HILLSVILLE  PRESBYTERIAN

Work. We all do it. A lot of what we call work is for pay. Yes, good old employment. But much of what we do every day in life is work too. Labor. Effort. Expenditure of energy. Some of the work we do is necessary for our lives perking along on track. Think about preparing meals or even going out to go to a restaurant to eat a meal someone else prepares. It takes effort. This time of year, many of us are absorbed with the work of getting our taxes done so we can stay in the go

How-to guidance. It’s everywhere. It’s published in books. It’s slathered all over the internet. Friends dish it out. Family members offer it unsolicited. As if we should always be improving. Today we should  be a better version of ourselves than yesterday. Really? That’s tough word, should . Many of us bristle when we hear it. Most of us duck when it’s launched in our direction. We don’t like being told what to do. And we really react to someone else giving us advice on how

There’s a difference, isn’t there? Think for a moment about what others see of you. We cannot control how people interpret what they see of us, but we can manage how much others have opportunity to see of us. And based on what other people see of us, they may or may not believe that they know us. It’s a curious facet of human life, isn’t it? We all know people who “keep their cards close to their chest,” an expression borrowed from poker. Maybe you are one of those people. Gu

It’s a very good place to start, the beginning (or so sang Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music )! We’ve gotten a new calendar (if we’re the type to keep a paper one around), one that bears the numbers 2026, and we’re off to the races! A new year! For many of us, a fresh start! We might begin a new exercise routine or a novel dieting regime. Maybe we take on a remodeling project in our home or condo or resolve to shed ourselves of some of the clutter that lurks at the back of

There are all kinds of ruptures in life, aren’t there? To name a few, there are disruptions and interruptions, and even a few eruptions. Most of these “rups” are bumps in the road we’d prefer to avoid. Many of us long for an uninterrupted stretch of time to read or write or reflect or sleep or take care of personal business, especially this time of year… but often that kind of time is hard to come by. Most of us yearn for a life free from disruption, but that’s just not possi

Fallout. It happens. After a bitter argument between siblings, spouses, friends, coworkers, it’s there. Following a rash decision that leads to financial ruin, it’s there. On the heels of betrayed trust or discovered infidelity, it’s there. Like the ashes in the fireplace once the wood has burned, it’s what is left behind. Fallout happens without fail. The outcomes of our words and actions need not be harmful, however. What remains after we say or do something can be impactfu

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

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