• Pears and Apples

    Aristotle said in his Poetics, “The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance, and this, and not the external manner and detail, is true reality.” He spoke mainly about poetry, which was the highest art of his age, but his words also apply to the fine…


  • WALKING INTO LIFE

    I went walking Thursday night with the Spa City Pacers in our downtown area. The humidity was high and the evening breezes of a few weeks ago were’t stirring any longer. My ice melted in my carry cup before we left the old train depot. I’ve signed up for the HOT SPRINGS 5K FUN WALK.…


  • THE HOLY NODE AND THE FOUND BUTTERFLY

    I’m not a fast walker, for my first goal in walking isn’t to break any record for my usual 1.5 mile jaunt around Mercy Hospital here in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Neither do I stroll, for Bon Jovi and the Boss sing a strong striding cadence in my ear. I can manage the hills better in…


  • Are we the Good Shepherd or Are We the Lost Sheep?

    Recently a male acquaintance of mine had the temerity to suggest that perhaps I might need one of those buttons that calls for help to a distant monitoring site. I had told him I’d been sick and he knew I lived alone. I was feeling much better by then and retorted, “As long as I…


  • BRINGING IT LIKE BON JOVI

    I dilly dallied, as is my usual habit. I have some inner compunction that forbids me to turn up too early. It’s a learned behavior from early childhood: showing up too soon meant additional chores, whereas I’d rather be playing or reading or doing my art. However, Bon Jovi was coming to Verizon arena and…


  • A BUTTERFLY IN THE HAND OF GOD

    My usual walking route takes me from the local YMCA around the Mercy Hospital and Physicians Buildings until I make the mile and a half loop back to the gym. I take this walk on the days it’s not too hot or humid to be exercising outside, for I like the transition of the landscape…


  • Leaving The Garden of Guilt and Shame

    “They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.”  ~~ Genesis 3:8  None of us have ever grown up in the Garden of Eden: we grew…


  • Hard Work, Community & Individual Success

    “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”          ~~ 1 Corinthians 12:7 “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” President Obama lit up the ratio and TV talk shows a while back with this statement because 60% of Americans…


  • Going Onto Beautiful

    “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.”                                               ~~ 1 Corinthians 9:25 The 30th Olympics has opened in London complete with fireworks,…