Do you have that one person still on your Christmas gift list for whom you have no idea what to buy? And if you are like me, after you choose something, you include a gift receipt anyway. It is challenging enough to pick out gifts, but what do you give someone who is grieving? How do you celebrate the season… Read More
Finding Beauty in Hard Times
We face much heartache in life. No one wants to willingly walk into painful times. But since you will at some point find yourself facing a difficult situation, look around and see what beauty you can find. You may be surprised. Sometimes you go through thistles before finding the beauty. You can find beauty in the midst of hard times,… Read More
The Healing Power of Remembrance
Today is the fifth anniversary of when my father-in-law, Don Schweingruber, died. I think of him often and know he’d have a lot of wisdom to share with us all during these chaotic times. We shared many conversations about life and death. I treasure those moments. As I reflect on his life, I wanted to share an earlier podcast I… Read More
Learning to Float in Grief
When my children were little, they did not want to put their faces under water. During swimming lessons, I watched as their wonderful coach gently worked with them to get more comfortable. First they blew bubbles and then gradually put their heads further in the water. It took a long time, over several lessons, before they were able to bob… Read More
Why We Need to Move Beyond Closure
Do you tell others to find closure? Or do you think something is wrong with you because there seems to be no closure after a loss? Stop worrying about closure. We don’t need closure to heal. Closure continues to be a popular concept in our culture. However, it is just a word we’ve made up to talk about loss. Sadly,… Read More
“Am I Grieving Right?”
We sit at the kitchen table, brushing off the chill of a winter evening. Gloria puts down her coffee mug and reaches for a picture of her children. Through tears, she tells me about her oldest son’s life, and quietly laughs when describing his antics. He died three years ago, and she obviously misses him. After reflecting on her grief… Read More
Does being kind matter anymore?
In an earlier post, I encouraged people to rethink the definition of beauty in order to find it in brokenness. In addition to broadening our imagination of what beauty means, we need to expand our awareness of how small acts of kindness can give others great beauty. We live in a broken world—poverty, discrimination, crime, death, and war. We also… Read More
Strangers at an Intersection
Preface: This was a difficult story to write. I suspect it may be a hard one to read, too. Though it is about a specific case I recently experienced, my hope is that it will help us all think about how we can lend a hand to others. Turning off the highway on the wrong exit, we pass through an… Read More