Beth Bates

Seeing Art for the First Time

In Seeing Art for the First Time, my friend Shawn, a regular guy in his thirties who has been blind since he was 10’ish, talks about his first experience with art, at the IMOCA. I always enjoy his perspective. Thanks, Shawn.

Approaching Final Four Weekend

Indy’s image according to The Onion

QUIET PLEASE!

I’m in the No Cell Phones No Talking Beyond This Point alcove of the Carmel Public Library, trying to write. I felt that if I dragged my rear end from the comfort of my home to a seat in a library, I might have more success at the writing-48-minutes-per-day discipline I’ve determined to build intoContinue reading “QUIET PLEASE!”

Sanctuary in Toronto Thoughts from Therapist Friend Who’s Blind

My friend’s blog posts from his recent trip to hang out with junkies on the streets of Toronto are compelling and well written, I think, to the point that I want to share his blog. It’s beautiful. Check it out. http://cshawn.wordpress.com/2009/08/

Wintertime – Living is Easy

Approaching the six year anniversary of the 95 percent blockage in my 38 year-old lower anterior descending artery, I’m still counting my blessings. Happy to be alive, that’s what I am. I snuggle longer, stress less, laugh more, eat dessert first, kiss my sleeping kids — all that jazz. But: I miss shoveling snow!

Inside Out

I cringed so hard, my body folded in on itself and turned inside out. My vessels now hang out in the sun to dry; I put food into my oral cavity but it has nowhere to go and rots in my new skintestines. I’m losing weight, since my stomach is on the outside of myContinue reading “Inside Out”

Working in the Dark

Blind woman who gets lost from the curb to the door of her workplace: “It’s hard when you’re in the dark all the time. It’s always dark for me.” Vocational counselor: “But you’ll be so good at getting around, better than your friends who can see. Your sighted friends can only see in the light,Continue reading “Working in the Dark”

Do Acts of Social Justice Count if They’re Compensated? Or am I just a goat?

Matthew 25:40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, Continue reading “Do Acts of Social Justice Count if They’re Compensated? Or am I just a goat?”

Jesus wasn’t in my Bible this morning (but he was on my porch)

So, like the good evangelical Christian woman I never was, I made myself go to a quiet place to exercise the spiritual disciplines of Bible study and prayer. Coffee cup in hand, I settled into the comfy brown chair on my screened porch feeling the warmth of the morning sun on my face. I swattedContinue reading “Jesus wasn’t in my Bible this morning (but he was on my porch)”

Moses’s Cojones and Bogus Cred

Reading A.W. Tozer’s “Pursuit of God” for a Wednesday night study at Grace (yes, Traci, I couldn’t resist the pull), I’m struck this week by scripture passages I’ve read dozens of times. First of all, I’m moved by how earnest and bold Moses was in pleading with God for the validation and benediction he needed.Continue reading “Moses’s Cojones and Bogus Cred”

Jen Sherrick Shot My Babies and My Heart

(With her Canon.) This photographer sees the beauty I see in my children and captures it on film. More examples in a later post, but check this artist’s work on Jen’s website. And see the cutie brother and sister on her blog! Yep, on the July 14 post, them’s my babies! Here’s the headshot JackContinue reading “Jen Sherrick Shot My Babies and My Heart”

No Fear in the Light

God is good. He just is. Luke 12:2-3 There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known. Therefore whatever you have spoken in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in inner rooms will be proclaimed on the housetops.Continue reading “No Fear in the Light”