Copyright 2021 Katie Kieffer. All rights reserved.
Aug
30
2021
By Katie Kieffer
School is starting! As the air turns brisk, apples ripen and leaves reveal shades of gold, now is the perfect time to read books. Continue reading
Jun
29
2021
By Katie Kieffer
“What I like doing best is Nothing,” Christopher Robin tells Winnie-the-Pooh in A. A. Milne’s 1928 collection of stories, The House at Pooh Corner. The capitalization of “Nothing” is not a typo. Milne is introducing children (and re-introducing their parents) to a deep philosophical point through the voice of a fictional boy and his anthropomorphic stuffed bear.
“How do you do Nothing?” Pooh asks. Christopher Robin responds that being outdoors on a lovely day—as they are—sitting on a grassy knoll, enjoying one another’s company, with birds singing in the trees above, is: “a nothing sort of thing.” He further explains, ‘It means just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear…” Continue reading
May
31
2021
By Katie Kieffer
Flanders Fields, Belgium, 1915: Poppies, the hue of human blood, blow in the gentle breeze. The scarlet blooms decorate thousands of Allied soldier graves. Graves of mud transfused with the blood of fallen brothers.
1,043 American soldiers perished in Belgium during World War I, 368 of whom are interred at Flanders Field American Cemetery. Today, Memorial Day, we remember their courage—and the courage of all American veterans—by revisiting the story of the vermilion poppies of Flanders Fields. Continue reading
Apr
26
2021
By Katie Kieffer
Green, green everywhere. Spring blooms are here: nascent lime green buds and tufts of emerald green grass—proffering glimpses of God’s enchanting creation—long hidden under snow.
On the first day of Spring, my mother—an avid gardener—visited with a big smile and a small box of heirloom Rudbeckia and hollyhock seeds. “Do you have a rake and a watering can? Today would be a great day to plant!” Continue reading
Feb
22
2021
By Katie Kieffer
Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh frequently told his audience—of over 62 million weekly listeners—that his “talent” was “on loan from God.” Limbaugh’s confidence in his innate gifts—and regular expression of gratitude to his Creator—is his most inspiring legacy.
Rush made you feel good about yourself; good about America; and hopeful for the future. Aptly, he also played feel-good bumper music. Two weeks before my wedding last summer, my father and I remained undecided on our Father-Daughter Dance song. A lightbulb went off as I tuned to The Rush Limbaugh Show and heard his bumper: My City Was Gone by The Pretenders. Continue reading
Oct
11
2020
By Katie Kieffer
Many women—and some men—feel a sense of obligation to vote for the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket and thereby help a woman achieve the presidency. Today, I make the case that we must wait—out of respect for all little girls in America who need and deserve a more authentic role model as the first female president of the United States.
Technically, Harris is running for vice president. However, both Biden and Harris have referred to themselves as the aspiring “Harris administration.” We can take their word for it: the ultimate plan is for Harris to take the reins. Is she worthy of helming the Oval Office? Continue reading
Aug
04
2020
By Katie Kieffer
We can ban police chokeholds in all 50 states—but the pervasive chokehold in America today is the “woke chokehold.” A majority of Americans feel frozen by fear—and are metaphorically choking—overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness. 62 percent of Americans are afraid to speak their minds, according to a new CATO poll.
America’s largest police departments—Los Angeles in 1982, New York in 1993, Chicago in 2012, and Minneapolis in 2020— have banned the use of chokeholds by officers. Crime, however, is soaring in these cities. For example, even as the radical Minneapolis City Council works to eliminate police, robberies are up 37%. Continue reading
Jul
08
2020
By Katie Kieffer
“A light from the shadows shall spring,” J. R. R. Tolkien wrote in The Fellowship of the Ring. Hope is a dominant theme in Tolkien’s famous fantasy. Despair threatens to grip each of us in these turbulent times. Thankfully, there are many reasons to avert despair—and run into the arms of Hope: Continue reading
Jun
22
2020
By Katie Kieffer
Fathers matter. A child without a good father figure grows up with a disadvantage that cannot be erased by money, education or fame. Activists claim that whites and police are primarily responsible for holding blacks back. In truth, black father figures are the foremost differentiating factor in their offspring’s quality of life.
69 percent of black children are born to unmarried mothers, according to the latest data from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In contrast, the CDC reports that 28 percent of non-Hispanic whites are born to unmarried mothers. Continue reading
Jun
09
2020
By Katie Kieffer
45% of Catholics and 39% of “Protestant/Other-denomination” Christians voted Democrat in the 2016 Presidential Election, according to Pew. In other words, Christians have the power to swing the 2020 election—and a responsibility to exercise this power in a way that upholds Biblical values and religious freedom.
Churches have been barred from holding normal public worship for nearly three months. Restraints on churches have been most severe in Democrat-ruled areas. Democrats claim they “clean up the messes made by Republicans,” yet Christian oppression is strongest in cities like Chicago, Louisville, Madison and Holly Springs and in states like New York and California that are long-time Democrat strongholds. Continue reading
