Big Thought Space

“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.” Ephesians 4:31 My wife and I were in no big hurry during our post-church drive to Costco. The one time of the week when we were not beholden to a tight timeline meant that Sunday afternoon was an ideal choice for grocery shopping. At an intersection near our house a car beside us suddenly discovered a need to be in our lane…in front of me. No sir. Not on my watch. I accelerated and closed the gap in front of our car keeping this line-butting jerk in his lane. In doing so I drove quite close to the car in front of us. In fact, I got close enough for my wife to gasp and speak a sharp “Daniel!!”. “You almost hit that car” she exclaimed. Feeling the need to justify my behavior I explained that I only almost rear-ended this person because the car beside us was trying to cut in front of us. She was less than understanding, and in hindsight, I can’t blame her.  Reflecting back on t...

Since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic, many people old and young have found themselves with an abundance of undirected free time. Hours normally spent traveling or participating in large group activities were left noticeably empty. Sure, Netflix and social media do their best to fill the vacuum, but many eyes tire of staring at large and small screens after a few hours. The unusual fatigue that comes after about the third or fourth episode pushes many off the couch or out of bed. Many people found new hobbies and interests, but one common activity surprised me: sourdough bread. I am aware that many are asking themselves at this very moment: “how is he going to say anything interesting about baking bread”, and to that I answer: I’m not, at least not interesting to most people. But on the off-chance that someone ever reads this and the even more unlikely event that such a person also bakes bread, they might feel that rare comfort that comes from shared passion.  I stumbled onto so...

About 5 years ago I met up with a friend for lunch, and as we spoke about college, careers, and futures she posed a question: “What is your big thought?” I wasn't sure what she meant, so she clarified that a big thought is an idea or question that you have been mulling over in your mind. It could be about your job, your education, or your hobbies, but the best big thoughts don't fit into any of these categories; at least they don't fit into any single one of these categories. Big thoughts stem from observations about the world or ideas on how to improve something. They are almost always the result of simple curiosity. I realized at that moment that I didn’t have any big thoughts. I could regurgitate some podcast conversation or news story; I could recall the main points of a book I read; but I had no curiosity driving big thoughts about the world around me. Since that conversation I have become interested in cultivating big thoughts in myself and in people around me. So, I ...