Category: Faith
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Living Up to a Surprising Family Legacy
I have an impressive role model. Seven years ago today, I spent the day in New Castle, Indiana, paging through musty books, peering at microfilm newspaper articles, and digging through gigantic, bound court record books. My son Ted Shideler and I were just starting my second Lilly Teacher Creativity Fellowship Award project. For the past…
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Reconstruction Diary Meditations: Drawing Back a Veil
Sunday, May 27, 1866 Lizzie and I went to meeting to Elmgrove. Isaac Trueblood and his daughters Miriam & Mary were there. Meeting was small. In the afternoon Milton, Lizzie & Ella Hubbard went up to a spiritual meeting at Greensboro. The speaker was Mrs. Mitchell. They enjoyed it pretty well [and] stopped at Bales’s…
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A Way Home
Ashesmore like sand in a plastic box inside a cardboard cartonwith his name printedon the label.That’s all.Ninety minutes of brake! andaccelerate!on the four-lane,again at the four-ways and traffic lightson the snakingdetours.I watch my estimatedarrival timetick past the appointment time and inchtoward the 4:00 closing time. I call,shouting into the car speakerthat I’ll be late. She…
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Guest Post: “What Good” by Sally Shideler
Earlier this month, my husband, Jerry Miller, passed away unexpectedly. In the ensuing chaos, confusion, and grief, I’m turning over my blog space this week to a guest post. Please enjoy the poem “What Good,” by my daughter, Sally Shideler, as she processes the loss of her stepfather and second dad: What good isa handmade…
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Taking a Risk – Putting Faith into Action
How often do we see faith in action like this today? “Sunday, March 25, 1866 Another Sabbath has passed away…This afternoon [I] attended [the] Baptist meeting, but it proved to be mostly a business meeting. They are raising money to buy a lot and build a church as they will most likely be deprived of…
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Wrapped in a blanket of Quaker faith
The crickets weren’t chirping. The birds huddling in the trees didn’t sing. No roosters crowed, and no soft breezes wafted through the open doorway.
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Finding Silence: A Quaker’s Refuge in a Catholic Adoration Chapel
I’m not Catholic. But I’ve come to appreciate several elements of Catholicism. With the closest unprogrammed–or silent–Quaker meeting about 30 minutes away, sometimes I need a dose of Catholicism, or at least my version. Unprogrammed Friends meetings near me are hard to find these days. I know of only two within an hour’s drive. To…
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The Untier of Knots
Oh, Mary, Undoer of Knots, Heavenly Mother of us all, counsel me. Share with me your maternal and holy wisdom. Help me discern the tools I need to pull apart this tangled mess: The watchmaker’s loupe to closely examine the damage to such intricate workings. The dressmaker’s pin that gently teases apart threads so delicately,…
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Lessons from a grassy walk
Dusky, dark blue sky hovers over the wide, tree-edged lawns. Brown, dusty fields fade into the horizon. Honking geese drown out distant city traffic as they fly in packs southward, from where I came. Abbey bells peal across the way, calling the monks to prayer. I step from concrete onto the short-trimmed grass path. It…
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Searching, again
“Who are you?” an elderly woman demands as she peers up into my face. I have never met her. A middle-aged man shrugs apologetically, “I should know you, but I forget your name.” I’ve never met him, either. Barely making eye contact, a young person nods at me and shoves a folded paper my way,…
