Yesterday, I wrote about some of the complications involved in telling the stories of our lives. I focused particularly on the problems with endings — how ending them too soon can cause us to misunderstand our stories, and how not ending them at all can leave us stuck in the past or paralyzed like a … Continue reading The Messy Middle (Part II of The Stories of our Lives)
There is an old and terribly unfunny joke that says "There are two types of people in the world: those who like personality typologies and those who don't." I've long been in the former category. I am fascinated by human personality and — much like the elements I discussed last week — find the different … Continue reading My Type
There’s an old episode of The Simpsons in which Homer, having sold his soul for a donut, is brought to Hell. Specifically, he is taken to Hell’s “Ironic Punishment Division,” where he is force fed donuts for all eternity. Of course, being Homer J. Simpson, the joke is on the demons: he goes on happily … Continue reading By Our Own Words (A reflection on Luke 19.11-28)
This week’s exploration of the kind of good fruit our lives can bear returns to the character strength of Gratitude. I say ‘returned,’ because it’s a subject that I’ve already visited a few times on the blog. Gratitude has been an important touchstone for Christian living for centuries, and has proven to be low-hanging fruit … Continue reading Gratitude
In the climactic scene of the book of Exodus, Moses meets God and demands to know God’s name. God answers with the name “YHWH.” The name is a mystery, and not just because its vowels have been lost to history. It’s a mystery because it’s really no name at all. It means something like “I … Continue reading Own it
Matthew Root 