by Natalie Ogbourne | May 31, 2017 | Pause, Ponder the Path, Press On
While the rest of the world waited for February 2 and Punxsutawney Phil to declare just how many more weeks winter would hold on, I looked to February 1. That was the date I allowed myself to count the days until my kids would be done with school and...
by Natalie Ogbourne | May 7, 2017 | Pause, Ponder the Path, Press On
There you are, on the couch with your kids, in the stands at the game, at the coffee shop with a friend. You’re sitting. You’re supporting. You’re socializing. But you haven’t stopped. You’ve pushed pause. Your body is still, at least enough to watch and cheer and...
by Natalie Ogbourne | Apr 9, 2017 | Pause, Ponder the Path, Press On
Yesterday I hurried into Walmart for a few things and emerged–much more slowly–pushing a cart. Right outside the door I caught the fragrance of something I’d seen but not stopped to appreciate on the way in: flowers for sale. It was the...
by Natalie Ogbourne | Feb 2, 2017 | Pause, Ponder the Path, Press On
The bleak midwinter, Christina Rossetti called it. And while her poem is lovely, living with continual strings of short, cold, sunless days is not. I believe that there is a time for everything, even bleak days. And yet. It’s at such times when my practice of...
by Natalie Ogbourne | Dec 30, 2016 | Pause, Ponder the Path, Press On
Gravel crunched under the tires as I made my way through early morning’s darkness down the lane, away from my home in the country toward a hospital in the city. Des Moines has six general hospitals and I could picture and plot a route to every one of them. Every one...
by Natalie Ogbourne | Nov 17, 2016 | Pause, Ponder the Path, Press On
Gratitude. It doesn’t always come naturally. grat i tude noun the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. Along with the continual quest to lift my eyes so I can see, I’ve been trying to acknowledge life’s...