By Nancy Patrick One of my favorite American poets, Robert Frost, wrote an insightful narrative poem called “Mending Wall” (Robert Frost). The poem tells the story of two landowners who meet one day a year at the beginning of spring at the dividing line between their two properties.  On that dividing line resides a rock wall that suffers normal winter

By Nancy Patrick Glenn Dromgoole recently wrote a piece for Spirit of Abilene in which he expressed his enjoyment of reading personal essays in local newspapers (Sept. 27, 2024). As an old Abilenian, I recognized many of the names he mentioned. Local newspapers used to be an important part of our lives. I always enjoyed reading my paper as I

By Nancy Patrick In my daily crossword puzzle the other day I ran across the word “ingrate.” I began thinking about that word and concluded that perhaps I should add it to my vocabulary. “Ingrate” refers a thankless, ungrateful, forgetful, unsatisfied, or mindless person. Do we have such people in our world today? The answer is “yes,” and we find

By Nancy Patrick On August 18, 2024, Dr. Matt Cook, interim pastor at First Baptist Church, preached a sermon based on Acts 2:44-47.  The text describes the fundamental nature of friendship as that of gathering, loving, and sharing.  Matt referred to an often told and sometimes exaggerated story of the 1976 Special Olympics in Seattle, Washington. The story illustrates the

By Nancy Patrick People who know me know that I have fought a battle with despair and depression my entire life. Addicts confess they will always be addicts even if they have maintained sobriety for twenty years. My type of depression resembles that description. I may have periods when my depression lightens, but the shadow it casts in my spirit

By Nancy Patrick With political wars going on around the world, I find myself in the middle of a spiritual war. The thing is—the politics of war often conflict with my spiritual values. I might add that when I speak of my spiritual values, I include the values that encompass both emotional and psychological aspects of my life. Throughout my

By Nancy Patrick Sometimes when I think about my next writing topic, my mind runs rampant through the endless lists of issues that people face on a day-to-day basis. I don’t know enough about some of the topics to write a complete article, but I have opinions on most of them that I sometimes get an itch to express. To

By Nancy Patrick Those of you who know me personally know that for many years I have experienced various problems with my muscular-skeletal health. It actually started twenty-five years ago when I developed a painful condition called De Quervain’s tenosynovitis requiring surgery in Lubbock.  Then I realized I had carpel tunnel syndrome in both hands. On top of that, my

By Nancy Patrick I recently wrote an article that left some readers feeling depressed. I think the tragedy and sorrow in the world had overwhelmed me when I wrote that one. It got me to thinking about the nature of humanity—is it good, evil, or a mixture of both? I recently shared a lunch table with several professional “religious” people.