Gaining a heart of wisdom
Now that winter with its "firm, business-like cold"1 has arrived here in Maine, bare branches open up the landscape for a good view of the horizon, but the sun does little to mitigate the monotonous gray or the hard-as-iron ground under my feet. I'll admit that most days I take to the basement exercise bike… Continue reading Do You Ever Wonder if God Has a Reason for Your Suffering?
I'm reading through the Bible again this year and working hard to pay attention to the BIG story. Genesis has started my year with one narrative after another, most of which any Sunday school child could retell, but my reading will be richer if I can bear in mind that all the little stories are… Continue reading What Do Biblical Stories Teach Us About God’s Heart for Women?
What do you want in 2023? Most of us will come up with a long list of things. Possessions, jobs, relationships, goals--hey, it's a new year, and hope is in the air! I wonder, though, if any of our things have any resemblance to the things God recommends to us in this collection of Scripture… Continue reading The Crucial Question for Beginning a New Year: What Do You Want?
In this new year, it's time to sing blessing over our loved ones and over the year. It's time to be a blessing and to live blessed by remembering the generosity of a faithful God whose promises are solid and whose power is absolute. The words we say (and even the words we think) are… Continue reading Happy New Year Blessings for You and Your Loved Ones
Roots and wings are the gifts Christian parents pass on to our children. We establish rules, give them responsibilities that build confidence and skill, and water those deep roots with lots of love and prayer, knowing that strengthening wings will soon carry our children away from home, out of reach of our influence and our… Continue reading Three Biblical Ways to Pray for Your Adult Children
Fleming Rutledge describes Advent as a "season that begins in darkness and ends in light." Certainly for us in the Northern Hemisphere, the Light she writes about is "shed abroad in our hearts," but both ends of the day still make for challenging conditions if you crave sunlight for your power walk. Late autumn temperatures… Continue reading Heaven and Nature Sing, and You’re Invited to Join the Party
Welcome to the season of ceaseless striving! Of course, Thanksgiving and Christmas are never billed that way, and I truly hope that it's NOT your experience! However, if you're paying close attention to all the flickering candles and peaceful white twinkly lights on your Instagram feed, it's entirely possible that you're getting a different version… Continue reading A Peaceful and Joyful Holiday Season Begins with a Request for Rest
I stood today on the front deck, camera pointed upward, waiting for the wind to blow. The rain of colored leaves was more dramatic in person than in the video I was trying to make, but I know this particular beauty signals the beginning of the end: the end of a season of brightness and… Continue reading Your On-Ramp to Comfort and Joy for Seasons of Suffering
Are you ready? The holiday chain reaction has already begun with Christmas cards and huge inflatable Santas crowding out the pumpkins and the ghoulish costumes long before the back-to-school clearance bins have been packed away. A posture of resistance to the retail rush requires a better strategy, one with "expulsive power" to counteract the pressure… Continue reading The Expulsive Power of a Better Strategy for the Holiday Chain Reaction
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour and that one is what we are doing.” Annie Dillard, The Writing Life When I first read this quote from Annie Dillard, I was up to my fetlocks in raising four sons. What I was doing… Continue reading Jump-Start Your Daily Routines and Establish Good Habits for a Lifetime
Living Our Days 