In this category are Full of Years blogs that examine how time fills the lives of older persons. Time as a gift and time as a responsibility. Implicit in all entries: This is a good time to be living fully.
I think that our home is actually a collection of time capsules—bins and boxes that hold our shared history. While rummaging around in our basement recently, it occurred to me that these containers of artifacts might be useful. Perhaps I could spend time among our life history-holders—reminding myself about the long arc of our lives, and of the durable identities that still characterize us. As IMORE...
A few days ago, as I was shaving my face, I noticed again the one-inch blemish where I used to have a hairline. It’s my bully scar. Here’s the story. One day in first grade, our class went outside for playground recess. (The playground was the standard-issue, clunky all-metal assortment of equipment now considered dangerous.) The girls preferred the whirling merry-go-round, so they’d congregatedMORE...
For years now, the example of Dick Evenson has followed me—a strange phenomenon because it’s been thirty years since we worked together in the Division for Parish Services of the former Lutheran Church in America. The personal quality that always impressed me during that time was Dick’s unflagging positive outlook. No matter what, no matter whom. At first this attitude seemed saccharine or naïveMORE...
This past Memorial Day an old memory of my father came back into focus. It had to do with his World War II military service. I think this collection of thoughts came about as I imagined the feelings of families whose loved ones have died while in uniform. Thinking about their losses recalled my father’s circumstances as a draftee right at the end of that war. Ed Sitze was already married and theMORE...
(I had some more thoughts about the new words coming from *new writers. So I called myself a Guest Writer today because that makes me feel like one of them. And yes, I’m still impressed by their gifts!) I offer these further comments on the recent FullofYears blog, “Words abound.” I think I left out some other important observations about the blossoming of helpful thoughts that’s happeningMORE...
For a few months now—especially since we all agreed to remain sequestered in our homes—something is happening to words. I’m not sure, but there seem to be more good words out there. In here, too. A good thing—renewed evidence that there’s still power in words. I’m noticing that there are a lot more people taking the time—and expending considerable effort—to cobble together, sculpt, throw on theMORE...
It’s hard to ignore what’s right in front of me in these times. Good news: Self-sacrificing essential workers, wise governors, scientists and inventors. Not-so-good news: A world-wide plague, stubborn injustice, invisible danger and dangerous people, economic troubles. News, opinions, testimonies, stories, hard questions—all of them front-and-center at almost every waking moment. What’sMORE...
Today’s entry started as a presumptive blog about how our observance of Holy Week this year might just match early Christian worship in Rome’s catacombs. When I read the historical background about this underground cemetery, though, I realized that my supposed good idea had no basis in fact. The early Christians used the catacombs less as settings for meetings or worship, and more often asMORE...
My wife and I are coming to the end of our second week of COVID-19 stay-at-home living. Chris put this experience into perspective a few days ago, when we were deciding what to do together. “Lord knows, we have the time,” she observed. “We can artfully sculpt our time into a beautiful day.” To be honest with you, I’ve had trouble accepting the blessing of abundant time. On the one hand, the giftMORE...
Over the past week or so, I’ve been waiting for the coronavirus news to settle down. Here’s why: Whether out of prudence, trying to fill empty leadership niches or injecting trust and truth back into the emotional economy, leaders of all kinds have been filling my mailbox with assurances and information. I appreciate their thoughtfulness. This is probably a once-in-a-lifetime crisis, andMORE...
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.