Let Heaven and Nature Sing

This semester, I am teaching a Learning Frameworks college course that uses a new open-source text filled with resources and self-assessments designed to help first-year college students understand themselves as learners. Through exploring their strengths, habits, and personality types, students begin to see how their unique learning styles can align with their career interests and future pursuits. What I didn’t expect, however, was that in guiding my students on this journey of self-discovery, I would find myself on one as well. The best part of teaching is realizing how much you learn about yourself in the process. In the Myers-Briggs self-assessment, I am an ENFJ  and the description fits me perfectly. This semester, we introduced students to the resource PsychologyJunkie.com , which helps them interpret and apply their personality insights. Reading through my own profile, I was fascinated by the accuracy of the reflections and how much they clarified my motivations and sense of...

 It’s a quiet Sunday afternoon at the end of summer, right on the edge of a new academic year. The house is still, everyone including the dog is napping. In the calm, I find myself inspired by the Spirit to sit down and write. I’ll be honest, sometimes it feels hard to hold on to praise. The headlines are heavy, full of war, conflict, and division. The noise of the world makes it easy to get swept up in worry. Lately, I’ve been trying to practice letting go reminding myself that I can’t control everything and choosing instead to create space for Peace. Work has been a reminder of where Hope shows up. These past couple of weeks I’ve been reviewing degree plans for high school seniors who have earned college credit, many of them preparing to graduate with an associate degree while also graduating from high school. I’ve also had the chance to meet incoming freshmen, eager to follow the same path. Seeing their energy, hearing their dreams, and watching them take those first steps giv...

  As a youngster growing up in a vibrant, multigenerational faith community, Sundays felt like gatherings of extended family. My church family was shared with my dentist, my band director, my science teacher along with many active citizens and role models in our town. That close-knit environment helped inspire my own journey of faith. I vividly remember the sixth grade especially the summer I spent at Camp Cho-Yeh in Livingston, Texas. One night, we sang “Here I Am, Lord.” I was flooded with emotion and full-body goosebumps. I knew without a doubt that I was surrounded by the presence of God. That moment marked me and turned on my inner compass Here I am, Again…lifted, forgiven, and wrapped in a mercy I did not earn but deeply need. Time and again, God meets me with grace, steadies me on my feet, and gently sets me back on the path. A few years ago, during a career transition, I returned to teaching part-time while also serving as a full-time academic staff member at a community c...

  Today, we officially set sail from Venice, Italy, embarking on a 7-day journey through the Adriatic aboard the MSC Opera, an Italian-owned cruise line that has clearly refined its process. Everything so far has been seamless and world-class. It's still early, just the first night, so we’ll see how the rest of the week unfolds. As for the food… it’s decent, but not my thing. I’m not a fan of buffets unless it’s a trusted Chinese buffet and I certainly avoid potluck-style dining. That said, I’ve done my best to find a few enjoyable items The dinner options are much more enjoyable with a great formal setting. Our server was from India, and his colleague, who helped as well, was from Honduras. I connected with her in Spanish, drawing from my past years serving in youth missions in her home country through the Episcopal Church. They were our servers throughout the cruise; the continuity was comforting. After dinner, Charles suggested a walk by the pool. I agreed and stopped at the poo...

 I am currently sitting on a private balcony at my hotel in the Hungarian Quarter of Rome, enjoying a glass of wine after over 20 hours of travel. A short power nap and a great local Roman dinner next to the hotel have helped me settle in. Tomorrow, we leave by train for Venice to begin a seven-day cruise through the Adriatic. I’m completely disconnected from media and the internet. After almost two hours trying to connect through the hotel Wi-Fi, I gave up. So, I’m partying like it’s 1999 with a good old Microsoft Word document and spellcheck. I’ll return to this and edit it for my blog when I’m less sleep-deprived. In the distance, I see rain drifting over hills or mountains. The evening is filled with the sounds of gliding birds and a nearby family enjoying their dinner on a multilevel terrace. Back home, I’ll be stepping into some big shoes. A beloved colleague and incredible educator is retiring, and I’ve been asked to carry on her legacy. Before I left, she gave me two gif...

Here on Earth and There In Heaven I am fortunate at my age to have both of my parents and many of my elderly family members still living, but I did experience death frequently early in life. My first conscious experience with grief was when my junior high band director passed away from cancer. He was also a very active member of my childhood faith community, which was a double sting. Then, less than a year later, my uncle—whom I am named after—died after a battle with bladder cancer. Both of these losses created huge voids for me to work through at a young age. My next major loss was the death of my cousin, Chesley. I was closer to him than I was to my own brother, and he and I were pretty much raised together in a close-knit family where our families co-parented, and we spent almost every weekend together with sleepovers. This was the loss that hit me the hardest and changed my perspective on life and death. I wrote a reflective poem and read it at his funeral. Next, I watched two clo...