Gaining a heart of wisdom
I am working my way through a hymnal at the rate of one per day, reading the lyrics, trying to hear them over the roar of familiarity that dulls all meaning. I'm making note of the most vivid words in my journal, and am continually astonished at the treasures I am uncovering: "From the best… Continue reading The March Book Talk Where Smart People Read While We Wait for Spring
Sunday Scripture When I am serving as a substitute teacher, I'm often intrigued by the books I find sitting on the desktops of the teachers I am helping. Sometimes there is even time for me to skim a chapter or to scan the table of contents and to be inspired. On a middle school math… Continue reading When Obstacles Become Part of Your New and Good Story
In the dark, in the car, hands on the steering wheel, I sighed in frustration. “I can’t do this anymore,” I said out loud, startling myself with the fierceness of my tone over the sound of the car’s heater. On that frigid January night, I was brittle with fatigue and hollow with disappointment. I had… Continue reading What Is Your Reference Point for Success in Ministry?
Sunday Scripture Did you remember to spring forward today? Every year when we "spring forward" and go around the house setting all our clocks ahead one hour, I lament the disappearance of that hour of sleep or productivity. I know... we get the hour back in the fall, but, to tell the honest truth, some… Continue reading Do You Feel As If Your Spring Forward Is Just Plain Sprung?
Today I attacked the kind of cleaning chores that I envision other more diligent and domestically devoted women doing all the time, the tidying that requires pulling furniture away from the wall, vacuuming under beds, and applying a ferocious dust cloth to the rungs of chairs and the hidden recesses of bookcases. Homely household routines… Continue reading The Unexpected Gift of Homemaking and What I Learned from Elisabeth Elliot
Sunday Scripture I've been in charge of the woodstove lately, and since my good husband is recovering from surgery, I have learned that as long as I have a half cord of kindling and the equivalent of a Boston Globe, I can, indeed, start and maintain a respectable fire. I've started collecting bark and small… Continue reading Let Truth Kindle Your Flame of Passionate Hope
COVID-19 has initiated the celebration of some very unique milestones. For me, the most memorable was the day I sat between two of my grandchildren and read them a story for the first time since we began sheltering at home. We celebrated the relaxation of strict quarantine here in rural Maine with our little group of… Continue reading How to Persevere All the Way Through the Pandemic: Are We There Yet?
Sunday Scripture My grandchildren love to help me in the kitchen, just as their father was my helper when he was small enough to stand on a stool and struggle to keep all the flour in the mixing bowl. This variety of "help" usually requires a fair amount of work and patience on my part.… Continue reading What to Do When You Need a Helper
Since the Lord in his infinite wisdom has ordained that, here in Mid-Coast Maine, snow and cold should always be followed immediately by rain and warm temperatures, it's unusual for the ground to be covered with white for weeks at a time. https://videopress.com/v/ewIVqeKl?preloadContent=metadata Here's what snow sounds like underfoot at zero degrees Fahrenheit, and my… Continue reading The February Book Talk Where Friends Come in from the Cold
Sunday Scripture "I don't need to listen to this," I said out loud (to myself) as I clicked out of my podcast app. The truth is, I could have information pouring into my eyes and ears every minute of the day: news, commentary on the news, audio books, book reviews, interviews, or conversations on the… Continue reading Practice Rich Habits of Faith to Minimize Distractions in a Noisy World
Living Our Days 