HILLSVILLE  PRESBYTERIAN

A participant’s face visibly winced. The seminar was one of those change-your-life-for-the-better through “coaching” and other forms of manipulation deals. He had just been informed that he was living in ways that indicated a five-year-old version of himself was in the driver’s seat. Ouch. No one wants to think that an inexperienced, immature child is in control of the steering wheel of one’s life. Nevertheless, that all we humans are driven cannot be disputed. Rick Warren ha

Seasons change. The planet spins. Outdoor temperatures drop. Light diminishes. And for many humans a sadness slides in sideways from somewhere and sticks like thick goo in the invisible core of their being. It’s winter. The chill in the air and the dark in the sky are not warmly welcomed by all. The happy humming of summer has faded as memories do. The plucky pace of fall has waned as aging energy is wont to do. Nature shifts gears and the humans who share its life follow sui

The Words of Pastor, Rebecca Taylor An advertisement for a vehicle manufacturing company promises “an elevated driving experience.” What does that mean? We’ve probably all seen trucks that have been jacked up, rolling along on ginormous tires… but that’s probably not what the vehicle company means by its promise. The word elevated  is not to be taken literally but rather figuratively, evoking emotions of loftiness, superiority, euphoria. Isn’t that ultimately what all adverti

The vast majority of us enjoy the gift of speech. Even those who speak with their hands delight in the connection communication affords us. Some of us talk a lot while others of us are more conservative with our words. Some people seldom stop talking, even when others are trying to say something. But filling the air with the sound of one’s voice isn’t the same thing as having something to say. Some people talk because they are uncomfortable with silence. Some people talk beca

The expression, “That’s the way the cookie crumbles,” rings with a note of sorrow, doesn’t it? We had that delicious chocolate chip cookie in our hands one moment and it fell apart all over the floor the next. Do we exercise the five second rule and scoop up the pieces or accept the loss and toss those ill-fated crumbles? Of course, once the cookie crumbles there’s no way to put it back together again. Not a one of us would think of placing a platter full of broken cookies on

Many decades ago, when I was in high school, I had a calendar hanging in my room that was filled with brightly colored illustrations and short little quips and quotations. One I remember to this day was in the form of a question: Do you know the secret to a long life?  The answer, cleverly printed upside down at the bottom of the calendar page was: Keep breathing! But of course. That’s all there is to it! Not ! Sure, breathing is essential for the functioning of this contrapt

We can’t help ourselves. We do it whether we want to or not. We compare ourselves to others of our kind. We usually do so with more than a drop of envy. As we elevate the other person to some sort of standard we think we should reach, we reduce ourselves to an inferior status. Our one unique and marvelously crafted self squelched. Wouldn’t we be better off if we could chop our tendency to compare out of our internal wiring? Many would say yes. We might accept and even love ou

You are presented with a choice. Let’s say your spouse wants to go out to eat, and they offer you the options of three different restaurants. Your response could simply be, “Suit yourself.” Now, that could seem like you are avoiding making a choice or that you are trying to keep the peace with your spouse or that you are expressing the fact that you really don’t care where you eat because you just want to eat. But at the heart of your response is permission for your spouse to

What a crazy language we have! The words at the beginning and the end of this title are spelled the same but are pronounced differently....

Call it determination. Or grit. Or even gumption. Fortitude. Willpower. There are more than a few words we use to describe commitment....

A friend calls late in the evening and out of the blue. That’s irritating enough but then the friend asks for a huge favor for the very...

Yard art has exploded with witches, ghosts, skeletons, gravestones, spiders’ webs, monsters, bats, and the like. Horror movie promotions...

Many people spend gobs of energy and globs of resources and blobs of time trying to get in shape or stay in shape or rearrange the shape...

Most if not all of us like to figure things out. Put the pieces of the puzzle together. Trace the logical path life should travel. Craft...

It’s a response that can save an endangered person’s life. It’s a technique well worth learning. It’s a relatively simple action that...

Years ago when I was younger and spent more time hanging out with teenagers, I rustled up a bunch of them and hauled them to a ski resort...

If we’ve been around at least a decade or so on this good earth, we know what it’s like to have our plans unravel and our projects fall...

Okay, let’s play for a bit, shall we? We all know what or who rubs us the wrong way, don’t we? We are well aware of the friction we feel...

Perhaps it is so as it was scripted for the opening of the iconic television series Star Trek … that space is the final frontier. This...

It doesn’t happen all that often but when it does, it’s an expansive experience. Sure, sometimes we’d prefer not to expand… or to be...