Blog Archives - Page 6 of 11 - Dallin Malmgren
2021
HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY December 13–19, 2021
December 13,2021 #43 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY Saturday, October 9, 2021 We went to a wedding tonight. It was an extremely unreligious wedding, only one mention of God that i can recall. But this, like most weddings, was a joyous occasion–Jesus turned water into wine at a wedding! I fully believe God gave His […]
2021
HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME December 6–12, 2021
December 6, 2021 #36 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY Tuesday, October 26, 2021 This one is very simple and a little strange–it came in the aftermath of a little squabble I had with Karen. I was on our back porch, looking up at my beloved live oak tree and praying. I was beseeching God, recognizing that […]
2021
HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME November 29–December 5, 2021
November 29, 2021 #29 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY Friday, August 27, 2021 Our 44th wedding anniversary. God said “The two shall become one” and we are still on that amazing journey together. November 30, 2021 #30 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY Thursday, October 28, 2021 “…in Him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts […]
2021
HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME November 22–28
November 22, 2021 #22 As you can see, I chose option 2… HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY Saturday, October 23, 2021 I find it is more difficult to discern God’s voice when it comes to what I should do, i.e., specific choices I have to make. I am wrestling with what to do with this writing […]
2021
HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME November 15–21
November 15, 2021 #15 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY Tuesday, September 7, 2021 This was more of a classroom oration: Richard Foster calls them “the three great ethical issues of human life” — money, sex and power. I think of them as the three great temptations–areas in which it is easiest to think about what I […]
2021
HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME November 8–14
November 8, 2021 #8 HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY Thursday, September 23, 2021 This from A.W. Tozer in The Pursuit of God explains exactly why I started this writing project. He begins with the quote “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) An intelligent […]
2021
HOW GOD SPOKE TO ME TODAY November 1–7, 2021
November 1, 2021 When I was working on my last writing project, my son commented “I wish you wouldn’t write so much about spiritual stuff.” As I get older, I find that’s all I want to write about. As Bob Dylan put it, “Then onward in my journey I come to understand That every hair is […]
2020
A message to all my former students: vote
I just figured it out—if I was your teacher my first year of teaching, the oldest you would be now is about 59. (whew!) If you had me my last year of teaching, the youngest you could be is about 20. That means every kid I ever taught should be eligible to vote. So do it. […]
2020
Things I don’t understand
Perhaps this is an effect of pandemic fever. I am becoming increasingly aware of how much I don’t know. –How “reality” television became so popular. –How any race or ethnicity of people can think themselves superior (or inferior) to any other race or ethnicity. Different, I get. –How people can go their entire lives without acknowledging that […]
2020
Pandemic Fever
It’s getting to me—I find myself sinking—my quiet times are labored—my golf game is muddled—my irritability quotient is on trigger-finger mode—The Sameness (see blog post 6/7/2020) is more deadening—the evening news is more depressing—the national leadership is more absurd—my escape valves are less satisfactory. Of course, I have a built-in excuse: the unrelenting, oppressive, step-into-a-furnace-when-you-step-out-the-door, […]
2020
The Stuck Nut
I got this from my quiet time earlier this week: “The main thing about Christianity is not the work we do, but the relationship we maintain and the atmosphere produced by that relationship. That is all God asks us to look after, and it is the one thing that is being continually assaulted.” –from My […]
2020
Raspberries
I’m running about 5–6 pounds heavier than usual since the time of corona. I’m not thrilled about it, but it could be worse. I’m definitely not getting as much exercise as I used to. My diet is more depressing than my weight. There are certain positives that I can’t seem to incorporate and certain negatives […]
2020
Senior changes, part II
As I explained in the last essay, choices look different as we age—especially in light of the virus. Every one of them, whether simple or huge, has more gravitas. The desire to appreciate life sweetens. The realization that we have a responsibility deepens. Then there’s that hope to leave a mark, which flirts dangerously with […]
2020
Senior choices
I was going to say elderly choices, but I dislike the word elderly. I think of someone who can no longer take care of himself. I prefer to be old, which I am. There are a lot of choices to be made regarding a number of topics at my age. I tend to be one […]
2020
Dowanee from scratch
She floats in and out of the vagaries of my childhood memory, omnipresent but insubstantial, a towering phantom. But she was always there. She lived in our house from the time I was born until we moved from Drexel Hill to Florissant, Missouri when I was seventeen. For all intents and purposes, she seemed to […]
2020
The Covid War
You hear that phrase frequently, but do you extend the metaphor? We use war as a metaphor all the time—football games, pricing competitions, political issues, even family squabbles. This is one time I like the metaphor. We are truly in deadly combat. We need to come together and present a united front against an enemy […]
2020
Family Ties
Loving one another in the time of corona presents some unique challenges. I know my operating instructions: love God and love one another. The loving God part demands its own essay—except for this reminder…He is with us always, and we express love by enjoying Someone’s company and responding to Him. But let’s focus on loving […]
2020
RoomSJ
(Recent observations on my Spiritual Journey) The movie thing was fun, but I’ve been thinking more about the previous post regarding all of us being on a Spiritual Journey. Isn’t it cool that they all begin in the same way—with a first breath somewhere on the space/time continuum of planet Earth and with a final […]
2020
My Best Movies Ever
I have a long history with movies, but a terrible memory for them. Realizing this, I have for many years written down every movie I watched and given it a grade. I can tell anyone if I saw a movie and how much I liked it. For one span of my writing career, I gave […]
2020
A letter to my fans (haha)
Dear fans (haha): Yes, I realize the ridiculousness of it. As if there are people out there thinking Go, Dallin—write away, big guy—knock one out of the park! And yet, I find it almost impossible to write without thinking of an audience (usually God or Bethany), so this one is for you, the reader. As […]
2020
Puzzling
Let’s face it, we’re battening down the hatches for Covid-19 again. That means more time at home—and probably more time for puzzling. I read somewhere that jigsaw puzzle companies are enjoying a greater economic boon than grocery stores! And crossword puzzles are blowing up too. Even Doonesbury (my favorite comic) had a crossword puzzle for […]
2020
My anxiety provokers
These are anxious times, no doubt about it. The world is in trouble. On the national level, the news is almost never good. On the local level, dissension and fear seem to dominate our consciousness. On the personal level, even a phone call can instill dread—is it bad news? A stiff upper lip can only […]
2020
“…all I have to do is believe?”
After two straight posts revolving around my misspent youth, I thought I’d try for something more redemptive… Although I probably would have denied it, I wasn’t in very good shape in the spring of 1976: living alone in a small apartment…separated from my first wife for over a year…smoking pot every day, usually several times…in […]
2020
Carl
For most of my life I had a rocky relationship with my father. My brother was a paragon of virtue (that’s how I learned the word paragon–having it ascribed to my brother). I floundered in his wake academically, and I never could find another channel that would win my dad’s approval. In fairness, I probably […]
2020
Those were the days…
Did you have that period in your life when you were on your own and you didn’t have a plan? While it might not be the norm, the norm being college—job—marriage—stability—get your adventure where you can find it, it must be fairly common. Those Days where you were still figuring out where you were going […]
2020
Breathe, Part II
Breathing is the clearest channel on which we can apprehend God. Breathe (part I) was on December 6, 2017—it was reassuring to find I am on the same path. Breathing is the most elemental thing we do—even more so than eat or drink or anything else. We take breathing for granted, just like we take […]
2020
God as a live oak
I don’t write much about prayer. Certainly, I’m an advocate. But it’s hard to mention your prayer life without sounding sanctimonious. Jesus said something about praying in secret. God has shown me a thousand times that whenever I start thinking about how spiritual I am, I have turned in the wrong direction. Still, I’ve been […]
2020
The Sameness
One major effect of the quarantine: The Sameness. It was unavoidable—your options have been severely reduced. When getting in your car involves a decision to risk your life and endanger others (it really does), The Sameness of staying home doesn’t seem like such a bad decision. Of course, the re-opening of our country greatly diminishes […]
2020
Golf is a spiritual exercise
Yep. I’m sticking with my premise, even with my wife rolling her eyes some of the time. If there was no God, I would not play golf. Even if that is a lie, I would not play so happily, surrounded by joy. To take my divinization even further, golf is a spiritual exercise for most […]
2020