AN ANCIENT RIDDLE frames personal improvement this way: “The edge of a sword becomes keener through honing, and the fragrance of the plum...

I HAPPENED UPON a friend the other day, and as friends do we immediately began to catch up. It was good to spend time with someone I...

WHEN I WAS A CHILD I was allowed to be one. I will always be grateful to my parents for giving me that time, and for creating an...

SOLOMON SAYS there is “A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to...

(Remembering Rayleigh Elyse) ALL SHE EVER REALLY WANTED was To be loved as a human. To know what human touch is about. So she asked The...

AS I ENTER and exit my bedroom there is a portrait of you in the hands of your Uncle Ron, Rayleigh. I’ve grown accustomed to it being...

In a world where people scream for violence Against those they disagree with, Or whatever their reason may be, There is a sweet voice...

AS I UNDERSTAND IT, the critical difference between Knowledge and Wisdom is this: Knowledge is having all the facts (or at least...

EVERYONE I KNOW has many concerns. I sometimes listen as friends entrust their woes to me. I used to attempt advice. I don’t do that...

BIRTHDAYS CAN BE SUCH FUN celebrations. We made it one more year! My wife and I have a running joke throughout our time together, which...

AS THE YEARS have come to pass, my attitudes and opinions on a variety of topics have evolved. One such topic is “Tension.” I’ve reasoned...

AROUND MY SEVENTEENTH BIRTHDAY, one of my uncles played for me a recording of some Bluegrass music. I had never heard that sound. To be...

WITH GOD'S CRAFTSMANSHIP, my wife and I created two children—who are girls. I was awed when I saw the nine-month process to completion...

HE WAS QUICK to help anyone he could. Even though I knew him well, many deeds lay covered by layers of years until it was nearly time for...

AS FAR BACK as I can remember, I was “gifted” with a vivid imagination. I put that word in quotes simply because I discovered that I...

WHEN WE SAY TO GOD, "I'm leaving the final outcome of this situation to you," understand that his aim is to give us what our hearts...

ONCE UPON A YOUNGER DAY, I was asked to perform the wedding ceremony of the daughter/sister of friends. The bride and I had grown up in...

WE WERE NEARING THE END of an active morning on the playground. It was chilly by southern standards. Even though the sun was fully out,...

IT'S THE SECOND DAY of the year. The sound of that sentence alone rings so strangely as I mouth it. As the decades pile higher, I marvel...

MY EYES OPENED widely in the thick black darkness of my bedroom one silent night. All was still and eerily quiet. But then, I heard the...