Gaining a heart of wisdom
Receive . . . Enjoy . . . Let go Freighted with meanings and memories, associations and reflections far beyond their official definitions, words can be an invitation to pay attention. Watch . . . Accept . . . Resist Marilyn McEntyre has chosen fifteen words as the basis for fifteen weeks of daily meditations,… Continue reading The Power of a Single Word
My growing-up Christmases were heavy on Santa Claus and Frosty the Snowman. Linus's hushed tones filled me in on the true meaning of Christmas via our first colored t.v., but I wanted that story to take center stage for my own children. The celebration of Advent has been key for our family in spreading out… Continue reading A Very Tozer Christmas
Finally, about ten years ago, the light began to dawn, and you can't imagine how disappointed I was. I realized that parenting is not a cause and effect proposition. It's not a vending machine in which I insert my actions (seizing teachable moments, training in character, consistency in discipline) and then am rewarded by equal and… Continue reading Grateful Parents: Grateful Kids
"You need to stop reading those magazines." Once again, the patient husband had come home from work to find me in a puddle of panic over some detail in the life of our firstborn. Some days I was convinced that I was a failure as a mother; other days I was sure that I had… Continue reading Enjoy Your Preschooler
With a sigh of relief, I glued the last tiny piece of the decoration into place: a scattering of yellow felt hay secured to the silhouette of a brown felt manger. I'm craft-challenged, no doubt, but the adorable grandboy is two, and he's quite ready to start making memories of an Advent tree banner with… Continue reading An Eternity of Days
Lectio divina, the practice of "sacred reading," brings to mind images of flickering candles and meditative silences broken only by the turn of a page or the scratch of a pen on paper. The flickering candle I can manage, but my dining room table "command post" is where just about any kind of reading happens at my… Continue reading Sacred Reading – Hands On
Stop signs and flashing lights preside over busy intersections. Commas and semi-colons mark the collision of clauses. Wouldn't it be lovely if there were some ready marker or built-in gulp of air at the major crossroads of life? Kelly Chripczuk began living the transition from ten years in full-time mothering mode when her youngest children went… Continue reading Chickens at the Crossroads
Six years ago, Ann Voskamp took the dare to dive deep into a lifestyle of gratitude. Could she record one thousand gifts from God and let her heart be changed by the knowledge of all the ways that God loved her? She wrote about the dare in her first book, and suddenly the Greek word… Continue reading The Broken Reaching Out to the Broken
There's a Greek alphabet tucked into my cookbook shelf, and every so often I bump into it in my search for a recipe. It's an apt metaphor for the place and prominence that deep study plays in my every day life -- tucked somewhere between the soup and the muffins. The reappearance of that chart… Continue reading Five Reasons You Should Study Greek
The words of 17th century poet John Milton from On His Blindness, come to mind with every visit to my mother's long-term care facility: "They also serve who only stand and wait." I hope it's true, and I'd love to report that in the midst of my waiting we have warm and meaningful conversations or… Continue reading Standing and Waiting with Those Who Suffer
Living Our Days 