December

An old adage seeped into the space between my synapses this week, bandying about as if it were asking me to consider it once again. You...

“ But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not us. We are hard pressed on every...

Where should I begin? This is the question the creative act asks, every painting, every poem, song, novel, and essay. And life, the life...

“Did you make good time?” I remember this question every time we arrived at Granny’s house on E. Montclair or at Uncle Allen’s farm on...

Leavings everywhere – leftover ham in the fridge, Chex mix scattered about, crumpled red and green wrapping, a gift forgotten, someone’s...

(Note to reader: Following is a Christmas meditation punctuated by verses from the original salvation song, Michael Row the Boat Ashore,...

Something was wrong. My otherwise un-intruded childhood witnessed my dark-colored friend, Daniel, mistreated. The uneasiness covered me...

“Mama?” “Yes.” “What does persnickety mean?” “Go look it up.” And so Mom would always respond until I quit asking. I learned to look up...

It all began the day I got the news. Opening a box containing a pacifier has its effect. The news arrested my unrestricted, youthful...

“Therefore persevere. By God’s help and by your own faithfulness something good will come from the unpromising beginning. For there are...

Advent, beginnings, are like that old Confucius saying – the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. In my life, it began...

As it is my habit to wake early and pray and absorb my devotion, when on a recent unsuspecting morning I was reading with an intent to...

In my mind, I’m traveling across the South Carolina sand hills, driving the backroads passing landmarks so familiar each barely receives...

Images appear intermittently in my mind. A confluence of past years merge within me to form this feeling I call Christmas. I confess the...

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost Life changed after...

S. Beckett Morse muddled along through life, never attending to any serious questions. His only interest was whatever the day offered....

Christmas trees cut from Uncle Allen’s farm, listening to the chorus of “Be good because Santa Claus is coming and have you been a good...

For the real good of every gift is essential first, that the giver be in the gift—as God always is, for He is love—and next, that the...

Convicted during my teen years, tagged as an old man before my time, I rarely made it to midnight on New Year’s Eve. OK. Never. Sleep was...

“ Judge not,  that you be not judged. For with that j udgment you judge , you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be...