Category Archives: Spiritual Contemplation

Recovery

As the nerves begin regenerating after their several weeks of submission, the body begins to be fully aware of just how much abuse it has suffered. From the deep soft tissue to the skin on the surface, all flesh in the affected area has been burned. With each new revelation that was previously hidden, downplayed or only vaguely mentioned, patients like Freeda must cope with the deeper dimensions of agonizing physical elements. Continue reading

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Extenuating Circumstances

Imagine a twenty-ton dandelion, sixty-to-seventy feet tall and with branches extending thirty feet in every direction. That’s what the cottonwood tree is like during its month-long spawn.
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The Incredible Wealth of Scraping By

Making my way across the freshly mowed grass in the last hour of daylight, I see Ben and his mom outside their tiny, rough apartment. Smoke drifts out from a small grill and Ben is bent over the front wheel of a small bicycle. He looks my way, straightens up and waves, “Hi, Doc!” Continue reading

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Driving Rain

It is seldom in life that we gain greater advantage by pushing blindly ahead, not compelled by faith and wisdom, but driven by the stubbornness of our own determination.
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A Preparation of Peace

I step out the back door into the pleasant air of morning. A dark blue edge shows in the sky, high and to the east, tracing the form of the passing storm front. The horses look up from the low edge of the paddock. They swing around and head toward me, heads bobbing in fast walk. Continue reading

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A Higher Compliment

It is not in the accolades of easy friends
that we gain the higher ground,
nor in the shallow flattery of those
fixed upon their own ends. Continue reading

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A Closer Witness

There is no sense of sky this morning,
just a low-lying grayness that closes in,
shutting off the sense of anything
beyond the near bluffs and hills
just past the creek. Continue reading

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Reflecting on Fifty Years of Change in Societal Beliefs

Some folks say “it’s only weather”
and I’d say that most days
it is sort of trivial conversation
but then again, I guess tsunamis and hurricanes
are weather, too.
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A Hard Spring

And in that returning, I believe her celebration will sound a stronger chorus, resonating with the bark and blooms of the Appalachians, a full resounding with all that God has made and done. Continue reading

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Neighbors

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed an ambulance over at the old apartment building near our house. At the time, I thought I should go over a while later and see if there was anything that we could do for the family. Continue reading

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