Contemplative

FOMO OR JOMO?

144 times? 144 times. According to Charlotte Lieberman’s article, “Unplug and Recharge” in Real Simple magazine (https://www.realsimple.com/work-life/technology/unplug-and-recharge), Americans check their cellphones 144 times each day. As a flip phone user, I sometimes find it inconvenient to check my voicemail four times, much less 144 times per day. I don’t text, so that eliminates me from…

KEEP PECKING

Do you ever feel like sometimes life resembles a chicken farm? You hunt. You peck. You feel pecked at by people, projects, pressures. Yet somehow you know you need to keep pecking, to persevere. I read a story from “God’s Little Devotional Book” which is written by a team of authors. https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51Y6NRFF3CL.SY385.jpg This author wrote:…

COMMIT OR SPLIT?

“Trust me. I’ll stop….” “No really. This time I’ll….” “I’ve learned my lesson. I mean it this time…” We all have something to fill in those blanks. Good ideas. Great plans. We gain clarity and fresh energy about doing what’s right until…. I read about the people from Joshua’s life who had a history of…

UNSHACKLED PRISONER

 “for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained” (2 Tim. 2:9). I was on prison chaplain duty when I saw an inmate coloring in a children’s coloring book. It’s rare that I see men coloring in a color book, and definitely…

#1 VOICEMAIL RESPONSE

Today, on the FROG Blog, I share a record number of responses to my voicemail challenges. Each week, I change my outgoing message to record something that invites callers to answer a question. I’ve asked questions like: “Who has been your favorite teacher and what makes that teacher stand out?” For Christmas, I asked, “What’s…

SENSORY INDULGENCE

I was in kindergarten when I learned what made my heart beat strongest. My coming-of-age story came from Mrs. Berger, my kindergarten teacher. She’d call us for story time and gather us on a circle painted on carpet squares of our classroom floor.   Mrs. Berger created magical wonder when she read because she used…

KNEE DEEP IN A COURAGEOUS PROJECT

Out of the 6 books I’ve had published, Knee Deep: A 9-Month Whirlpool of Handwritten Letters to The Creator is the one I fought hard and resisted its publication. Knee Deep: A 9-Month Whirlpool of Handwritten Letters to the Creator (Frog Blog): Eder, Christina M: 9781734659627: Amazon.com: Books It took supernatural courage to have many…

PROFESSOR TREE

I have a friend who walks to and from work every day. On his way home, Roderick stops to sit on a bench, and simply wait. Who or what is he waiting for? What makes him frequently smile like a toddler who’s just opened the cabinet with all the pots and pans? How does he…

UNEASINESS? “JUST” PRACTICE

Today’s FROG Blog comes from my book Unthawed: Lessons from a Frozen Lily Pad. Unthawed was written with 13 other authors who stepped out of hibernation to expose a vulnerable situation from their lives. In 500 words or less, we courageously wrote what we discovered from uncomfortable, often daring decisions.   I recalled conversations from…

#1 WORD SEARCHED FOR 2023

I listened to a radio show and the DJ asked listeners to vote for what they thought was the most searched word online.  What word do you think was most searched in 2023? Several radio listeners guessed restaurants, directions, hotels, and product reviews. Others guessed best vacation spots, beauty products and fashion trends. Were any…