Gaining a heart of wisdom
When school started in the fall, I introduced a series in our Sunday School on God's incommunicable attributes -- for the kids. The timing was perfect: everyone was going back to school. We all have lots to learn. God has never needed to learn anything. He is omniscient . . . and on we… Continue reading Theology 101 (In the Nursery)
Forgetful, we fall away. We center our faith around the responsibilities that we fulfill or the well-worn habits that frame the seasons, when Christianity, at its core, is not a job description, but, rather, a relationship. Love for God is foundational to all defining realities of the true believer, and if it has ceased to… Continue reading Rekindling Relationship
Because I'm a planner, I carry a planner, but the truth is that my planner carries me. All pristine and un-besmirched, the 2017 edition holds out the promise of glorious accomplishment and blessed organization in a life that often feels like spinning plates and chaos management. Shannan Martin started her marriage and motherhood in much… Continue reading The Freedom is in the Falling
I googled the term the first time I heard it, not even sure how to pronounce it. Enneagram: "Any - a - gram" Named for a nine-sided polygon, the Enneagram distinguishes and describes nine facets of the human personality, nine different ways of being, nine unique manifestations of the image of God on this planet. In The… Continue reading The Enneagram and The Road Back to You
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
Living Our Days 