Category Archives: Spirit

Becoming A Practicing Psychologist: How I Now View It

Posted on March 25, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

This post is a follow-up to one I wrote earlier about a transition during my early 30s—leaving my budding career as a college professor to work as a clinical psychologist in the Michigan prison system. I thought of this as a midlife transition. … Continue reading →

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Memento Mori

Posted on March 5, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

During Ash Wednesday services, the priest or minister makes a cross of ashes on the participant’s forehead and says, “Remember you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We begin the Lenten journey, in other words, by memento mori (Latin … Continue reading →

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Faithfulness in Old Age: John M. Perkins

Posted on January 21, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

Yesterday I attended the talk by John M Perkins during Calvin College’s January Series. I’ve known about Perkins for most of my adult life—his leaving Mississippi as a young man after his brother was killed by a town marshal, planning … Continue reading →

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My Sacred Journey

Posted on January 15, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

I recently wrote about spiritual journeys. In that context, I was interested to see a blog post on “The Quest for a Good Life” in which Andy Tix describes his life as a sacred journey. He tells a little of … Continue reading →

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Spiritual Journeys

Posted on January 4, 2014 by Bob Ritzema

Soul Searchers: An Anthology of Spiritual Journeys (Eerdmans, 2002), complied by freelance editor Teresa de Bertodano, is a collection of biographical, autobiographical or fictional accounts of life events that convey something of who each person was or was called to be. … Continue reading →

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A Five-Sentence Life Story

Posted on December 30, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

I wrote recently about the benefits of life review. Since I left full-time work in the summer of 2012, I have been thinking more about my past, that that seems to be leading to a time of life review for me. … Continue reading →

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On Being Old Enough to Have a Stress-Free Christmas

Posted on December 22, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

Lynne Hybels, who ministers on behalf of third-world communities and is married to megachurch pastor Bill Hybels, recently wrote an article for the her.meneutics site at Christianity Today describing the progressively more laid-back, less frantic approach she has taken to … Continue reading →

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In the Middle of the Night…

Posted on November 9, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

Brian Loging, blogging as “The Wannabe Saint,” wrote recently about waking up with Billy Joel’s song “In the Middle of the Night” running through his head. As he listened to and thought about the song throughout the day, he realized … Continue reading →

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Reinvention or Renewal

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

I read quite a few blog posts having to do with older adulthood.  Several months ago, I started noticing that, among posts giving advice about how to age successfully, one frequent theme was self-reinvention.  Such advice is often given to … Continue reading →

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The Blessings of Old Age

Posted on October 7, 2013 by Bob Ritzema

Sister Joan Chittister has  written recently about the blessings of aging.  There are losses that occur with aging, but there are also gains.  Our youth-oriented society focuses mostly on the losses; thankfully, writers like Sister Chittister and Bill Thomas remind … Continue reading →

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