How’s it going with you and the kids? Maybe that question doesn’t apply to you. You may be single, or you may not have children, or you may have already raised your brood. If so, bear with me while I address those of you who are still in the process of training and rearing.

In my younger years I had a lot more answers than I do now. Things were absolutely black or white, right or wrong, yes or no, in or out—but a lot of that is beginning to change. The more I travel and read and wrestle and think, the less simplistic things seem. I now find myself uncomfortable with sweeping generalities, neat little categories, and well-defined classifications.

Have you counted your blessings lately? Let me suggest one you might have overlooked. Let’s be thankful for angels—those unseen guardians who work overtime, who never slumber or sleep.

There was once a cricket on the loose in my former church. When things were quiet and still, his wings sang at top volume . . . like at weddings. And funerals. And during long prayers. And very early on Sunday morning before the place started jumpin’ with cars and microphones and organ preludes.

Many great men and women down through the ages have offered counsel on how to keep our tongues checked and caged. Like Will Noris, the American journalist who specialized in rhymes that packed a wallop. He once wrote: “If your lips would keep from slips, / Five things observe with care: / To whom you speak, of whom you speak, / And how . . . and when . . . and where.”