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When I was young, I spent many years volunteering at a Navajo Indian Mission in New Mexico. It was one of the happiest and most rewarding times of my life. At times it was also frustrating and heart breaking. The missionaries were good people but after 20 years they still struggled with the Navajo language and culture. They were becoming tired and burned out. Everyone is familiar with the "mission barrels." Well-meaning people all over the world send used clothing and...
I saw my neighbor, Rose, walking to her mailbox and hurried to catch up with her. Rose and I were "friendly" but not "friends." We didn't visit each other but we'd talk a few minutes if we met at the mailbox. "Hi, Rose. I haven't seen you for a while. How are you?" I asked. When you ask people how they are, they usually say, "I'm fine." Except that isn't what she said. "My hair is getting thin. My eyes are bad, and I need new glasses but I can't afford them. My hearing is gett...
I make a lot of lists to remind myself of things I need to do. I make grocery lists and more often than not I leave them on my kitchen table. I go to the store without them and forget to pick up a few things. Then I have to make a second trip later in the week to get salt or butter or onions that I forgot. When I get a new calendar I go through it month by month and circle the dates of the birthdays of my family and friends. They are important to me. My friends would survive...
I have a very bad habit of living in the past; remembering when my children were little, which was the happiest time of my life. I wish I could turn the clock back and live those happy days again. I need to stop looking back. There is a saying: "Even God can not change the past. I have thought about the Bible story about Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt in Genesis 19:15–26. God had sent angels to lead Lot and his family out of Sodom and Gomorrah because the c...
Recently Roger, a man I'd only known a short time, told me his father had passed away and he needed to go through his father's things and empty the house so he could sell it. He'd been living in a different state and hadn't seen his father in years, his mother had died years ago and he was an only child, the last of the family. He had no one to help him. I told him I'd be happy to help him sort through his father's things and pack up the photos and important keepsakes. I had...
One of my favorite poems was written in 1916 by Robert Frost. Most people are familiar with a couple of lines from the poem: "Two roads diverged in the wood, and I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference." We all look back over our lives at the choices we made and see how we ended up where we are now. We've all made good and bad choices that caused things to happen or not happen: Why did we take that job? Why did we move to that place? Why did we...
Gah was a small rabbit-in fact, the smallest in his family of twelve. While the rest of the family hopped all over the forest, Gah stayed close to the huge oak tree where he was born in a cozy hole under a root. Before Gah's mother and sisters and brothers hopped down to the creek to eat the tender clover that grew at the edge of the water, his mother warned him not to stray far away because the world was a dangerous place for a small rabbit. Gah nibbled some plants and looked...
By Crying Wind Gah was born in the spring, and being a rabbit, he had dozens of brothers and sisters. He spent the warm days hopping around, eating tender green clover that grew next to the lake and racing home to his safe home under the blackberry bushes. Life was perfect, and Gah never expected it to change. By the time Summer arrived, Gah saw his brothers and sisters leave the grassy meadow and find new homes deeper in the forest. He missed them but decided to stay where...
Flowers are one of the special gifts God gave us. Flowers adorn our births, weddings, anniversaries, and our deaths. Flowers speak for us when we can't find the words to say, "I love you," "I'm Sorry," "Goodbye." Every Indian tribe has legends about flowers. Besides being beautiful, many flowers were used for ceremonies, healing, medicine and food. I've always loved the flower called Indian Paint Brush. Its red petals are one of the first to bloom in the spring and last until...
Sometimes when I'm struggling and everything seems to go wrong and I'm feeling sorry for myself, I compare myself to Job, in the Bible. OK, I don't have boils and my sheep and cattle didn't die and the house didn't collapse on my family, but still, sometimes I feel life isn't fair and God is picking on me. I've even told people at times I feel like God's undeserving stepchild. I know God is merciful and generous and forgiving-and He's given me more good things than I ever...
An old Cherokee legend tells the story of how what we want isn't always what is best for us. A long time ago, all the animals lived together in peace. Since they all lived in peace, they didn't need any weapons to defend themselves so the animals didn't have antlers or horns or sharp fangs or sharp claws. They ate grass and leaves and nuts and berries. One day the animals were talking about who could run the fastest and they agreed whoever could jump over logs and rocks would...
I'm glad 2018 is over. It was one of the worst years of my life, it wasn't the worst, but it was in the top five list of worst years. My family went through a lot of unexpected illness and disappointments. My son said there were days when he felt like he was a nail and everyone else in the world was holding a hammer. I've been happy to see a new year arrive and I hope it is a happier, healthier, and better year than 2018 was. I guess it is just a date on a calendar, but...
I was in a junk store a few years ago, it's one of my favorite places to shop. I like used books, and sometimes I find an odd cup or old plate that catches my fancy. Everything in the store has been donated or thrown away by someone who no longer wanted it. I saw a small antique doll that had a rough life. The doll's dress was faded and torn and it was missing a leg. It was only a quarter and I felt sorry for it and decided to buy it, when I got to the checkout stand the clerk...
"Life isn't fair!" Tayanita, Young Beaver complained. "I work all day gnawing down trees and building dams while the other animals in the forest do nothing but eat and sleep. How I wish I had nothing to do but nibble on tender twigs and sleep in the warm sun." Young Beaver was convinced no one in the forest worked as hard as he did. From sun up to sun down and sometimes after dark, he gnawed down small trees and dragged them into the stream. He weaved them together, using his...
Lately I've realized all the people I knew when I was young have long since passed away. As a child, I had no idea these "old" people around me had lived rich, exciting, even dangerous and heroic lives. When I was with them they talked about their health or their gardens or what they had for lunch, and as a child, I didn't know that if I would ask the right question I could unlock a treasure chest of stories that only they could tell. When they died, their stories died with...
I saw the moving van parked in front of the house across the street and knew it wasn’t a good sign. Molly had lived in that house 50 years until she became ill and her family placed her in a nursing home. The moving van meant she wasn’t coming home. I walked across the street to talk to her son, Fred. We’d only met a couple of times, but he’d seemed like a nice person. I asked him how Molly was doing, and I already dreaded the answer. “Mom doesn’t have much time left,” he said...
Legends about Big Foot or Sasquatch have been around for hundreds of years. If you mention Big Foot, everyone immediately knows who or what you are talking about. Most people don't believe in leprechauns or fairies, but if you mention Big Foot, they don't seem as sure. If you ask people if they believe in mermaids they'll say no, if you ask them if they believe in Big Foot they'll say "Well, not exactly but if we had more proof, I suppose it is possible." I think we like the...
Every year I celebrate the Kickapoo New Year. It comes randomly on a different date every year so my family and friends never know when they'll get a call from me saying, "Happy New Year!" The Kickapoo New Year begins when you hear the first thunder in the Spring (usually in February), but only if the ground has thawed enough that you can stick your finger into it up to the first knuckle. If the ground hasn't thawed, you have to wait for the next thunder. In the old days, the...
I was excited. I was going to have a Christmas party for the first time in years. I'd invited six ladies in my church, and I'd bought a gift and a beautiful candle for each of them. I'd also prepared a special lunch and a fancy dessert. I decorated the house and had candles burning and carols playing. I'd also bought six poinsettia plants to decorate the living room, and I planned to give a poinsettia to each lady when she left so she could enjoy it at home. I'd been planning...
The Second Arrow By Crying Wind My neighbor Charlie enjoys archery and has a target set up in his back yard. Sometimes I watch him shooting arrows at balloons or apples or even pumpkins. He's a very good archer but sometimes even Charlie misses the target and an arrow will end up sticking in the side of his garage. One day when I was standing behind him watching him shoot at empty cans on a bench, the first arrow went straight through a can but the second arrow glanced off...
Shawondasee, the South Wind was blowing across a meadow in the early spring when he saw a beautiful maiden with golden hair and wrapped in a green blanket. He fell in love with Dandelion at first sight but she was too young and he decided to wait until the next time he blew across the meadow. Then he would declare his love. Spring passed and Summer came and now the beautiful maiden was taller and stronger and her golden hair was more beautiful and the bees swarmed around her...
I dropped the envelope into the mailbox. Once a week for nine years I’d sent a letter to my aunt Amelia. Most people thought Amelia was a spinster but she’d been married one day when she was nineteen. Her husband had held up a store the day before their wedding and he was arrested on their wedding night. Amelia had inherited a house from her father and she put her house up to bail him out of jail and he ran away never to be seen again. She’d lost her husband of only a few h...
The Kaw Indians never lived far from a river because they knew if the deer and antelope became scarce they could always depend on the river being full of fish. Food was so plentiful, the tribe was healthy, the women were beautiful, and the men were strong. As strong and handsome as all the braves were, Winter Fox was taller and stronger and more handsome than all the rest. His lodge was filled with soft pelts and trade goods and there was no doubt that someday he would be the...
I like calendars. Most people don’t use them anymore as they keep track of dates and appointments on their phones. I’m old-fashioned and I like a calendar hanging on the wall in my kitchen. I like the pictures on the calendar, whether it’s flowers, birds, sunsets or kittens. Every month has a new picture and every month I start out with rows of blank squares that eventually get filled in with things I should do or places I need to go. At the beginning of the new year, all t...
It seems impossible anyone could forget Christmas when every store is filled with decorations and TV programs are showing Christmas stories and Christmas music is playing on the radio. Houses are decorated, churches are decorated and the mall is filled with people buying gifts. But last year I forgot Christmas. It was snowing. There wasn’t a car driving down the street and no one was on the sidewalk. It was as if I was the only person in the city. I turned the corner of a b...
