by Barry Creamer | Jun 22, 2022 | Devotionals
In the front window of our home are myriad potted plants. My favorite container is cylindrical and tall—its height about twice its consistent diameter: not squat and flared upward like most. The pot’s patterned relief accentuates the contrast of its pale greens and...
by Barry Creamer | Jun 15, 2022 | Devotionals
White Rock Lake lies less than a mile from my house. I walk, drive, or ride along its banks daily. Mallards are so common that runners and cyclists have to avoid colliding with hens fleeing from courting drakes or leading duckling broods. Other waterfowl include...
by Barry Creamer | Jun 8, 2022 | Devotionals
When the moon is waxing I occasionally set up my telescope to watch her pursue Apollo toward sunset. Dusky cerulean provides variety from the normally black backdrop of my nighttime lunar images, and should a high-flying bird or an airplane ever happen to cross the...
by Barry Creamer | Jun 1, 2022 | Devotionals
I am riding at as quick a clip as I can maintain—until I see a formerly relaxed dog rise hackles-up head-down to pursue. I quickly realize I have another 50% or so of pedal power in reserve. But not even my adrenalin-assisted surge suffices to outpace the...
by Barry Creamer | May 25, 2022 | Devotionals
Comfortable: down pillow, smooth sheet, cotton quilt; food of equal parts anticipation and regret; familiar music, favorite show; a lifestyle greater in wealth than need, or the income capable of funding it. Comfort: the disposition comfortable items afford. Also,...
by Barry Creamer | May 18, 2022 | Devotionals
A few decades ago I am watching a pianist, a close friend, accompany a choir’s rehearsal. He is a brilliant technician, sight-reading well enough to lead the ensemble through its first look with no faux pas of any substance. I comment on the impressive showing, and in...
by Barry Creamer | May 11, 2022 | Devotionals
Country music songwriters, politicians, and marketers know the power of nostalgia. And better times past can be more than rose-tinged memories. Childhood should be safer with fewer cares than adulthood. So songs, campaigns, and ads invite us back to better times. When...
by Barry Creamer | May 4, 2022 | Devotionals
As if no one ever told me to watch my step, I stub my toe on the uneven step, trail rock, bed post, door jam, or canted sidewalk slab, as I have untold times before, and as induction tells me I will until God coats everything in smooth, soft gold. Experience tells us...
by Barry Creamer | Apr 27, 2022 | Devotionals
When I describe setting up a telescope on a mountain in Colorado, people often respond with something between a joke and perplexity, since the altitude of the mountain will diminish the distance to my astronomical target so little as not to be measurable: 1 or 2 miles...
by Barry Creamer | Apr 20, 2022 | Devotionals
This part is fog: I am 12 or 13. The youth group at my church is holding a Valentine’s Day Banquet. I am attired in my best suit for the “formal” affair, and somehow I have a date I do not know and will not remember. We have collected our salads and are about to sit...
