The Good Portion

Yes, it would appear the well has run dry - the creativity well that is.  My mind is aswirl with thoughts big and small, dark and bright, all moving too quickly and in too great a jumble to extract anything more than babbling. So, I think I'll do here what flesh and blood Me does when life spins out of control: clean something! I've already given up all my best product "secrets" . But it occurs to me that I didn't really reveal much by way of technique. I forget sometimes that people aren't generally born knowing how to clean things, but this past Friday reminded me that some people, even those who have been cleaning more years than I have can still afford to learn a new trick or two.  I took on a new house last week. A lovely home that had been regularly professionally cleaned for the past dozen years. Yet what did I find? Water spots. Heavy layers of water spots as well as hard water deposits surrounding every faucet. It's easy to get cocky and look ...

Do you ever have a magical moment of clarity? I had one of those tonight, a brief flash of recognition that there is something truly lovely about my rather unremarkable little family. It happened when I remembered suddenly a brief little interaction between my husband, my 21 year old daughter, and myself this afternoon. I had related to them a little incident that happened at work today. My client had stopped in for a few minutes and on her way out asked about the status of the painters who were working on the premises. As she stepped out onto a balcony to check their progress she commented to me that the birds had built another nest. I wondered aloud if they were swallows, so she called me out to have a look. There, on top of a fixture on the wall was a nest of sticks and grass - not a swallow's nest, but so sweet. She then announced that this will already be the third one she'd have to tear down from that same spot this spring.... At this point of the story, both Paul and G...

  Watery Wonders An ocean-going roly poly? A giant seafaring pill bug? Check it out here . And don't miss the little video!  _____________________________ How does the Deepwater oil spill rank among other famous oil spill disasters?  Get some perspective here . Also, for more discussion of the potential impacts of this environmental emergency look here and for solution options: here . _____________________________ Seen from space! Check out the world's largest known beaver dam . And don't miss the video! Beavers are remarkable. _____________________________ Understanding Bioluminescence ____________________________ Washing Your Hands of the Matter New research suggests that when Pontius Pilate washed his hands after condemning Christ to death, he probably did feel better about his decision.  "A study finds that people making a tough decision may find some solace in washing their hands. Writing this week in the journal Science, researchers report th...

What began with my mother's passing one week before Christmas, and was added to by more tragedy, accusations, and disappointments has culminated, finally, in an unexpected, yet not unpredictable, bout of situational depression. It's depression; I know it. Yet unlike other depressions I've experienced in my life I know where this one is coming from. It's not stemming from nonsense (mostly), or even an absence of faith, though if feels like that at moments. (At some moments it feels like I've never known God at all.) Really it's more like a snowball of grief and disappointment. And it's also been a wake-up call to the inadequacies of doctrinal systems. Beware when your system replaces your Savior, my friends. Only Christ will do. Only Christ will do.  When your relationship to Christ depends upon your own faithfulness to cling to Him, well, what happens when all the fingernails of your soul come ripping off, when you can't cling to that Rock for another se...