Maya Angelou, a writer, actress, and activist whose creative works echo with themes of grace and faith, will soon have her image engraved on the U.S. quarter -- the first time a black woman has earned the honor. Angelou's arms are outstretched on the coins, with both a bird in flight and a rising sun depicted behind her to commemorate her poetry. The U.S. Mint is releasing the quarters this month.
Read MoreFor most of us, "fish" and "car" are words that we rarely bring together in a single sentence. But for researchers in Israel, goldfish and mini goldfish cars are introducing a whole new way of conceptualizing the intelligence of fish.
Yes, you read that correctly: mini goldfish cars. Or, to use their new technical term: Fish Operated Vehicles -- better known as FOVs.
Read MoreImagine you are lying quietly in a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine, listening to a woman recite lines from the children's book The Little Prince on headphones as the MRI thumps gently around your head, measuring your brain activity: "It is only in the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye," the voice says softly in Spanish, then in Hungarian. Then the voice calmly recites a series of nonsense words.
Read MoreSweetgreen, a chain restaurant headquartered in Los Angeles, is kicking off the new year with a new kind of offer: Starting this week, the chain is selling a "salad subscription" called a Sweetpass that offers members as much as 30% off each purchase.
Read MoreWhen Scotland's national poet laureate Robert Burns sent the poem "Auld Lang Syne" to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788, he acknowledged that it was a song that had been used by the Scottish church for the previous 600 years as a funeral oration, but that he had been the first to record the verses on paper. For Burns, the words inspired a fire in his soul as singers toast friends and years gone by. But why do Americans cling to this tune sometimes deemed "the most famous song that nobody knows" each New Year's Eve?
Read MoreAs you enjoy these final days before Christmas morn, take a moment to ponder these words from Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Tennyson wrote this poem in 1850, the year he was named Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, and his lines resonate with both the joy of Christmas and the mourning of challenges better left in the past -- so fitting as we bid farewell to another pandemic year:
Read MoreCologne Cathedral is a stunning 7th-century Catholic church whose flying buttresses and multiple renovations have been a centerpoint of German nationhood for centuries. In 1670, a Cologne choirmaster offered white candy sticks to the younger children in his choir to keep them quiet during a live Nativity ceremony. When church elders protested the indecency of candy in church, the choirmaster bent the sticks into shepherds' crooks to align with the play.
Read MoreChrist promises us a supernatural peace that surpasses anything we may encounter here on earth: the pain, the disappointment, the longing, the irritants, the fleeting moments of happiness. What does it mean to live a peace-filled life despite the confusion that surrounds us? As we move through this second week of Advent, how does peace define your mission and your moments?
Read MoreAs we prayerfully meditate on Holy Spirit-inspired hope in this first week of Advent, consider these lines from Alexander Pope's 1733 poem "An Essay on Man":
Read MoreThe Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade started in 1924 when employees of the New York City flagship store marched to Herald Square in flashy costumes. They borrowed live animals from the Central Park Zoo and professional bands, and the parade culminated with a greeting from Santa Claus on the Macy's balcony at the 34th Street entrance.
Read MoreIn a moment of grade school frustration, one of my kids once said to me, "But how can I think outside the box when I can't even see the box??" Ah, the wisdom. Here is where a unique combination of biblical grounding, prayer, and Christian community come into play:
Read MoreIn contemporary English, Burns writes the following to the mouse whose home he has just unearthed: "But mouse-friend, you are not alone / in proving foresight may be vain: / the best-laid schemes of Mice and Men / go oft awry, / leaving us only grief and pain, / for promised joy!" In other words, we plan and worry, so often forgetting that God is in control.
Read MoreLast week, more than 2,000 sheep with jangling bells and shepherds dressed in traditional Spanish clothing replaced the usual gridlocked traffic in downtown Madrid. In a ceremony known as the Fiesta de la Trashumancia, shepherds guided their sheep to the capital for a ceremonial payment, then on to more southerly pastures for winter grazing.
Read MoreAs we close out October and move into November, consider the wisdom in this 2020 poem by former Oregon poet laureate Kim Stafford: “ Home School Thoughts for All of Us:”- In the pandemic, what should we all be learning?
Read MoreFor Big Band crooner Tony Bennett, age and even an Alzheimer's diagnosis have done little to slow his zest for life. Earlier this month, the Grammy Award winner set a Guinness World Record for being the oldest person to release an album of new material. When he released Love for Sale on October 1, Bennet clocked in at 95 years and 60 days -- hurrah!
Read MoreFor generations, the second Monday in October has been known as Columbus Day -- until this week in Oregon. The Oregon legislature approved renaming the day Indigenous Peoples Day by a generous margin, and Oregon is now the 13th state to make the transition. For details, look here: Oregon Recognizes Indigenous People Day; Tribes See Hope.
Read MoreWould you rather lead a calm or exciting life? In a 2020 Gallup poll released last Thursday and conducted in partnership with the Wellbeing for Planet Earth (WPE) Foundation, the verdict is clear: 72% of adults around the world say they would prefer to slow down and enjoy the moment rather than live life on the edge.
Read MoreIn his book Abba's Child, Brennan Manning describes the "unlived life" as a dispassionate vacuity of listless attitudes, an ambivalent mind, buried hopes, and unused talents. People waste years regretting steps not taken and dreams unfulfilled, and their mistrust of God and of the world holds them locked in passive reactions to each new day: "They die before they ever learn to live," Manning writes.
Read MoreWe started breaking records in April 2021, and the highs keep climbing higher: Nearly 4 million people in the United States have quit their jobs each month since April, a quitting trend unlike any we have seen since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking this data. Experts are using phrases like "The Great Resign" and "Turnover Shock," and academics have even introduced a new branch of writing deemed "Quit Lit" ("lit" = literature).
Read MorePicture a grassy hillside dotted with black and white cows, peacefully grazing as the sun stripes the landscape. For most of us, scenes like this help us to slow down and marvel at the beauty of God's creation. But for those of us who have lived the rural life, we know this bucolic scene won't smell as lovely as it looks.
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