Gaining a heart of wisdom
When you’re five years old, baking cookies with your Sunday school teacher at her house on a Saturday morning is just about the best thing in the world. The moment I arrived to pick up my son, I could tell by his beaming face that he had enjoyed every minute of the baking, the snacking,… Continue reading Little People with Big Feelings: 5 Strategies For Emotionally Healthy Kids
Since April 2024, a story has been unfolding very vividly in my home, in our family, and, therefore, in my life. I've held it close, not sharing it here, but the story ended on December 5th, and I've had some time to process its impact. Back in April, a dear friend was diagnosed with advanced-stage… Continue reading Get Wisdom: It’s a Worthy Pursuit for 2025
Today we'll light the third Advent candle and brace ourselves for the coming week. In a perfect world, the shopping is done, the presents are wrapped, and everyone is in agreement on guest lists and festive menus. In the real world, we trust for grace. We prepare to welcome Jesus into our mess, grateful for… Continue reading What Is the Full Purpose of Advent?
We are covered to the elbows in red and green paint, but the festive wrapping paper stretched out to dry on the table before us more than justifies the mess. The toddler points to his distinctively tiny handprints and smiles his satisfaction, as his older brothers start wondering aloud about cocoa with candy cane stirrers.… Continue reading To the Woman Who Feels Crowded by Christmas
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite days of the entire year. It's all about preparation: rolling pie crust, making yeast rolls, peeling vegetables, boiling cranberries, and assembling the traditional turkey stuffing with lots of celery. With Handel's Messiah blasting in the background, I pour a year's worth of gratitude into… Continue reading Are You Giving Thanks for Your Changing Family—and Your Changing Holidays?
Marriage and family are two gifts God has graciously granted to me—even though I didn't have the optimism or good sense to pray for them. Perhaps that's why I am now so grateful for the privilege of being a wife and mother. Maybe that's why I am awestruck with every announcement of another grandchild on… Continue reading Look at All Your Blessings Through Eyes of Wonder
A hymnal is one of the books I use almost daily in my devotional routine, and I love Thanksgiving hymns in November. Their tried and true words and melodies call up visions of harvested fields, gatherings around a loaded table, and God's "countless gifts of love." I learned one of my favorite Thanksgiving hymns in… Continue reading Thank God for What He’s Given You Now
November ushers in my favorite holiday. It's the Gratitude Season—days for making a conscious effort to say "Thank YOU!" to God for all the blessings, big and small, that we take for granted most of the time. Psalm 118 begins with gratitude for God's goodness and mercy, and then proceeds to give evidence to back… Continue reading Most of All, Thank You for Being God
I spent most of my twenties looking in the mirror at a face I didn't love. Makeup interventions, hairstyle adjustments, and even color analysis failed to take the edge off my conviction that something about my face was simply not right. Around the same time, I discovered C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces and felt… Continue reading Learning to Love the Face You’ve Been Given
This morning, the fall colors called me outside for a walk, and, as usual, I ended up in the garden—even though the only living things that remain are the zinnias and the dahlias. I'm cheering the dahlias on in their race against the frost. The buds are there, but having planted them in a spot… Continue reading Fall Gardening in Maine and Other Extreme Acts of Faith
Living Our Days 