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Day 7, Saturday, April 18, 2020 It’s early in the Easter season, in the Easter story. Just a week since the Resurrection. Just a week since Mary and the other Mary were at the garden tomb. Just a week since Peter and John raced to the tomb. Just a week since two disciples were walkingContinue reading “Peace Be with You”

Note: This is a guest contribution from Marsha Smith, an IT specialist at Olivet Nazarene University. Marsha is a member of my memoir writing class who chose to write about our present crisis this week. I asked permission to share this timely essay with you. We find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic. Continue reading “Thoughts from a Pandemic”

Note: The following is a sample essay that I have written for a prompt that I have given to my memoir writing class. This time they were to write on a work of art and what it means to them. As I walked into the numbered gallery, my eyes were drawn straight to an almostContinue reading “The Aura of Art”

Day 3: Wednesday, April 15, 2020 I’m sad again today. I wonder how many others around me are sad. My sadness is just a rather general malaise. Nothing specific has happened, nothing more than any other day’s specifics of how many cases of COVID-19 have been reported. Perhaps it was hearing that this day wasContinue reading “Sad, Again”

Note: I’m taking a break from writing this evening and, instead, sharing another writing that came from the very first prompt I gave to my memoir writing class. I hope you enjoy my reminiscence. I parked the car, hopped over the sewage ditch, threaded my way through the poles holding up the barbed wire fence,Continue reading “First Class”

Easter Season 2020 Day 2: Monday, April 13, 2020 As I raced down the crowded aisle, I saw a couple who seemed to be racing towards the same gate as I, and behind me I heard at least one other set of pounding feet. Yes, all of us were late, held up at the luggageContinue reading “Fears and prayers”

Note: On this celebratory day of Easter, when the long period of Lent has ended in triumph, I am sharing a short essay I wrote in response to a prompt that I gave to my memoir writing class this past week. A blast of warm, fragrant air hit us as we opened the door toContinue reading “An Easter Recollection”

Day 40: Saturday, April 11, 2020 Holy Saturday, the day between Good Friday and Easter, has always seemed to me to be Silent Saturday, a time of waiting between the worst day in the world and the best day in the world. We don’t get to skip the day; we have to wait through theContinue reading “A Time to Wait”

Day 39: Friday, April 10, 2020 The sun glinted off the aquamarine blue water of the Sea of Galilee. I was standing on a grassy hill just down a flower-lined trail from the Church of the Beatitudes. Looking over the beautiful scene, I could think of nothing more than why would Jesus ever have wantedContinue reading “Good Friday”

Day 38: Thursday, April 9, 2020 My Fears: That I touched something that was contaminated in the grocery store not quite two weeks ago and that I already have the coronavirus within me, just waiting to attack That, when I touched the salesperson’s hand as I received a paper-wrapped teabag at the McDonald’s last weekContinue reading “Debilitating Fear and Steadfast Hope”