In my last post I reflected on the “losses without conclusion” I and many others are facing in these days of COVID. I was captivated by an interview I heard with social scientist, Dr. Pauline Boss, who has pioneered research on this idea of “ambiguous loss”. Her early work was summarized in the book Ambiguous...Read More

OK, yeah, you’re thinking “I love you” is only three words. Those are THE best words you could ever say to someone, agreed. But there’s something almost equally powerful in this phrase – “I see in you…”. When you utter those words and follow them up with the admirable characteristic you indeed see in your...Read More

I would hide when I heard him coming. My office was at the foot of the stairs down in the basement of the building in which I worked. I knew my boss’s footfall. So, when I heard him descending the stairs, I would turn off the light in my office, lock the door and cower....Read More

Sometimes leaders’ actions are deadly. Their words get peopled killed, they kill ideas, they kill relationships. Maybe not via premeditated murder but, for sure, through negligence. I hate writing this. I have been stewing for days since the terrorism and seditious attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th.  I have wanted to reflect in...Read More

Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering ‘it will be happier’…Alfred Tennyson I’m straining to hear that whisper. It’s faint, but I think I hear it. Hope is never a luxury. It is essential. I shudder when I think that relief may be deferred much further into the new year. That...Read More

I’m on a bit of a roll talking about leadership. A calling that leads to some form or title of leadership has always fascinated me, and the development of leaders has always been a concern of mine. So, you can imagine how much I’ve been thinking about that topic recently. Good, courageous, intelligent leadership is...Read More

I hear you. After I wrote last week about what I believe is the hardest leadership job in the world, some of you pushed back. Some suggested parenting, specifically mothering, is the toughest job. Others suggested teachers have it the hardest. You might be right. But I still contend that carrying any title that comes...Read More

I’m about to return to church. I retired from pastoral work on May 31st of this year, 2020, after a 42-year ministry career. The agreed upon plan was for me to distance myself from our church for 6 months to allow time for the new senior pastor and the church to acclimate without me hanging...Read More

I’m not talking about social media influencers, people who have mastered the art of Tik Tok or Instagram or any of the other platforms to get us to buy or think differently. No, I’m talking about that man or woman who, by their presence, exerts an almost mystical effect on others. They inspire movement. They...Read More

I had a conversation with some folks recently in which we were lamenting the damage that has been done to some of our relationships due to political hostility, differences of opinion in COVID response and reactions to the social unrest over systemic racism…among others. We’ve lost trust in one another. And many of us have...Read More