Minding the Light

 
 
Photo credit: Sand and Water by Margaret Kellermann

A good story is like a pebble dropped into a broad, clear pool:  the ripples continue outward a long way beyond the first impact point, often reflecting back from the pond’s edge or a projecting rock.  Sometimes our stories prompt deeper thought, a new idea, or sudden insight. Sometimes reading one author’s story brings to mind a story in the reader.

Welcome to Reflections, where you may find an author has amplified a story or an idea, or a reader has been prompted to reply, or a reader or writer has realized there was yet another story that ought to have been told.

Question for authors:  What to do when you suddenly remember a story in response to a query but it’s too late for your story to be published in the print edition?  Or, when you want to share important details about a story we published earlier?  Or, when you have new insights about a story published earlier and want to share them with readers?

Question for readers:  What to do when reading a story in Minding the Light brings a story to mind that you long to share?

Answer to both questions:  Submit your stories or reflections to mindingthelight@gmail.com for possible inclusion on this page.  

When has God made you laugh?

Posted on April 05, 2014
Editor’s note:  This story was submitted in response to the Chapter 5 query, “When has God made you laugh?”  We received the story too late to publish with Chapter 5, so it is posted here as a Reflection on Chapter 5.    Wider Quaker Fellowship was going to be laid down, unless, the clerk of the nominating committee told me, I was willing to take on its clerkship.  I had never been on that committee and... [more]
 
 

The Rose

Posted on March 20, 2014
Editor’s note:  This story was submitted in response to the Chapter 17 query, “When have you encountered the Light through music?”  We received the story too late to publish in Chapter 17, so it is posted here as a Reflection on Chapter 17.    The Rose In one of the darkest times of my life, I found myself in the middle of a painful separation after a long term marriage. I took my marriage vows... [more]
 
 

Respectfully Outraged

Posted on December 21, 2013
Dear Reader,   I wrote a story for chapter 15 of Minding the Light entitled “One Shining Light.”  It is a deeply personal story about my own experience with abuse. I wrote it at the time to recognize and honor my brother who played a significant role in keeping me safe throughout childhood.   After submitting the story committee, I edited it again, toning down some parts so that the simple facts remained. After all, the... [more]
 
 

The Gift of Knowing

Posted on December 20, 2013
[This is part of a larger story summarized in Minding the Light, Chapter 10 (“Waiting for Justice”]    I was waiting anxiously in the hallway outside an OHSU hospital room while doctors met with my son Jesse to see if he was well enough to be released.  I didn’t think he was ready and was praying they would keep him a few more days.   There was another worry, too. The general counsel of the... [more]