By Nancy Patrick Today’s young people may not know the tradition of writing love letters, but those more mature among us certainly remember the impact and importance of love letters between sweethearts. My husband and I began dating in November of 1967 during my senior year in high school and his sophomore year at Hardin-Simmons University. We met at my

By Nancy Patrick I don’t know if you face aging with the same trepidation as I do, but if you do, perhaps these thoughts will encourage you as we walk the final stretch. Though people age very differently, I attribute much of how our bodies and minds age to our genetics; however, lifestyles also contribute to the process. I have

By Nancy Patrick As I watch and hear news reports from around the world, my mind teems with thoughts related to the following words. The definitions are mine, not Noah Webster’s. I think as human beings we have a responsibility to other human beings as parts of a global entity to realize that no one stands independently from everyone else.

By Nancy Patrick Ray Miller, the new senior pastor at First Baptist Church, has been preaching a series of sermons entitled Messy Grace. These sermons have reminded me that God’s grace is not always neat and tidy. Life itself is anything but neat and tidy.  My human nature tends to be mean, selfish, and ugly—the opposite of God’s grace which

By Nancy Patrick I recently watched a movie with the strange title The Minute You Wake Up Dead and immediately questioned the writer’s sobriety when he wrote that title. However, as the plot progresses, the point becomes clear that the question refers to a person’s eternal destination when that time comes. The movie is by no means spiritual or even

By Nancy Patrick My dad used a phrase to refer to someone or something he considered useless as “not worth a plugged nickel.” In my old age, I think that phrase may relate to my own sense of worth or lack thereof. For many years I enjoyed an abundance of energy, a good brain, a rewarding career, and a relatively

By Nancy Patrick On July 20, 2025, Dr. Matt Cook, my interim pastor at the time, preached a sermon that has bothered me ever since hearing it. I read the passage from Jeremiah 12 repeatedly during the sermon and have continued reading it and looking up commentary on it. I’m not sure why the topic of unfairness has troubled me

By Nancy Patrick On Saturday, July 12, my husband and I hosted a memorial reception to honor my late sister, Peggy Smith Burkman, who died Jan. 10. Because of complex relationships in her life, the family had postponed the celebration to honor her. In spite of the delay, I think all who attended experienced a time of understanding and healing.

By Nancy Patrick I think I have become more naïve in my senior years than I was in midlife. I ponder such ideas as motivation, value, family, forgiveness, understanding, and all the other virtues Galatians 5:22-23 lists as fruits of the Spirit: joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. I want to believe that most people exhibit goodness.