By NANCY PATRICK In case you hadn’t noticed, “smart” stuff surrounds us: phones, homes, classrooms, cars, and even a little contraption called Alexa. We can give her commands such as “set the timer for 20 minutes” or “play (song) for me.” I usually forget Alexa sits right there on a table in my den and opt to set my kitchen
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK I often wonder what will happen if I ever run out of things to write about. Not only does writing provide my primary form of expression, but it also serves as cheap therapy for all my neuroses. Those result from my brain’s constant thinking and fretting about national and international conditions I fear I cannot impact. My
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK I don’t listen to a lot of music other than church songs or selections my friends recommend to me. However, my son recently said I had to listen to a song entitled “We Americans” by the Avett Brothers, a folk-rock group from North Carolina. I had heard of neither the song nor the artists, so I had
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK As I recently sifted out some old and unneeded files, I found a document that really pleased me. Evidently, one of my Abilene High School seniors from the 2002-2003 school year had asked me to participate in a graduation project required by one of her other teachers. Although I didn’t remember this project, my introductory comments for
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK Many people have suffered from boredom and lethargy during the COVID-19 quarantine. My husband, Mike, and I, both retired for several years, had already adjusted our schedules for more home time than younger families who suddenly had to miss work and school. With the time and limitations associated with social restrictions, we undertook a major DIY project
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK As a young mother with a thirteen-month-old baby boy, I lived in northern Illinois with my pastor-husband and our infant son. Other than the first five years of my life spent in my birthplace of Arkansas, I had never lived outside Texas, my adopted home state. Adjusting to my role as a new mother, a first-time pastor’s
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK Weird! Weird! Weird! That word describes my world during this pandemic. I thank God that danger, exhaustion, sacrifice, and life-threatening do not describe my daily life. This period of COVID-19 isolation, illness, shortage, and death has invaded my life in an unprecedented way. The closest similarities, World War II and the Great Depression, differed greatly from the
Read moreBy NANCY PATRICK In 1624, British poet John Donne wrote “Meditation 17” as part of a larger collection of devotional pieces. The theme of the meditation relates to the interconnectedness of humankind. The first part delineates how people—regardless of location, race, social status, or religion—connect to one another as parts of humanity even if the individuals know nothing of the
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Editor’s Note: March is Women’s History Month. Nancy Patrick writes about a woman she met when helping her son move to Virginia to begin a position as pastor of a historic church. Send stories or suggestions for stories about women to feature during Women’s History Month to editor@spiritofabilene.com By NANCY PATRICK My son’s position as a pastor in a historic
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