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...
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...
(Every so often I read something that’s impossible to summarize in a 300-word blog like this. Today’s entry solves that dilemma—sortof—by offering you my recommendation about a book that might be helpful (and hopeful) for your possible worries about global warming. I’m working my way through the final pages of a book that attracted me while I was roaming our library’s New Books shelf. The titleMORE...
Increasing portions of the world’s population are today living in ash-infused rubble. Forest fires, wars and natural calamities have consumed their homes, their possessions, their occupations and their health. The ashes remind them how futile life may be—how long it will be for the debris to be removed and hopeful living to re-emerge. “Living in the ashes” might describe how people anywhere—butMORE...
I’m coming off a period of several weeks when digital spam-senders have been sorely afflicting me. This experience got me to thinking about two kinds of people—those who create messes and those who sort them out. In this case, the mess-creators flooded me with unrelenting torrents of unwanted information. Varieties of mess-makers invade other aspects of our lives—perhaps too many to waste ink onMORE...
(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...
(As a present from yesteryears’ calendar wizards, you and I will get an entire extra day in this month. Today’s entry explores some possibilities for using this gift.) February 29th is like a time-bank whose deposits we get to withdraw now—an entire day added to our lives! How might we think differently about Leap Day if we considered it as something like a bonus or added-value coupon good onlyMORE...
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...
(The Amateur Brain Scientist part of me has landed on this interesting thought: What if some of our dreaded short-term memory loss could be counteracted by some changes in our lifestyle habits or contexts? Today some noodling in that direction….) Some of us might be quietly fretting about the possibility that our short-term memory seems to be slipping. Small stuff at first—misplacingMORE...
Sometimes you can find hope in surprising places. That happened to me one recent morning when I looked at the box that my (Family Size) Cheerios™ came in. Here’s what I learned… The good folks at General Mills—a Minneapolis-based corporation—apparently decided to do something helpful and hopeful about the state of the country/world: They partnered with Disney and Fandango to spotlight Disney’sMORE...
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.