Tag Archives: Brennan Manning

growing up… growing old. Never!

Posted on August 22, 2025 by oct17

For all of my adult years, I’ve wanted to know what to be when I grew up.  Tom laughs, “Barb, you’ll never grow up.”  Now, I have learned… I don’t have to! No one ever really grows up. We’re always … Continue reading →

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… forgiven… and loved…

Posted on April 9, 2025 by oct17

I was so angry. I screamed… I could have cried. A dead baby rabbit lay at my feet in Tom’s shop. Soft pieces of fur were scattered around my feet.  Our two kittens, sitting nearby were oblivious to the heartbreak … Continue reading →

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… is it Christmas?

Posted on December 19, 2024 by oct17

… in me? How long to Christmas?… our small children began to ask the day after Thanksgiving. When will Santa be here?  Yours most likely are asking the same question these days. Every two or three days, they ask. No … Continue reading →

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… in the loss, we find…

Posted on October 17, 2024 by oct17

Can you imagine that we spend six and a half months of our life looking for things we have misplaced or lost? That translates individually to two and a half days per year. I can’t beleive we lose that much … Continue reading →

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… i’m not fine, but it’s ok…

Posted on June 24, 2024 by oct17

“We’re going through a bad patch right now.” I smile as I remember hearing our friend from Bristol, England, express these words over the miles of airwaves that separated us from them in Tennessee. He spoke softly, unashamedly… knowing there … Continue reading →

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… loved… and liked…

Posted on January 18, 2024 by oct17

I love the times when Tom cups my face in his hands, his eyes shining, “I sure like you,” he says softly. Now, I know he loves me… there is no doubt; he has been loving me 60 plus years … Continue reading →

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… in wonder…

Posted on December 16, 2023 by oct17

It’s such a rough, almost crude, dwelling in front of me… I stood on the soaked ground in awe. I can’t intelligently explain what happened, but for brief moments, all the Christmases past, present and future melded in praise. Not … Continue reading →

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… life is now…

Posted on June 14, 2023 by oct17

“There isn’t time, so brief is life, for bickerings, apologies, heartburnings, callings to account. There is only time for loving, and but an instant, so to speak, for that.” (Mark Twain) I think the bird population in our yard has … Continue reading →

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… accepting darkness…

Posted on April 3, 2023 by oct17

Today is my father’s birthday. He would be 99 if he were still celebrating birthdays. He lived three quarters of a century, dying two months before his 75th birthday. He is not someone I think of everyday. Or even often. … Continue reading →

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. . . trusting? . . . and washing feet?

Posted on April 9, 2020 by oct17

So, maybe I am not as content with confinement as I thought . . . confined . . . but free . . . Something is wrong–just not quite right. This morning I just couldn’t bring myself to joy in … Continue reading →

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