Author: maryanncrum

     It’s like passing by a car wreck—can’t stand to see it, but can’t seem to look away.    I’m talking about the current goings-on in Washington, D.C. Calling that place a “swamp” seems like a bit of an understatement these days, but as murky as politics can be, it does makes one thing abundantly… Continue reading We’re All Vulnerable to “Swamp Fever”

    Have you ever had your world suddenly become very small and your life slow nearly to a grinding halt?    Some folks in our church were driving away from a restaurant while on vacation a few months ago when they were broadsided by a car that blew right through a red light. After spending… Continue reading When Your World Shrinks

    My recently carved-up knee hurts like the dickens, so I’m in a mood to uncharacteristically get straight to the point of this column, which is this: what we feel and what is true are not always the same. We constantly have to choose which to believe, which isn’t always as easy as it… Continue reading Which Train Will We Ride?

    No self-respecting kid would agree, but it seems like most of us adults are having a hard time wrapping our heads around the fact that Christmas is, in fact, almost here.    My internal calendar says it should be about mid-October. Gotta get a new battery for that thing.    Some of you had your… Continue reading Have Yourself a Merry Little … Surgery?

    Thanksgiving was way more than a holiday for me this year. It was also a heart attitude and intense emotion as I was blessed to have all my grandchildren within snuggling distance for six whole days. It’s not something I take for granted since one of my sons and his family currently live… Continue reading I Can’t Do Make-Believe

    Our recent observance of Veteran’s Day reminded me how we teased my dad a bit about his relatively cushy military assignment during World War II. Instead of storming the beaches of Normandy, he stormed the streets of New Orleans as a staff sergeant in the Army.    Of course, that doesn’t mean his service… Continue reading Grace for New Orleans or Normandy

    This is the sum of what I’ve learned about gardening: the harder I try, the more dismal the results.    There are people with “green thumbs,” people with “not-so-green thumbs,” and then there are those of us who’ve apparently had some kind of gypsy horticultural curse put on us.    This might not be so… Continue reading Don’t Pull Up the Mums

   Reading “Dear Abby” can be such a conflicting experience. On the one hand, it feels good to know that my particular peculiarities might not be nearly as weird as some others out there; on the other hand, it’s pretty unsettling to realize just how uncommon common sense truly is.    I experienced that internal conflict… Continue reading God is Planning the Best Wedding

    Try as I might, I can’t always resist the overwhelming urge to comment on strange things I read in the newspaper or hear on the news. There are certainly plenty to choose from and you have no idea how many of those urges I do resist, but there’s a clipping on my desk… Continue reading Don’t Let a Fatberg Form

     Every generation has its favorite “life was so hard” stories to shame younger folks into thankfulness.     “We had to walk five miles to school, even when the snow was three feet deep.”     “We were thrilled if we got an orange in our Christmas stocking.”     For my generation, I guess our… Continue reading Who’s Steering Your Bike?