We had this taxidermist friend, well, more of an acquaintance, really. Years ago Bill pastored a church that met in a crumbling old Gothic Revival building on Main Street in a small Pennsylvania town. The white Victorian next door to the church was too big to be someone’s private home—especially in our town—but too homey…
I sipped my latte and patted myself on the back with an invisible hand. I must be a more mature Christian, I thought. “I taped it to my bathroom mirror,” Elly continued. “I titled it, ‘No Compromise.’ Do you want to hear it?” Without waiting for my answer, Elly launched into a list of the…
There you are again. You’ve found yourself in the same circle of female friends, and the conversation has turned to the same topic it always does when this particular group gets together: “He left the kids’ bath towels on the floor again.” “Yep. Happens in my house all the time. I just can’t get him…
Guilt is a stingy emotion. It will not release us from something we have done if we have caused harm to come to someone else. There is guilt in us all, which also means that it is present in all relationships. One thing of note, guilt and shame are very similar emotions. The big difference…
When I was a newly wed, my in-laws gave my husband and I a journal. You see, every month they did what they called a “Special Event.” Each one took a turn to plan a special date or event to do with the other. They encouraged us to begin this tradition as well and write…
