Gaining a heart of wisdom
Elisabeth Elliot offers the most durable definition for suffering I've ever heard: Suffering is Having What You Don't Want -- This covers everything from cancer to a flat tire. Or Wanting What You Don't Have -- A spouse, a child, a new job. Life on a fallen planet includes suffering of all types and intensities,… Continue reading Knowing God in the Midst of Our Pain
According to popular wisdom, ten thousand hours of deliberate practice are required for excellence in any field. After 20 years of homeschooling, 25 years of mothering, and 30 years of gardening and canning, I'm doing the math and wondering if mastery is even a possibility in any of these life compartments. Maybe a more realistic… Continue reading Why It’s Great to Be a Woman
Written by real people with genuine feelings--often worn closer to the surface than this stoic New Englander might like--the Bible gives voice to a full range of emotions. There is plenty of joy, lots of celebration, and this has found its way into our worship. However, we are less comfortable with the practice of biblical… Continue reading A Melody Above the Noise of Your Grief
When Ray Rhodes, Jr. was investigating topics for his dissertation, he followed his life long interest in Charles Spurgeon and began to research Spurgeon's marriage and the spiritual element of his relationship with his wife of thirty-six years, Susannah Spurgeon. Surprisingly, his interest led him away from "the prince of preachers" and toward a more… Continue reading The Life and Legacy of Susannah Spurgeon
There's an old hymn that we don't sing much any more, but it's worth re-visiting because the final verse puts words around the futility of language in expressing the inexpressible: "Could we with ink the ocean fill,And were the skies of parchment made,Were every stalk on earth a quill,And every man a scribe by trade;To… Continue reading When You Expect Nothing and Get the Gift of Everything
One of the great gifts of blogging has been the privilege of helping authors with book launches as they release their good words into the world. Here are four books that have been joyful additions to my personal reading for the month of March. War Against Distracted Living In a world where our brains are… Continue reading 4 Joyful Spring Reads for You and Your Family
He said:Â "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." She said:Â "The deepest lessons come out the deepest waters and the hottest fires." And all the world still takes note, for Jim Elliot was a courageous missionary pioneer and martyr. Elisabeth Elliot was a superior… Continue reading Jim and Elisabeth Elliot: A Deep and Delighted Love
Soon, I will take up over-sized loppers with wooden handles that should have been oiled last fall, and, once late winter begins to move toward almost-spring, I will snip branches from our feral and fly-away forsythia bush. Bare branches in a sturdy vase will eventually give way to bright yellow blossoms--except for when they don't… Continue reading Your Invitation to Embrace a New, True Life
Cold February is no context for thoughts of spring. Like the daffodils, our hopes are asleep under a crust of dirty snow. Nonetheless, retailers rush to display Easter candy and sleeveless, frilly dresses for us to admire in our winter coats and boots. Thoughts of resurrection seem out of place somehow when bare trees can't… Continue reading Musings: February 2019
There's Abby, my resource, the friend I call on when I need advice--or a place to vent; There's Sandi, my ministry colleague and voice of reason; the friend I laugh with and work alongside; There's Lori who sets the example for me:Â hard-working, huge-hearted, and the friend with whom I have grown into mothering. There… Continue reading You Can Cultivate Lasting Friendship in a Lonely World
