For many people who leave religious certainty, prayer does not disappear all at once. Belief may change. Doctrine may loosen. The old answers may no longer hold. But the impulse to pray can remain. A difficult phone call comes. A child is in trouble. A medical test is scheduled. A storm moves across the map.… Continue reading When Prayer Becomes Memory
Author: Richard L. Fricks
Richard L. Fricks is a novelist, former attorney and CPA, Fictionary Certified StoryCoach Editor, and creator of The Pencil-Driven Life. He lives in rural North Alabama near Boaz, where much of his fiction and reflection remain rooted. His work explores story, inherited purpose, faith and doubt, family pressure, moral contradiction, consciousness, ordinary life, and the practice of beginning again with a pencil.
The Life You Were Praised Into
Not every inherited mark comes from criticism. Some come from praise. That may be harder to notice. Criticism often leaves a bruise we can remember. Praise arrives warmly. It gives us belonging. It tells us which version of ourselves receives approval. A child is praised for being responsible, mature, quiet, helpful, smart, strong, faithful, easy… Continue reading The Life You Were Praised Into
The Frustration Was Not About WordPress
Sometimes the ordinary thing is not the thing. Sometimes the frustration sitting in front of us is only the doorway. A website will not behave. A button is missing. A menu appears twice. A page title will not change. A footer insists on saying something we do not want it to say. The screen seems… Continue reading The Frustration Was Not About WordPress
What the Quiet Makes Louder
We often imagine quiet as peace. Sometimes it is. A quiet morning can soften the body. A walk without the phone can slow the mind. A porch, a notebook, a cabin, a cup of coffee before the day begins — these can give the nervous system room to settle. But quiet does not always feel… Continue reading What the Quiet Makes Louder
Why Quiet Needs a Place
Some questions cannot be answered in the middle of noise. Not because the answers are hidden somewhere far away. Not because wisdom requires a cabin, a mountain, a retreat center, or a dramatic escape. But because ordinary life is often too crowded for quiet questions to be heard. The phone is there. The news is… Continue reading Why Quiet Needs a Place
When God’s Purpose No Longer Holds
What happens when the purpose you were handed no longer holds? For many people, purpose was not something they discovered. It was assigned. It came with a story. God created you. God has a plan for you. God has a purpose for your life. Your job is to discover it, obey it, surrender to it,… Continue reading When God’s Purpose No Longer Holds
What Part of Your Life Did You Inherit?
What part of your life did you inherit — and what part are you ready to examine? Most of Us Do Not Think of Our Lives as Inherited We think of inheritance as money, land, a house, a family Bible, a set of tools, a piece of furniture, a name, or a story passed down… Continue reading What Part of Your Life Did You Inherit?
The Pencil-Driven Life 