Gaining a heart of wisdom
Often, it's the stories we've read one hundred times that surprise us when they jump off the page because of a minor plot point, missed on earlier readings. I'm reading in Exodus again and, once again, we're slogging through the wilderness. God has provided miraculous food, and Israel is singing the blues about missing the… Continue reading The Truth About Your Complaining
A tall platform at the Colorado Springs Zoo gives patrons a once-in-a-lifetime, eyeball-to-eyeball experience with giraffes, the gentle giants of the animal kingdom. Not quite two years old, my little grandson fed lettuce leaves to his new, tame, and very attentive friends. “Look at those big brown eyes!” I crowed. “Big, beautiful eyes like yours!” “Long purple… Continue reading Hey, We Don’t Talk That Way In Our House
Since the blossoms will become green beans, since the tomatoes will soon be crowding each other for a peek of the red-ripening sun, since going to the garden feeds my soul as well as my family, I look forward every year to the season of hunkering down between the bean plants. It seems to become… Continue reading Diligence and Focus: Lessons from My Garden
Fresh out of college, I worked for a children’s ministry. I planned and orchestrated kids' events, taught a lot of Bible lessons and memory verses, but my first great love was teacher training. I loved taking the teachers into the cultural ideas that were shaping the worldviews of the kids they were teaching. I loved… Continue reading Does Your Prayer Life Point to the Beauty of Christ?
One of the underrated benefits of substitute teaching is exposure to the head-spinning fluctuations of the kids' vocabulary. For the uninitiated, you'll be glad to know that if something is good, it slaps. But if I do something well, I slay. Best of all, the quality that allows me to be perceived as performing slap-worthy… Continue reading The Creative Power Of Charisma—Is It A Good Thing?
Every week, we make thousands of decisions, some routine and some monumental. It almost always boils down to a simple yes or no—but for the person sitting in the hot seat, the call often seems anything but simple. Sensing a market to exploit, the internet overflows with books on decision making, oracle cards, and even… Continue reading 6 Best Practices For Making Good Decisions
Tim Keller and the Ministry of Competence My teacher husband is beginning the process of retirement after 33 years in an elementary school classroom. Believe it or not, it's more complicated and requires more thought and paperwork to STOP teaching than it does to accept a new job. Nonetheless, he's encouraged by the realization that… Continue reading Your Work Matters to the World
The slow work of sanctification is a lifelong process. Therefore, most of us get out of bed every morning confident that our "three score and ten" leaves us plenty of tomorrows. Does that sound like a valid license for procrastination to you? With Pentecost Sunday approaching us on the church calendar, I'm thinking about its… Continue reading Celebrate Pentecost with New Commitment Based on an Old Revival
Middles will never be my favorite—not even with a pan of brownies! The middle feels uncertain, and the transition from one shore to another may even become turbulent and dangerous. In our marriages and families, in our careers, and in our ministries, life's shifting seasons can be disorienting. In times of shifting seasons, we're tempted… Continue reading Finding Joy in Seasons of Major Life Adjustment
Before I was married, I worshiped with a lovely community of believers in Portland, a church planted in the days following World War 2, in which early services were conducted in Norwegian. Some of my friends and colleagues in ministry were second or third generation church members with roots deeply planted in that community and… Continue reading Why Is Worshiping God Together So Beautiful?
Living Our Days 