Category Archives: Christian Living

Reflections along the River

Posted on October 12, 2011 by Doc Arnett

Whatever reaches light

can bear its fruit

even in the midst of mud and clay,
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Posted in Christian Living, Nature, Poetry, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged Amur honeysuckle, autumn, bearing fruit, hiking, Olentangy River, river banks | Comments Off

My son, Sam, sits on the big recliner in the corner of the living room, holding Levi. He is the youngest of three, not yet three months old. His lips curl open, a ready smile in response to a gentle finger nudging his throat or cheeks. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Living, Family, Nature, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged air filters, family love, grandchildren, sunset, travel, visiting | Comments Off

Solo Vacation

Posted on October 6, 2011 by Doc Arnett

Regardless of equine and feline concerns, I’m excited about the trip, looking forward to the visits, even though I will miss my wife. It is a particular blessing, too, to know that neither of us will dread my coming home.

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Posted in Christian Living, Family, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged children, fishing, flying, grandchildren, mountains, nature, visiting | Comments Off

Noise Machine

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Doc Arnett

The distractions of our busy-ness may be keeping us from alerting to the signals of more important issues: a child needing something more than fifteen minutes help with homework, a neighbor on the brink of despair, Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Living, Family, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged background noise, busy, caring, distractions, focus, insomnia, Missouri floods, rest, sleep, traffic noise | Comments Off

Rite of Passage

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Doc Arnett

we have largely lost the rite of passage that marks moving from child to man. In this age of indulgence and every kid with a cell phone by age nine, we have blurred the line that used to signal adulthood. Continue reading →

Posted in Aging, Christian Living, Family, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged adolescence, adulthood, grandchildren, grandparents, privilege, rite of passage, teenage, thirteenth birthday | Comments Off

Symphony

Posted on October 3, 2011 by Doc Arnett

As the symphony began to play its opening number for the season, a Mozart piece, I leaned forward in anticipation. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Living, Music, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged Beethoven, boredom, classical music, college student, concert, Haydn, Mozart, performance, sleeping, symphony | Comments Off

September Blessing

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Doc Arnett

On this day of sky so blue the least, thin cloud seems but a thought, may the Lord’s own hand bless you with peace that stretches from dawn to dusk and lay you down gentle, ready for your rest. On … Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Living, Family, Farming, Nature, Poetry, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged beautiful day, benediction, blessing, fall weather, September | Comments Off

Seasonal

Posted on September 28, 2011 by Doc Arnett

Across the way from the beans, entire fields of corn have already been stripped to harvest. Long rows of stubble contour their way around the terraces, the ditches, the woods. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Living, Farming, Nature, Spiritual Contemplation, Work | Tagged corn, Doniphan County Kansas, grain, harvest, rapture, soybeans, tractor-trailer rigs | Comments Off

Key Words

Posted on September 27, 2011 by Doc Arnett

I knew as well as I knew my own name that he meant for me to “bring the cows up into the lot” but I was eager to get back to fishing. So, I did what he said instead of what he meant and hurried back to the pond. Not thirty minutes later I was wishing that I had done otherwise. Continue reading →

Posted in Christian Living, Family, Farming, Humor, Nature, Relationships, Spiritual Contemplation | Tagged dairy farming, definitions, discipline, life lessons, meanings of words, obedience, prepositions, spanking | Comments Off

When/When Solutions

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Doc Arnett

Many of life’s little conflicts can be resolved when people are more interested in making things work than they are in making them difficult. Working things out is always greater honor to those we love than is making a stink in their name.