Gaining a heart of wisdom
Dining on cubes of watermelon and calling it breakfast, the youngest son stands pajama-clad at the counter, his toothpick a dowser for the juiciest chunks. In just a few end-of-summer days from now he will be up to his fetlocks in geometry, and I will be preserving the summer sweetness of our red tomatoes with… Continue reading Sending Grace Downstream
Stuffing a ratty t-shirt into the washer's maw, I try not to think about the fact that it was only yesterday that I hung this very same t-shirt on the clothesline. The laundry is never done -- even though we are down to a family of four these days. How in the world did I… Continue reading “Laundry Is My Overflowing Inbox”: Working within the Home
Part of the delight of spending time with my tiny grandson is that he takes nothing for granted. Nothing. "Bam, why bubble pop?" "Because you stood on it." "Why?" Well, good question. Why indeed, but our conversations routinely run on in this vein of relentless curiosity. They move forward not because "Bam" comes up with… Continue reading The Spiritual Practice of Curiosity
Three-hole punched and organized into a shiny new notebook, my teaching notes were ready to go. The call had come, I had done the long work of study and heart preparation – and I was terrified. Tiny voices of doubt nibbled away at my confidence: “You’re such a spiritual lightweight! Nothing you can discern from… Continue reading Follow Your Calling in Spite of Your Fear
The corn's not as "high as an elephant's eye" here on this country hill in Maine, but it's shoulder-high, and I'm sure the raccoons are already planning a picnic. The tomatoes are in blossom and I picked two big bags of green beans today, so canning season has officially begun. And . . . the… Continue reading Musings — July 2017
“Wait a minute, ” I interrupted. “Read that again. Is that really in Isaiah?” My husband and I are reading through the Bible again this year — together and out loud. Aside from the challenge of actually being in the same room (or the same vehicle) at the same time for this daily discipline and delight,… Continue reading Can Busy Mums Really Find Time to Spend with God? (Part 2)
Life has a way of expanding to fill the available space. Little League games used to occupy Saturday mornings with hours of sunshine (and mosquitoes) and with chatting on the bleachers with other mums. However, a quick glance around my house reveals our family has aged out of that particular American institution. We’ve moved on,… Continue reading Living in the Wide Open Spaces
Long lashes against his pale cheeks, my youngest son was sleeping soundly despite the beeping and whirring backdrop of the children’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU). The ambulance ride, the endless testing and probing, and the grim diagnosis were secondary now to my boy’s constant pain, his fear, and the question marks that persisted hour after… Continue reading Declaration of Dependence
Sunlight slanted through the passenger-side window, and a light breeze lifted the pages of the Bible that was propped against the steering wheel to make room for the notebook in my lap. Middle school band practice always lasted 45 minutes -- not long enough to bother going home. And since the older children were all… Continue reading Can Busy Mums Really Find Time to Spend with God? (Part 1)
The average human being lives approximately 30,000 days -- which sounded like a long stretch of time until I did the math and discovered that, as of today, I will have lived 20,005 of mine. Catherine L. Morgan envisions these Thirty Thousand Days as a journey home, traveling on a rattle trap train toward a sure… Continue reading Standing Ready to Be Amazed
Living Our Days 