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.
A couple of days ago I woke up with more than a tinge of old guy grumpiness—I hadn’t been sleeping well. For whatever reason—perhaps the surprising re-emergence of a Scripture passage memorized when I was very young?—this verse popped into my head: “Be of good cheer…” These words were part of Jesus’ Passover night conversations with his disciples, coming at the end of a series of his admonitionsMORE...
Even though I deal with a variety of physical ailments, I don’t yet think of myself as frail. Right now, my body, mind and spirit feel strong and capable. With my spouse, I follow the guidelines for healthy living, keep my doctor appointments, thank God daily for an enviable genetic heritage and avoid the kind of self-talk that could become a woeful, self-fulfilling prophecy about the perils ofMORE...
At worship a few Sundays back, it struck me that Faith Lutheran Church isn’t a pro forma place. Although we work within the boundaries of Scripture, sound doctrine and Christ-centered behaviors, we try not to get caught in ruts that can mire us in stifling ordinariness. We don’t go through the motions just to get by. To stay grounded and balanced, we dig into the core of conventional, customaryMORE...
“What’s Lent all about?” Recently, our pastor—quoting a *long-time friend—observed that “Lent is a time to drop pretense.” That startling idea instantly gathered together most of Lent’s rich contemplations. My thoughts—echoing and buoyed by our pastor’s further sermon observations—turned in these directions…. Pretense? I’ve always thought of it as not-so-good, part of the self-delusions thatMORE...
Remember “Well done, thou good and faithful servant….” (Matthew 25:21)? These words may have comforted us when we’ve wondered if our lifework was worthy of God’s commendation. The usual interpretation of *The Parable of the Talents (or the Three Servants) revolves around reassurances that good deeds or high integrity eventually meet with God’s approval. (Although comforting, this blessing alsoMORE...
Tomorrow’s reminder: God’s love redeems us. We’re saved not only from eternal punishment, but also made useful for God’s purposes. We experience that love in our love for each other. Lives bent toward loneliness, despair or self-doubt are turned around by the tangible evidence that someone else cherishes us. When love finds us, we’re rescued, retrofitted with hope and reinforced for purposedMORE...
Over my lifetime, I’ve thought about *errands in several different ways. When I received my driver’s license in high school, I would volunteer to take the Dodge station wagon out for the simplest family tasks. As I matured into adulthood, the amount and complexity of necessary errands—encapsulated in TO DO Lists—shaded my feelings in a different way: I had to squeeze these chores into the inMORE...
You may have noticed my continuing fascination with words, especially their derivations and their usage. Today I extend my wordsmithing smile in your direction with a possible gift: How to craft *analogies that delight and elucidate. Ones that last…! I’m fond of linguistic truisms. One of the most reliable: Analogies and metaphors enrich communications. Like an opossum that won’t loosen itsMORE...
At various occasions in my life, 1catharsis has been a useful concept. At one time in my earlier decades—lasting maybe ten years or so—this word characterized a decision-making process about my 2eventual lifework. What I remember is that the process took awhile. It was slow. The swirl of colliding emotions had to settle down, to get sorted out. Changing circumstances, contexts and other realitiesMORE...
I may be less trusting than I used to be. A variety of recent trust-shaking incidents has brought me towards that frame of mind: The emergence of a conspiracy-dependent quasi-religion fueled by prevarication; a sophisticated personal computer hack; violence-prone truth-deniers; the news that USPS blue mailboxes are being robbed of mail in check-washing schemes and misinformation/phishing messagesMORE...
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.