Current Theme: SHAPING COMMUNITY read more about the themes

For Thee I Live . . .

The prayer got stuck in my mind, like an old vinyl recording repeatedly playing one phrase over and over: “Lord Jesus, for Thee I live. . . .” That is as far as I could get into a simple prayer given to me forty-two years earlier when I confirmed my baptismal vows.

Because We Are

We sit under the trees that are softly, softly shedding their leaves on a quiet autumn morning. The circle of chairs is drawn close as we listen to the low voice, the whisper, the rasping breath of each person. There is no condemnation, no judgmental attitude, and no discrimination. Each woman is accepted as she is.

A Lesson to Remember

In my tenth-grade class at the private school was a boy, Mustaq, who wore the filthiest uniform I’d ever seen. He had unkempt hair, smelly feet, and a torn and perpetually dirty schoolbag that held equally dirty notebooks and textbooks.

Naturally, there were frequent snickering remarks made about him.

The Sting

Mrs. Bascom ruminated
in her modest room
upstairs over the coin laundry,
praying, wondering who
was to blame for her dilemma
and what she could do.