Version 1: It had been like dying…* Version 2: In a world with no news or social media, it was a perfectly normal Monday, full of perfectly normal Monday activities. Nothing at all strange or out-of-the-ordinary occurred, except that once I glanced at some shadows near a tree and thought they looked slightly peculiar, but […]

“Learning about the Enneagram has helped me embrace the truth that God gave me gifts because God loves me and has equipped me to love others, not because my gifts are so impressive.” – Alice Fryling, Mirror for the Soul I love personality inventories, like Myers Briggs, because they help me to appreciate and communicate […]

There is something I’ve lost It’s worth more than it cost You may think it was free But much did it cost me I’ve looked here and there I’ve looked everywhere Everywhere but my bed Where I must rest my head You see without this thing I cannot laugh or sing I cannot play or […]

Tracchus stood outside the house, listening to his parents fight. It was almost dark. He was tired. He still had to clean the fish. But he stood under the deepening blue of the sky a moment longer.    He wanted to hear what his parents were saying. But he didn’t want them to ask him questions. […]

Once there was a loud and boisterous little squirrel who shared a tree with a wise old owl. One morning the little squirrel awoke from a bad dream and barged out of her little hole screaming as though the sky were falling. “Oh, my goodness. Someone help me!” The old owl, being accustomed to such […]

Once there was a little frog sitting at the edge of a pond. He was a very idle, bored little frog, always wondering what to do and not really wanting to do much of anything. Until one day when a very scared praying mantis came scampering down to the water, clearly very flustered.         “Oh, […]

Purple cat Purple cat Why are you looking at me? I’m not I’m looking at a white dog who’s looking at me No he isn’t, you’re good He’s looking at a black sheep now Why were you looking at me? I don’t know, I wasn’t YOU WERE You hopped or something Why were you looking […]

When I was in college I worked at a camp one summer. The camp was in the mountains in California, by Fresno. Bear in mind: the camp was up high, and Fresno was down below. This was important when it came to the Fourth of July. I don’t remember much about the Fourth of July […]

Clara sat on the edge of her bed, staring out her window at the river meandering by. It was always leaving her, but always coming as well.         Sighing, Clara pulled herself up and grabbed her journal and a pen from the top of her dresser. She didn’t feel like writing, but she knew it […]

Bertoli was working the front desk at the Little House in the Woods Motel when a very tall woman walked through the main doors with a bearskin draped around her shoulders.    Bertoli didn’t look up at first. It was a Tuesday, and very slow, and he was deeply absorbed in rewriting the Little House in […]