just enough light

This post was printed as an opinion column in the Abilene Reporter News, April 17, 2016 Now that the presidential candidates are no longer campaigning in the South and Southwest, they are touting their Christian credentials far less. Though there are many Christians in other parts of the country, the label is less salient as a […]

I guess you could read the last few entries and conclude, “John has some serious problems with faith.” I don’t think that is where I am. I have some serious problems with confusing faith with some things that faith is not, such as certainty, gullibility, or intellectual passivity. For me faith is an active process. […]

“The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is certainty.” -Ann Lamott Many years ago I supervised a young doctoral student. He was in his first semester of practicum. That means he was seeing his first clients under the supervision of someone else, me. A few weeks into our work, we were […]

Thomas: the patron saint of honest doubters. I have always liked the guy. He was the only one of Jesus’ followers who had the nerve to say, “I’m not going to take your word for it. I have to see it.” I like him because I have always been gullible, and I admire him for […]

“Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never more than a single grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But […]

“There comes the moment when you must let go and trust that you will be caught.” That was one small part of the description a friend gave of her training for the trapeze. Doing the training fulfilled a bucket list item for her. She is not a circus performer. She’s a nurse. In her talk […]

My role as a parent has changed significantly over the 33 years I have had the job. I am no longer on duty hour by hour. Instead I am more of a relief pitcher, called in when my particular skills or experience are needed. But it seems I am always on the bench, warmed up […]

The idea of unlearning keeps coming up for me during this season. Unlearning involves so much: letting go of old and comfortable ideas and stepping into something new. That involves relinquishing control. Well, I don’t really relinquish control. I relinquish my illusion of control. Unlearning parenting is one of the hardest for me for two […]

I have written about impermanence for two days now. It occurred to me this morning that my writing has been about the impermanence of others. I, too, am impermanent. Several years ago I read a book, A Year to Live, an interesting book about how you might approach your life if you had only one […]

When I was a psychotherapist, we had staff meeting discussions on several occasions over the years about the relative merits of time-limited therapy and open-ended therapy. This pertains to Lent, but some background is needed. Because the Counseling Center served a population of 40,000 students and the demand for our services was always high, we […]