Prairie Daydreams

  The Art of Gift Giving The Holiday Season is a stressful time.   It seems that we rush from here to there with a seemingly endless checklists of parties and social obligations, fun activities and once a year charitable service.   There’s baking and decorating and caroling.   And presents to wrap.   And the shopping. The never ending, soul draining shopping. Forget whatever else they tell you, it was the shopping that drove the Grinch to hide in that cave.   Thanks to the constant artillery shelling of commercials that equate love with the amount and price tag of gifts, people often shop themselves into exhaustion and debt.   Surely, that it what our loved ones want? Right?   A shiny new present to show how much we care.   Isn’t that what gift giving is all about? The truth is there is a true art to gift giving that has little to do with the amount spent on the gift.   Or not spent for that matter.   To be a truly great gift gi...

We are often counseled to be patient.  To trust the Lord and His timing and to know that promised blessing will come, if not now, then eventually.  What we often don’t hear, I think because of our own willfulness, is that there will be times that the blessings we receive aren’t the blessings we want.  Even harder than waiting, is letting go and remembering that despite all of our planning and wishing and hoping, the Lord quite possibly, probably, definitely knows things we don’t and a little faith may be in order.  Even though I have heard people talk about plans changing and detours in life, it has taken me almost thirty-four years to understand the value of unwanted blessings. I did not come to Kansas willingly.   I won’t say I came kicking and screaming.   Angry, bitter, hurt, and figuratively under the threat of death would be closer to the truth.   From the day I arrived, I started counting down the days until I could leave.   Not even two ...

In many ways, I had an amazing life growing up.  I saw different places, met people from a wide variety of backgrounds, and had many unique and incredible experiences and adventures.  My parents provided us with a lot of opportunities and there are great memories of our time together as a family.  I also have memories of stress, of anger, of fear.  Most of my life was mixed between these two states and then something happened that caused our family to break and my parents divorced.  The divorce was a good thing, especially for my mom. But, that final breaking point left me very hurt and very angry because of what occurred and I didn’t really know how to heal or move on.  Unfortunately, I also took these patterns with me into my married life and this cycle continued.  I knew something was missing, something that I couldn’t find, but desperately wanted and needed.  I found the answer almost a year and half ago from a wonderful church leader while di...

  Circling the wagons is an Old West cliché and a historical fact.   Wagon trains would “circle the wagons” around the campfire for protection at night.   Today, the phrase is used anytime a group comes together to defend or protect each other.   There were four of us growing up.   We grew up away from extended family or steady connections.   We were Army Brats and that was fine.   Growing up like that though, you learn to depend on each other in a different way.   You circle your wagons.   We did it often and there were times that we survived because we came together and supported each other.   Life was better, the family was stronger.   As adults, we continue to circle our wagons and support each other as much as we can.   Of course, we’ve added family members since then, a sibling, spouses, and children, but that’s the great thing about circles, they grow. As a teen, the best friends I had where those who came together...

Roads are a common theme or symbol in stories and poetry, a simple way to convey a journey, especially through life and the choices that must be made along the way.  Two famous examples of this are Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and JRR Tolkien’s “Roads Go Ever On.” While the messages of each are slightly different, the basic meaning is the same.  Each traveler chooses their path, and by doing so, their life.  Similarly, in cartoons or adventure movies, the hero approaching the dangerous cave will be bombarded by warning signs along the path.   “Danger!” “Turn Back!” “Quick Sand Ahead” “Falling Rocks” Each hero also has well meaning friends and companions who try to help and give advice as well as enemies who will try to derail the journey.   The hero in every case has a decision to make before continuing down the road.   Will they prepare properly?   Turn back? Or take a really dumb chance?   Going on could result in injury or even death. ...

  Waking Up From History (Lyrics are from “Right Here, Right Now” by Jesus Jones) I was alive and I waited, waited I was alive and I waited for this Right here, right now If you ask anyone, any generation, for a memory, a historical event that shaped them, molded their experiences or defined their youth, you will get almost immediate answers and often they will be very similar.   My mom for instance will mention the moon landing first.   But she also talks about the Kennedy assassination, the Beatles, and Vietnam.   I asked my son, who still has a lot of life left to live, what he felt was important, prior to the Covid pandemic, and he mentioned the election of Obama.   How these events affected the world, their world, may vary, but they did.   A woman on the radio talks about revolution When it’s already passed her by Bob Dylan didn’t have this to sing about You know it feels good to be alive The first major historical event I remember is...