HILLSVILLE  PRESBYTERIAN

It’s not always easy for us to trust. If we’ve circled the sun more than a decade or two, it’s highly likely that we’ve been lied to, betrayed, tricked, led astray, and rejected by someone for something. Ouch. The realities of being human among others of our kind! We want to be connected. We need to be in relationship. We are not wired to exist entirely independently of others. And when we are at our best, we believe it is a blessed thing to trust. Yet the more often our trus

Medical appointments. We have them. Some of us have them with much more frequency than others. Many of us have them with multiple medical professionals. Most of us aren’t thrilled when they roll around. That may or may not be because of the quality of care we receive. It’s more likely to be because of the condition we’re in. But it’s important so we do it. We keep the appointments with the numerous medical providers. We know we need these checkups. So we go. We check in. And

We’ve seen them at work on playgrounds: the fulcrum. It’s what makes it possible for a seesaw (or teeter-totter) to pivot from one side to the other. If a person were to attempt to stand in the center, on top of the fulcrum, it would require tremendous balance and strength not to tip to one side or the other. This is not a recommended activity, by the way… just imagine it. Not to sound too much like Forrest Gump, but life is like standing on the fulcrum. If we think of a teet

We’ve all misplaced something. We know what it’s like to go hunting for our keys or our cell phone or our favorite pair of shoes hiding somewhere in the back of the closet. We remember having our hands on whatever has gone missing, but we just can’t recall where we turned loose of it. There’s another reality we might have experienced: losing something that we don’t remember personally putting anywhere. Someone I know claims there is a secret opening in her dresser drawer to a

Do we ever look at another person’s body and wish it were our own? Probably. The tendency to compare is strong in us. Maybe we wish we were thinner, taller, shapelier, stronger, stunningly attractive, more limber, or younger. We might feel as though we lug our bodies out of bed and tug at them all day long with little awareness of all they do for us and absolutely zero gratitude for the marvel they are. After all, in our minds, they malfunction. They betray us. They gross us

We say it more often than we realize. It all depends on the weather. It all depends on my schedule. It all depends on what the kids have going on. It all depends on how I’m feeling. It all depends on whether the flight is on time. It all depends… Life is filled with contingencies. We humans living life prefer certainties. Sometimes that feeling of not being able to control everything all the time eats at us, frustrates us, drives us crazy, discourages us, humbles us. But ther

There are probably a gabillion answers to that question, are there not? A bag of bones. Somebody’s child. A rabid sports fan. A bestie. The boss of someone. A role model. A speck on the planet. A thorn in somebody’s side. The life of the party. Flesh and blood. That’s just a starting point because there are thousands of descriptive words with which we can be tagged. But if we were to drill down to the absolute essence of ourselves, what exactly are we? We humans love our dich

Who in the world first looked at a kiwi and decided to eat it? Some people even leave that fuzzy brown skin on and eat it too! It’s remarkable the things we put in our mouths. Locusts. Bubblegum. Jalapeno peppers. Squid. Cotton candy. Pork rinds. Kelp. Frog legs. The list could go on and on of bizarre looking foods! And then we could create a list of scary things children have put in their mouths! Paperclips. Bottle caps. Dirt. Pet food. Toys. Socks. Not to mention their toes

We’ve all heard those chicken-crossing-the-road jokes, haven’t we? But here’s something to ponder: why does a human cross a road? Of course, it’s to get to the other side… but what draws a human being from one place to another? What compels that step out of safety and off the curb? We might think of some very practical, mundane reasons: that’s where the mailbox is, a neighbor called for help, conveniently there’s a convenience store there, the wind carried the trashcan across

Does the “evil eye” come our way when the “evil I” comes out to play? We’ve all been its recipient. As children, we stayed too long at a friend’s house and disobeyed a parent’s expectation that we be home before dark. As teens, we defied the speed limit as we raced friends down an off-the-beaten-path country road believing there were no officers on patrol. As young adults, we intended to be faithful in a committed relationship but the tug of attraction to another was too stro

What would life be like without imagination? As we slide ever further down the road of artificial intelligence, some of us are wondering whether we will eventually lose the capacity to imagine. To dream. To create. To be stopped in our tracks by something that causes us to pause in awe. Perhaps using ChatGPT stimulates our sense of wonder. And maybe not. For some of us it is a world behind a door we choose not to open. Generative pre-trained transformers. Fifteen years ago, c

The long haul. We’re in it for some people or for certain causes. Statistics indicate that the divorce rate in the United States has been creeping downward, but still slightly more than two marriages in every one thousand end in divorce. The phrase in the traditional vows, “’til death do us part,” seems outdated in these contractual relationships that have changed significantly in recent years. But, of course, marriage is just one example of our human commitments that may or

Who gets to say when enough is enough? Who has the right to draw the line that communicates stop   right   here ? We humans have a good bit of freedom to exercise our agency both individually and collectively. But sometimes it seems that there are forces beyond our control at work in the world that impact us in detrimental ways. Be they environmental or economic, governmental or otherwise, they have a negative effect on our daily lives and we may feel helpless. We long for so

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