Teetering on the Edge of a New Year (Revised)

https://www.lpm.org/music/2023-12-29/mels-diner-goodbye-to-2023 (This post is revised from "Teetering on the Edge of New Year", posted January 2021. https://peripheralwisdom.com/2021/01/ ) I am one of those annoying people who truly like and appreciate New Year's Resolutions. When I was growing up, I wrote HUGE lists of resolutions for each New Year. Back then, those resolutions were things like find a … Continue reading Teetering on the Edge of a New Year (Revised) →

Finding What Was Lost

In 2009, my husband Tom and I took our 2 daughters to Germany following our oldest’s graduation from high school. Germany was important to me/us because my mother immigrated to the US from Germany in 1923 as an infant with her parents and other close relatives. She never had an opportunity to return to her … Continue reading Finding What Was Lost →

LEGALISM: What It Is and Why People are Drawn to It

There were a lot of rules growing up in a small-town Texas conservative church back in the 1970s and 80s: Girls couldn’t wear slacks to church OR to school, never mind wearing jeans. Dancing was a no-go because it could lead to other bad things. (“Don’t have sex because it might lead to dancing!” was … Continue reading LEGALISM: What It Is and Why People are Drawn to It →

What Good Does Prayer Do?

I want to talk about prayer for a minute. Prayer has been in the news and in front of us a lot the past few days and weeks, with the passing of some very public folks (Queen Elizabeth, Mike Leach, Dori Monson, people I've known, friends of friends, and the like), and the tragic cardiac … Continue reading What Good Does Prayer Do? →

GOODNESS

There’s a popular Christian worship song called “Goodness of God” by Bethel Music. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f4MUUMWMV4 ) A group that I record with is working up an acappella version of this song right now, and we have fallen in love with the music and the lyrics of this song. In my last post I mentioned that I … Continue reading GOODNESS →

ENLARGE

I started doing a thing this week. It's a “Pray A Word A Day” study published by Guideposts that I am finding really intriguing and helpful as I work to smooth out more of my (many) rough edges. No matter how old we get, there are still things about our attitudes and behaviors that need … Continue reading ENLARGE →

The Overturning of Roe v Wade

I know people aren’t in much of a listening mood today, I’m going to share my thoughts on the Roe v Wade decision anyway. What I’m about to share is based on my status as a middle aged, white, post-menopausal person with a uterus, who has had 2 kids and 1 ectopic pregnancy, and who … Continue reading The Overturning of Roe v Wade →

Just Start

So many things in my life need doing, need my attention and/or effort. Some big things. Some less big things. All nagging at me to DO THEM. If you’re anything like me, you know what things you need to do. Clean the kitchenGo exerciseDo that last little bit of work before I go to bedPay … Continue reading Just Start →

It’s Really Gray Out There

from mynorthwest.com I've lived in the Seattle area for more than 35 years now. I know what gray is. The older I get (you'll be hearing that phrase a lot...), the less black and white things seem to be. Kind of funny how that happens. There are way more gray areas in life than my … Continue reading It’s Really Gray Out There →

Fear Won’t Win

It’s been an odd stretch of time, these last few years. I haven’t posted much, haven’t written much. Not that I haven’t had things to say, because I have had things to say. But I haven’t said them, at least not where many people can hear. It hasn’t felt safe “out there”. Hasn’t felt safe … Continue reading Fear Won’t Win →