Category

Words

The truth remains: Words enable or form thoughts. No words, no thoughts! This category contains Full of Years blogs that play with words. Those associated with old age, and those that add zest to living fully.

W

Dealing with dread Part I

(Awhile back, I profiled Generation Dread: Finding Purpose in an Age of Climate Anxiety  by Britt Wray. The book accumulates concepts that can be helpful in grasping the nature of climate anxiety, as well as our reactions to it. These few ideas caught my interest…) Narrative foreclosure Psychologist Ernst Bohlmeijer and colleagues (Netherlands’ University of Twente) coined this term to refer toMORE...

Crossing over into daft?

Some of us oldsters use language patterns that can be strange. We sometimes communicate with a variety of verbal styles, including those that are arcane, lighthearted or metaphor-rich. The possible difficulty, though: Those ways of speaking and writing can also be perceived as signals that we’re having trouble finding our verbal marbles. That we’ve gone daft. Some listeners believe that onlyMORE...

Denying ourselves and carrying our crosses

My climate anxiety peaks periodically. When that happens, Luke 9:23b (KJV) pops into my memory—“Deny yourself and take up your cross”—as one possible part of the solution to global warming. I wonder if a society-wide ascetic mindset—although not easily engaged—might tamp down the factors that are causing our planet’s ecosystems to unravel. That theology feels hard to put into practice. If I’mMORE...

My own (most grevious) fault

  One of Lent’s compelling narratives comes in the ritual of Confession. Its verbiage is striking: “Our fault, our own fault, our own most grievous fault.” These words suggest something more than garden-variety sinfulness or the “mortal sins” that Roman Catholics name as the most serious. Not only do we own our unrighteousness, but also openly admit its severe consequences: In a word: It’sMORE...

Taken for granted

  The usual/normal line of reasoning about “taking something/someone for granted”: “Don’t ignore your blessings because they’re familiar, close or constant.” This life-axiom makes sense, and its lesson is clear. Another possible meaning pops into focus, though: Perhaps I SHOULD take people (or things) for granted? Hear me out…. Grants are undeserved kindnesses or gifts. Given or receivedMORE...

Fulminating

It’s Odd Old Words Day here at the sprawling FullofYears campus, and today’s entry is fulminate. (Please curb your vocabulary-loving enthusiasm until you decide whether to become a full-fledged fulminator!) This Latinate expression—from a root loosely arranged around “hurling lightning”—can add rhetorical flourish to ordinary words that describe expressed anger or condemnation—e.g., denounceMORE...

Mapping the Milky Way with metaphors

(Every so often I read the writing of someone whose skills bring an idea or set of facts into focus with the kind of clarity that’s both rare and awe-inspiring. Today’s entry describes a recent example.) I have to tell you about a fascinating article I read in the February 2024 edition of Scientific American. It’s about the shifting character of the Milky Way. (See the link below.) The pieceMORE...

LIRS=Global Refuge?

In a recent mailing, the folks at Global Refuge—formerly known as Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service—informed us about the new name they’ve decided on. What similar name changes have purported to offer is acceptance by a wider audience or donor/client base—something potentially more diverse than a presumably diminishing church-body tag. This continuing rebranding makes me sad: NOT thatMORE...

Micro-affirmations REVISED

(Ready to start pushing back against the haters and ranters? Something different than matching their tactics or risking their kind of eventual personal discombobulation?  Today some thoughts….) Some people try to counter the loud noises of anger addicts and those who feed them by yelling louder, bombarding them with equally-angry words or smashing-and-grabbing their well-being. This doesn’t workMORE...

Micro-affirmations

(Ready to start pushing back against the haters and ranters? Something different than matching their tactics or risking their kind of eventual personal discombobulation?  Today some thoughts….) Some people try to counter the loud aggressions of anger addicts and those who feed them by yelling louder, bombarding them with equally-angry words or smashing-and-grabbing their well-being. This doesn’tMORE...

Bob Sitze

BOB SITZE has filled the many years of his lifework in diverse settings around the United States. His calling has included careers as a teacher/principal, church musician, writer/author, denominational executive staff member and meat worker. Bob lives in Wheaton, IL.

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