What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal.~Albert Pike I recently retired from twenty-three fulfilling years as a classroom teacher. One of the treasures from my classroom is a little wooden apple painted with the saying “To teach is to touch a life forever.” Throughout my career, I thought a great deal about the idea...

Jumping at several small opportunities may get us there more quickly than waiting for one big one to come along.~Hugh Allen Like most teenagers, I felt I would be ready spread my wings and be on my own as soon as I graduated high school. My life would be so much different than my mom’s. She was already married and had me to take care of when she got her high school diploma. I was sure attendi...

I do not at all understand the mystery of grace — only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us.~Anne Lamott “I should be studying for mid-terms,” I thought, “not lying here in bed.” But my mystery illness forced me to return home from college mid-semester, and now I had to wait for a referral to a specialist, one who was booked until the end of the month. I had be...

The best thing to hold onto in life is each other.~Audrey Hepburn Do you believe a single yellow rose can change someone’s life? I do. On a cold November night, I flew into the Denver International Airport after spending a week in my hometown. I always knew I’d go home again someday, but I just had not been ready. It was the place where Richard and I grew up. We had met in first grade, started...

It is impossible to keep a straight face in the presence of one or more kittens.~Cynthia E. Varnado One steamy July afternoon in central Arkansas, I was working on an important project in my home office with a dear friend and colleague. My trusty printer was churning out a time-sensitive report when it simply stopped. After fifteen minutes of trying to coax, cajole and tickle the device back ...