Serve by Design

This week’s title to the blog is purposefully provocative. I want us to think about it before making the proverbial “snap judgment” about the matter of judging others. I have heard individuals boast about their penchant and even skill in “sizing up” people and situations. Quick assessments like this make me wary (and even weary!) of those who brag about such things! It suggests that a person is more interested in giving others a piece of their mind no matter how shallow that grey matter may be! I admit that in making this assessment, I may be seriously guilty of making my own “snap judgments!” I’m sorry! 😧 Image credit: clipart-library.com Several years ago, I sat down at a local coffee shop with a good friend who is about half my age. We try to schedule these chats every so often. I love multi-generational conversations and find them invigorating. They inform and even stretch my assumptions. On this occasion, a bit of relational advice was shared in the middle of a discussion con...

Monique picked up a brand name package of Swiss cheese recently. I immediately reacted, “Hey! That’s just like we bought when I was a kid!” It was labeled as a full slice, and I remembered how I would eat one of those every day for my after-school snack. In recent years, we have become accustomed to non-brand products that package only half slices. I had naively reasoned that the “economy slice” was following a more health-conscious approach. It is true that I don’t need the additional calories anyway!😉  Big Slice? What about the holes?! However, I discovered that the enclosed slices were not what a remembered from my childhood. These were a lot closer to half slices and contained more than the average number of holes in them! I counted seven or more “cheese vacancies” (holes!) in most slices. I asked, “What is this?” and a thought came to me that this might be an example of Shrinkflation! This new word has been used to describe how both packing and product have been downsized. Th...

 I was watching a funny video about some "crying" Billy Goats on a social media site this week. "Maaah! Maaah!" Their unusually loud bleating was both humorous and eerily unsettling as well. This reminded me of an incident involving our youngest son about forty years ago. I estimate that Marc was about two years old at the time. He was in his stroller at the Fort Worth petting zoo when all at once we heard him crying out in panic while trying to get out of his constraints.  "Watch out for the Billy Goat!" Photo credit: Sergio Souza, unspash.com You know how you will hear something, but can't quite put it all together. Well, I had heard a surprising sound seconds early but was not focused on Marc sitting behind me. It was the sound of tearing and crunching. As I looked back at Marc, I saw the reason for his distress. A small kid goat at his eye level was chomping on the remains of a warning label he had quickly snatched from the seat back of the strolle...