognize it when we see it, but definitions sometimes seem muddy. Dictionary.com defines integrity as “adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.” When we say someone has integrity it’s usually because we can attest to their having character traits that we... Continue Reading →
In all reality, VMWishes.com was born August 19, 1989. On that date, Valerie and I married in Champaign, Illinois. The moniker “VMWishes,” did not come around for another year or so... Just married and just out of college, Valerie had just started her first real job and I was in graduate school. Bottom line... we could... Continue Reading →
The past few weeks have provided much to ponder and reflect on. As I have tried to sort through where we’ve been, what has happened, and where we might be heading, I am taking a different approach to just writing a blog piece, and doing a series, a 4-part series. There will be overlap, but... Continue Reading →
Wonderings and thresholds have been part of my ponderings the past few weeks. Thresholds are a common image for liminal space, that time and space between what was and what is not yet. The time between what is known and not yet known. It can be a period of uncertainty, of watchful waiting, discernment, questions,... Continue Reading →
A few years ago, a friend introduced me to the One Word idea. Instead of a New Year's resolution (which quickly falls by the wayside), you pick a word as a focus and guide for the upcoming year. My choice of word usually offers multiple meanings and uses in different contexts. My first two words... Continue Reading →
Day 6, half way through the season of Christmas. Yes, the 12 days of Christmas are real, just not what is in the popular song. It’s Christmas 2020, so it’s been a weird one…subdued, smaller, a mixture of beginnings and endings. And in both good and bad ways, more of the same. Over the course... Continue Reading →
Have we lost our ability to wonder?Is it not enough to understand just enough to be amazed?Sometimes knowing leads to awe.Sometimes, it removes all mystery, leaving a hollowness.Can I be okay with the not knowing?As one poet writes…live the questions.Maybe we need to live the mystery, live the wonder.Watch and wait while wondering.I do not... Continue Reading →
Advent Vespers at Home It’s Advent. It’s the end of an unusually tough calendar year. It’s the beginning of a new liturgical year for the church. It will also soon be a new calendar year. Advent is a season pregnant with hope. It’s a liminal time of watching, waiting, and wondering (this year's theme for... Continue Reading →
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