I've had the house to myself the last ten days. I get up and go to bed on my own schedule. I am free to read for hours, and break for food when my body tells me it's time to eat. I could walk for hours if it wasn't so beastly hot, and I can… Continue reading Hidden Freedom (Part 1)
Category: Biography
Hidden Freedom (Part 2)
Every Independence Day we celebrate our country's freedom to act, speak and live as we choose but that does not mean we are truly free. I propose that the most central, albeit hidden, bondage is the captivity of our minds. In my last blog I listed four different kinds of unruly thoughts that can capture… Continue reading Hidden Freedom (Part 2)
A Kingdom Paradox
The first phone call I made this afternoon began like this: "Hello, doctor's office, I need to check on a test I must have for my appointment next week. I was under the impression you were to call me..."Oh, no the hospital is supposed to call you. I'll send them the paperwork again but here's… Continue reading A Kingdom Paradox
A Healing Hand
After two days of a week long hospital stay, I would look up with some apprehension as the shift changed. A few times during that week I was met by the eager smile of a nurse who was present and communicated her desire to help me. But, too often, whether morning or evening, I was… Continue reading A Healing Hand
I Will Not Forget These Stories
My teaching colleague and I arrive first in the classroom on this particular morning. She engages many of her students as they shuffle into her World Religions course at a local community college. At one point five beautiful Muslim girls come in together--heads covered with lovely scarves, chattering away to each other and to their… Continue reading I Will Not Forget These Stories
If Christ Never Came
Last week I came across a comment from Orthodox theologian Alexander Schmemman that found an uncomfortable echo in my own soul. "We live as if Christ never came. This is the only real sin, the sin of all sins, the bottomless sadness and tragedy of our nominal Christianity" (Great Lent). Several of my recent blogs… Continue reading If Christ Never Came
Lenten Spring
The trunk of the tree by my house matches the pavement, which are both in the same color palette as the sky. Even the greens are gray. I find it fitting that the last "Alleluias" are receding from the airwaves as Jesus' Transfiguration makes way for Ash Wednesday. "Remember from dust you came and to… Continue reading Lenten Spring
The Splendor of Grace
Increasingly, these days, I find myself crying “Lord, have mercy.” I no longer find it very helpful to distinguish whether the emphasis of my cry is for me or for another. Somehow, as I get older, I find the veil between others and myself gets thinner. I ache for marriages that are so terribly difficult—so… Continue reading The Splendor of Grace
Moon and Lamp
Back on Monhegan Island, Maine, I chose the back bedroom because it had a desk overlooking a path filled withflowers. The other two rooms were oceanside-with breath-taking views. But my window ledge was inches from my pillow on the bottom bunkbed, and after I covered the well-worn wood with a bandana and set out my… Continue reading Moon and Lamp
Light unto My Path
As a young child of the 60’s, I loved the “Sword Drills” in my Baptist Church. We would grasp on to our Bibles with tense expectancy until the teacher would call out a verse to find. And off we would go, scrambling to find the golden page that won us points, a certain amount of notoriety, and, at… Continue reading Light unto My Path
Carla Waterman 