Gaining a heart of wisdom
Last summer, we canoed down the Saco River. With kayaks, canoes, and colorful life jackets, we were a festive family flotilla bobbing along in the gentle current. On the way to our destination, we swam, sunned ourselves on sandbars, and the kids played a rousing game of gunwale wars. It was the kind of day… Continue reading Faith, Family, and the Adoption Journey
Somewhere within the first decade of our marriage, my husband and I began to notice a disturbing trend: marriages dissolving all around us. In the church we attended at that time, three couples went their separate ways in a single year. They were active, visible members -- regular attenders. We looked at each other, both… Continue reading Activate the Love Filter: 5 Principles to Safeguard Your Marriage
Joanne's kitchen table was an uncontrollable force in her life, always covered with an assortment of books, mail, loaves of bread, and magazines. It became a joke between us that she was always in the process of clearing it. Fortunately for me, another uncontrollable force in her life was the power of God. She had… Continue reading Coming Alongside as a Way of Life
We were the fun department: Human Resources. We all had cute accessories and big hair. (Hey, it was the 80's.) After the whole department took the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) test, we gathered after work to discuss the results. Our facilitator began by dividing us into two seemingly random groups tasked with the answer to… Continue reading Living Beyond First Person: How to Really Benefit from Personality Inventories
We picked raspberries a couple of weeks ago -- the free kind that grow along the edges of fields and in the company of thistles. They were succulent. I could wrap words around a description of raspberry picking: the gentle encompassing pressure that releases a perfectly ripe berry from its stem; the empty white cone… Continue reading Life, Life, and More Life
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
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
Last year, I started keeping a list of prayer requests, dated and described, and then, to my great surprise -- answers! Clear direction for a son, help and success in a ministry opportunity, a new and wonderful job for my husband. Reviewing the list from time to time, I'm reminded to give thanks, and I'm… Continue reading God Moves Mountains When Women Pray
It is reasonable to think that a book like Street of Eternal Happiness could be written about any stretch of road on the planet -- even this country hill where white clapboards and long driveways are separated by acres of margin. Even here, I'm sure this winding road is lined on both sides with serial narratives. The… Continue reading Living the Chinese Dream
Living Our Days 