I try very hard not to be That Parent. The one who thinks the rules don’t apply to their little angels and blisters the ears of the people who dare to challenge either child or parent. I figure the best way to have successful relationships in my kids’ schools is to problem solve together, not…
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Prying My Heart Open
A week or two after 9/11, I was coming out of Aldi, trying (predictably) to carry too much to the car. The bag split, and groceries went everywhere, including a gallon jug of skim milk, which cracked open and splattered all over the asphalt. I was pretty emotional already, and I was on the verge…
Read MoreFirst World Problems (repost)
I have a lot of posts started, but this one, from two years ago during Advent, caught my eye a few days ago. It is every bit as timely now as it was then, right down to the reference to famine in North Korea (to say nothing of humanitarian crises in other parts of the world),…
Read MoreGratitude, Sadness, and the Call To Look Outward
It’s the day before Thanksgiving, and the thing to do on such a day is to make a list of everything I’m thankful for, like some proof text to show that my heart is in the right place. But I can’t make myself do it. It seems strange for gratitude and sadness to occupy the…
Read MoreSyrian refugees: A Christian’s Responsibility
Friday afternoon, Nicholas sulked and glowered and procrastinated and found a dozen ways to avoid having to–gasp–clean the bathroom sinks. At last I snapped at him to think about the children who were crossing the sea in an inner tube in November and sleeping in the woods because it was too dangerous for them to…
Read MoreSmall Things, Great Love (Reblog)
The past two weeks. It has almost been too much to bear, all the heartache. All the hatred and the hurting and brokenness everywhere we turn. It is too much. I am tempted to shut it out: turn off the news, avoid the rapid-fire of social media politicking. Sink into my own comfortable life, where…
Read MoreChanging My Heart
Lately, it seems that everything–in the news, in my Facebook feed, and in my small corner of the world—has been nudging me in a single direction, a simple phrase that whispers in the back of my head: Stop judging. I asked my spiritual director last week, “How can I interact with the world without judging?…
Read MoreAn Open Letter From An Unapologetic Christian to Those Who Are Up In Arms About Starbucks
To my fellow Christians who are up in arms about the so-called “war on Christmas”: Cut it out. No, really. Just stop. You’re giving all of us a bad name. And worse, you’re giving Christ a bad name. There is no war on Christmas. Christian America quite successfully corrupted Christmas into a free-for-all greed fest…
Read MoreIn Which I Begin To Understand God As A Parent
Ten years of parenting have instilled in me a particular superstition. I’m sure I’m not the only parent who has it. You never, ever talk about the baby sleeping through the night, because if you do they’ll stop. Am I right? Likewise, you never, ever even breathe aloud that your strong-willed child has been really…
Read MoreDown Syndrome and the Sacramental Year
It’s That Year for Miss Julianna. Second grade. If you’re not Catholic, you may not know what I’m talking about. But second grade is a big year, involving firsts of two major sacraments: Reconciliation and Eucharist. In other words, it’s crunch time for this mama who’s been convincing everyone she knows what she’s talking about…
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Kathleen M. Basi 