INSIDE THE BOX
Bin by Bin
Every day, millions of people across our country rise before dawn; pull on uniforms, aprons, or work boots; and head out to do the jobs that keep our communities clean, safe, and comfortable. . . .
Blessing for the Brokenhearted
There are so many ways for a heart to be broken that sometimes it seems we’re walking around in a world filled with sledgehammers. . . .
Enter Book
One of the quietest joys of life is opening a book—anticipating the adventure of traveling through words we’ve never before read . . .
The Enkindled Spring
I love this poem for the way its verbs capture the dynamism of Spring. It bursts, puffs, lifts, fumes, flickers, lights, grows, leaps, and combusts. Can you see it, too, these acrobatics of the season?
I am Somebody
In 1972, the Reverend Jesse Jackson sat with a small group of children and recited a litany that was both simple and revolutionary: “I am Somebody.” . . .
If I can stop one Heart from breaking
What does it mean to live a life that matters? In recent years, my work in healthcare has quietly but insistently shifted my answer to this question toward Emily Dickinson’s. . . .
Elegy in Joy
“Let us nourish beginnings” says Muriel Rukeyser, for “the seeds of all things are blest.” Still in the first month of this new year, many of us are contemplating, planning, and initiating new beginnings. . . .
Christmas Bells
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the poem below on Christmas Day in 1863, at one of the darkest moments of his life. . . .
The Burning of the Leaves
Seeing leaves floating to the ground on a sunny autumn day nearly always takes me back to my childhood and the fun my siblings and I used to have with them. . . .
Make Believe
Do you ever have days when you think you simply can’t bear to continue plowing through all the tasks ahead of you? When the light at the end of the tunnel appears so far away that it’s merely a dim flicker? . . .
Considering the Snail
Do you ever have days when you think you simply can’t bear to continue plowing through all the tasks ahead of you? When the light at the end of the tunnel appears so far away that it’s merely a dim flicker? . . .
The Raincoat
This blogpost celebrates mothers and all the endless, unacknowledged tasks they do every day to care for those they love. Happy Mother's Day to you all!
Aspiration
We have had the pleasure of hosting several groups of college students in our home during the past few months. . . .
Now fades the last long streak of snow
There is so much to worry about these days. . . . I was ruminating over some of those things the other morning when I saw the first little crocuses peeking their bright heads up through the still-frosty ground. . . .
