Lillian Daniel

Someone in the online dating world received this note from a potential suitor:

"You should be an outdoors and nature lover ... did I mention you must like cats?

When I was a kid, my mother planned a big garden party, where her yard would be filled with blooming daffodils that she had planted in anticipation. But as the party date approached, the weather stayed cold and no daffodils were even close to blooming.

Yet on the day of...

The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto bills itself as being "for the curious," and I certainly was. There you can see Shaquille O'Neal's size 20 triple E basketball shoes, and Elton John's platforms as well as Madonna's. (Elton John's had higher heels, but then again, he did less...

A few weeks ago, a pastor was reported as saying he knew why the Denver Broncos were 7-1 since installing Tebow as quarterback. "It's not luck," the pastor said. "Luck isn't winning six games in a row. It's favor. God's favor." The pastor seems to have skipped a...

Even before the flight took off, we knew who would be offering our in-flight entertainment. The man in the seat in front of me began by taking out a ballpoint pen, putting it into his mouth and then taking a dramatic inhale. "You probably all think that I am smoking,"...

On airplanes, I dread the conversation with the person who finds out I am a minister and wants to use the flight time to explain to me that he is "spiritual but not religious." Such a person will always share this as if it is some kind of daring insight,...

Most grandmothers teach their grandchildren how to make cookies. My grandmother taught me how to make a gin and tonic. That was the easy part. What was hard was getting the gin bottle out from inside the raw chicken, where it was hidden in the fridge. A card carrying eccentric...

If all you did was watch the news in these weeks leading up to Father's Day, you'd think that when men hit middle age, they suddenly become twittering twits with the self restraint and judgment of a starving cobra at a rat convention. Lately in the news, we've seen tale...

This is the time of year when school is wrapping up, and some people are even preparing to graduate from one life stage to another. But first, they have to get all that work done and completed. Will it actually get done? The pressure is on.

Little children in...

"We Thank Our Employees For Being Recognized as One of Chicago's Top 10 Workplaces!" read the sign in front of the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Chicago last Saturday. But while the Hyatt was thanking the employees for the award, the small print at the bottom of the sign revealed it...

April 4 marks the anniversary of Martin Luther King's assassination in 1968. If he were alive today, he would not be pleased with the state of his country. With a prophetic voice, the great preacher would call the nation out on its two undeclared wars.

The first undeclared war...

My husband and my eighteen-year old son are heading up to Wisconsin tomorrow to participate in the protests. They want to stand up for collective bargaining at an historic moment in history. While I may worry about road conditions and the drive, at least I do not have to worry...

1) Just because it's on sale doesn't mean it's a bargain. Think about what things are really worth. In your life decisions, are you choosing well or searching for quick bargains?

2) Save up for what you really want. Often we spend money on three cheap items we sort of...

A recent article in the Economist revealed that happiness and age relate to one another like a giant U curve. We are born happy, but then get decidedly unhappier until our low point at age 46. After that, we start creeping up the curve toward more happiness as...

In this happy season of Advent, we prepare for the coming of the baby Jesus on Christmas. But since the church is also a human institution, many churches are also preparing for 2011's income stream, which comes from the gifts and the tithes of our members.

Envelopes have been...