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Debra Rienstra

silly

Summer Camps I’d Like to See

Next week I send my highschooler to jazz camp, the first of three different music camps he’ll be attending this summer. When I was growing up, our camp options were far more limited than the proliferation now available. I remember music camp (which I did…
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June 13, 2015
memoirreview

Teaching Us To Number Our Days Aright

“There are no good choices.” I remember saying that to my mother three years ago when we hit the first major decision point in what would become a long sequence of no-win decisions. My father had fallen again, crossing undeniably over the threshold to dependence.…
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May 15, 2015
liturgical yearspirituality

I’m Done with Broken

During Lent, I expect to hear about sin and suffering, but I’m starting to get tired of the word “broken.” Also “brokenness,” “broken world,” “broken people,” and “messy, broken world/people.” Overused words descend into cliché, and I think we might be approaching that territory here.…
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March 6, 2015
Michigannaturespirituality

At the Mineralogical Museum

“I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.” — Ezekiel 11:19 Hardness has advantages. I think of this today here in Michigan, where the temperatures have been so cold that snow absolutely crackles when car tires push…
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February 20, 2015
artsmemoir

Filling Out the Questionnaire at the Dance Studio

Congratulations on starting dance lessons! Dance students gain many benefits through becoming better dancers. In order to assist your specialist teacher in personalizing your foundation and future programs, please let us know the five most important benefits you wish to receive through your dance lessons,…
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February 6, 2015
silly

OT/NT Entertainment Group, Inc.

I’ve been thinking about the complexity of modern communications and entertainment and the very long distance between the Ancient Near Eastern world of the Bible and life in a mass media culture. That led me to wonder what would happen if a bunch of biblical…
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January 23, 2015
memoirMichigannature

Snow Day

Six-thirty a.m. Dark. No sound save the wind’s distant crescendos and calms. No traffic sounds. Slip out of bed to check the internet for closings: could it be? Oh, snow day! A peek outside: streetlamp light illuminates the snow, still blowing horizontally, at least eight…
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January 9, 2015