The desperate drive to own and control in order to fill our psychic holes, relieve anxiety, fix difficulties, and cauterize old wounds takes root at an early age, and is doomed. It is like going to the hardware store for bread. It doesn't sell bread.
How we deal with the big disappointments in life depends a great deal on how the people who loved us helped us deal with smaller disappointments when we were little.
Being numbered among the “least of these” is a condition, not just in childhood, but at any stage in life when we are out of control, weak, needy, and dependent. In taking a child in his arms, in placing the child at the forefront of his disciples, Jesus made an...
When I was a little boy, I studied piano. My mother was my teacher. When it came time for recital, my mother made me go over the conclusion again and again. I had to get it down perfect! “Keep on practicing the conclusion, Bob. Learn those last measures!” she used to...
The reason why our childhoods were one enthusiasm after another was that we hadn’t yet found an organizing center for our lives and a goal that would demand our all and our best. The Christian faith is the discovery of that center in the righteous God. Christian...