Marilyngardner5

LATEST ARTICLES ( 1127 )

• On Launching Our Children

  

  Children are characters in the family story we tell - until, one day, they start telling it themselves. Rachel Cusk For a month I have wanted to write a... Read more

  Posted on 21 September 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• On Paying Attention

  

  It's a late summer evening as I walk down the hill toward Boston Harbor. Jupiter is shining high in the sky, as bright as the street lamp in front of me, yet... Read more

  Posted on 14 September 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Big Questions

  

  In March of this year I happened on an opinion piece in the New York Times titled "The Empty Religions of Instagram." The subtitle was telling "How did... Read more

  Posted on 02 September 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Before the Crisis, There Was a Crisis

  

  South Lebanon January 2016 working with Syrian Refugees Afghanistan. The land that has mystified and defeated would-be colonizers and conquerers for centuries,... Read more

  Posted on 31 August 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Fragility of Goodness – Part 2

  

  From my window seat, I look out on bright red geraniums and a bird feeder that brings different types of birds from all over the neighborhood into my yard. A re... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• A Prayer for Monday Morning

  

  The rain has been falling steadily since I woke on this grey Monday morning. The worries of the day fall steadily beside the rain. Neither lets up. The sound... Read more

  Posted on 12 July 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• A Childhood Erased

  

  In June, the boarding school in Pakistan where I spent my childhood is closing its doors. No longer will children respond to the gong of a bell that goes off fo... Read more

  Posted on 31 May 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Pre-Paschal Reflections – Resurrection Hope

  

  Chora Church, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Every year I sit down a couple of ours before our Pascha celebration and I write reflections. The house is... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Pillars – How Muslim Friends Led Me Closer to Jesus

  

  "I have waited for a book like Pillars all my adult life, a personal book that discovers similarities andhonors differences between Christianity and Islam, a... Read more

  Posted on 06 April 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• A Global Pandemic & Ambiguous Loss

  

  In 1999, researcher Pauline Boss, introduced the concept of ambiguous loss with these words: " In the world of unresolved grief, there is a unique kind of... Read more

  Posted on 26 March 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• And Lent Begins

  

  Lent begins. It begins with minus degree weather and sore legs from prostrations. It begins with personal pain and so much unknown. It begins with a stomach... Read more

  Posted on 23 March 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• International Women’s Day Thoughts on Justice

  

  It is International Women's Day and I pause as I think about the different women in my life who have shaped me, who have helped me grow in areas that I... Read more

  Posted on 08 March 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Sudden Storms

  

  Earlier this week there was a high wind advisory in our area. It was well warranted. The winds raged from 44 to 50 miles an hour and shook everything around.... Read more

  Posted on 05 March 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Hope That Kills You

  

  Picture Credit - NPR Note - Spoiler Alert I just finished watching the Apple TV show, Ted Lasso. For the uninitiated, this show is about an American football... Read more

  Posted on 26 February 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Longing for Permanence

  

  "The shifts of time unearth our longing for a permanent residence, unshakeable, immovable, wholly given and wholly ours. Scattered across this great globe, now... Read more

  Posted on 18 February 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• When Siblings Rescue

  

  During my junior year of high school I took Physics. Knowing that I wanted to be a nurse, I poured through the catalog of the school that I wanted to attend... Read more

  Posted on 15 February 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Disturbing Stories and Bearing Witness

  

  For the dead and the living, we must bear witness. Eli Weisel When we hear people's stories, when we are present through listening to events in their lives, w... Read more

  Posted on 05 February 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Grace-filled Snow

  

  A soft snow fell over night, blanketing our city with white grace. I woke up to grace still falling - huge flakes floating effortlessly from a grey sky. A... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• Therapy in a Hair Salon

  

  I feel something oddly comforting as I walk into the hair salon. It smells of conditioner and peroxide, of hair color and shampoo. Everything is black,... Read more

  Posted on 22 January 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION

• The Fragility of Goodness

  

  I have been thinking a lot about "goodness" lately - that word that speaks to the quality of being kind, virtuous, morally good. What does it mean to grow into... Read more

  Posted on 10 January 2021 RELIGION, SELF EXPRESSION