Bitter Herbs: As Important as Ever

Bitter Herbs: As Important as Ever

“…with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.”   Exodus 12:8 Mustard greens are being genetically ‘edited’ to remove their bitterness. This is supposed to be good news. Many of the most nutritious greens or herbs are bitter to the taste. By nature. Yet...
Importance of Place: Make a House a Home

Importance of Place: Make a House a Home

Bluebirds and tree swallows raise their young in a house. But though they make a nest, they don’t make a home. Humans make homes. A home is a house where humans make a life together. A home is a physical place distinct from all otherers precisely because it is the...
The Gift of Limping: Against Discouragement

The Gift of Limping: Against Discouragement

“It is better to limp along on the way than to walk with strength off the way.” Augustine of Hippo I meet couples and parents who are struggling with discouragement. It is hard to discern how to face the various challenges of marriage and home life. Especially in our...
Our Need to Garden: Two Urgent Questions

Our Need to Garden: Two Urgent Questions

Human nature suggests with some urgency the importance of putting seeds in the earth. We all might stop and give ear to this perennial call and also recognize that our times give it increased urgency. Today, to not-plant seeds should be a rare exception. Aristotle...
Why Celebrate Mother’s Day

Why Celebrate Mother’s Day

The extraordinary richness of what-it-is-to-be-human can be veiled by its normality. Wisdom is often in noticing things so ordinary that they escape notice. Such as motherhood. We should observe Mother’s Day if for no other reason than it prompts us to look again at...
Prioritize the Ordinary: Go for a Walk Together

Prioritize the Ordinary: Go for a Walk Together

The path to restoring home-life will be in restoring the ordinary. It might not be easy, but it should be rather obvious what to do. If someone takes a ball away from a child, the child will in any case know what to look for—that is, unless it’s gone so long he begins...

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