Freedom to Fail or Succeed
By the time high school arrived, I’d lost all interest in school. The wrong kind of friends, followed by the wrong type of actions, took over. My parents continued to goad me to do my best, just as they had in elementary and middle school. I didn’t listen. Regardless of their efforts to push me forward toward a college education, I continued to slide backward with a don’t-care attitude…
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Sniffing Temptation
We call our little Chihuahua-terrier mix our cordless dust buster. Wherever we happen to sit to eat, she positions herself underneath our feet so she can retrieve any dropped crumbs. She particularly enjoyed standing beneath our daughter’s middle son when my wife kept him. Pig Pen, we call him—and for obvious reasons. The way he eats causes him to leave many crumbs behind. Sometimes, whole chunks of food. But, of course, our little mutt didn’t complain. …
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When God Forgets
When I was young, I had no trouble memorizing—anything, or a lot of things. Even in my twenties—while in college with a professor we called the “grocery list” professor because of the long list of items he made us memorize for tests—I sailed through the class with no problem, earning an A with ease. …
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Martin Wiles: Down to Pennies
Finally, when his turn came, he twisted sideways, slid a Ziploc bag from his pocket, and dumped the contents on the hard counter. I heard the coins clang against the hard surface and heard them again as he scraped them two-by-two toward the cashier—all two hundred pennies and two dimes. …
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Martin Wiles: Love Shows Mercy
Of all days for Dad to search for Mom’s dress, he chose Saturday. The only day I had to do nothing…
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Martin Wiles: Tend the World
With his first badge under his belt, I looked for other things I could help him do. I came across planting a tree. I had watched a potted mimosa and crepe myrtle tree that lounged on our back patio for several months. They needed planting. …
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Martin Wiles: The Inside’s More Important
I looked at the text: “Can you call me when you get a second.” It came from my father’s only sister. We hadn’t corresponded much over the years and had done so even less since my father had died. When I called, she told me she had a few items that belonged to my grandmother. She thought I might want them. Of course, I did. I love old things, especially if they belonged to a family member. …
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Martin Wiles: God Moments
Mom’s a sucker for a piano. She’s been playing since she was a small child. She dreamed of becoming a concert pianist—which she probably could have accomplished—but she married my dad and became a preacher’s wife instead. But she never lost her love for tickling the ivories—and showing off a little at the same time. …
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Martin Wiles: Gone but Not Forgotten
In our area of the United States, hummingbirds arrive in late March or early April and hang around until mid-October. A few weeks before their arrival, I hang three feeders for the scouts who arrive earlier to find so they can tell the later arrivers. One feeder outside our back-porch window, one outside our dining room window, and one outside our kitchen window. Almost anywhere we sit or stand in the house, we can view the beautiful little birds feeding. …
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Martin Wiles: Doing the Family Thing
One year before, the app showed my wife and I had joined our daughter and her two boys for a trip to Granddad’s Apples in Hendersonville, NC—a trip we made annually, either with them or someone else. This particular year, things had gotten busy. Had the app not reminded me, we may have forgotten to go. …
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Martin Wiles: First Things First
Firsts are important. On this day, two of my cousins brought a mahogany china cabinet to our home. The reason it was a first was not that it’s the first one I’ve ever owned but because it was the first piece of furniture my mom ever bought with her own money. She purchased it to hold china she planned to purchase as a part of setting up housekeeping with my dad. …
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