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Holy Spirit disruptions: Seeing people through the lens of Jesus’ cross

Lynne Baab • Friday September 17 2021

My friend Elizabeth is telling me about her relationship with her brother and sister. Her parents were not happy with the some of the life choices she made as a young adult. This caused a disconnect with the whole family, and her siblings kept her at arm’s length for many years.

A few years ago, Elizabeth began meditating on Jesus’ death: the events leading up to the crucifixion, the betrayal by his friends, the pain of death on a cross, and the utter desolation of being separated from his Father. “When you really sit with those events,” Elizabeth reflects, “you can’t help...

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Holy Spirit disruptions: Detachment with love

Lynne Baab • Saturday September 11 2021

A few years ago a friend started attending Alanon. She taught me a phrase she learned there: “detachment with love.” In Alanon, the phrase is used to describe a stance that supports family members and friends who suffer from addiction, without enabling or rescuing. For me, those words unlocked a door I had been trying to get through for years, not so much with addicts but with people I find challenging. I had seen the kind of detachment that hurts: family members completely rejecting other family members, friends who completely turn away from friends. I had seen the kind of love...

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Holy Spirit disruptions: Unexpected friends

Lynne Baab • Friday September 3 2021

I am almost finished re-reading the alphabet mystery series by Sue Grafton. Actually, when I got to “V is for Vengeance,” I realized I had missed it, so that book was a read, not a re-read. Grafton’s sleuth, Kinsey Millhone, has become a friend over the years as I have read the series several times. She’s not a close friend, evidenced by the fact that the last time I re-read the early books was about a decade ago, but I enjoy her quirks and the details she observes that I would miss.

For other books, the main character, or one of the...

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Holy Spirit disruptions: “There was another in the fire”

Lynne Baab • Saturday August 28 2021

I’m going to revert to childhood here. Do any of you remember this song?

Nobody likes me Everybody hates me Guess I'll go eat worms Big fat juicy ones Long thin slimey ones Itsy bitsy, fuzzy wuzzy worms

It was fun to look up the lyrics. I’d forgotten everything except the first three lines. (For the remainder of the cute worm poetry, look here.)

That song may be a childhood favorite, but it also captures an adult mood that I find myself experiencing from time to time. Everything and everyone is against me! I’m suffering! No one understands my challenges! Sometimes we love to wallow, feel sorry for ourselves,...

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