Gaining a heart of wisdom
I hardly ever bake our very favorite homemade bread. It's delicious and moist with just a hint of molasses. We enjoy it with soup, and it makes the best toast, but I don't make it very often because it has to rise twice in the bowl and then, again, in the pans. (I'll be sharing… Continue reading Wait, Trust, and Declare Your Allegiance to Easter Hope
I discovered Be Thou My Vision, the classic hymn, when I was in my twenties during a season when my own vision was clouded by uncertainty about the future and lack of clarity about my calling. It was a beautiful and poetic way for me to howl, "Show me, LORD! What is true? What is… Continue reading Time-Bound and Short-Sighted, We Need God to be Our Vision
Waiting for spring, hanging off the northeast end of the U.S. mainland, it’s a challenge to get into an Easter frame of mind. The dark is still holding sway over the light, and resurrection-thinking requires a muscular faith. Although the calendar tells me that spring will come, this hope in a future date can seem like a… Continue reading When You Are Wondering if Spring Will Ever Come
C.S. Lewis famously said, "No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good." Any foolishness about humanity's innate goodness goes out the window the first time we try to break a bad habit, adopt a godly practice, or keep our mouths shut in the company of an annoying family member.… Continue reading 6 Course Corrections to Avoid Settling for a Mediocre Righteousness
I never like disagreeing with Jesus. After all, he is the Son of God, so when he takes a position on something in Scripture, I am committed to agree. I want to see things his way. But what about his teaching on prayer in Matthew 21? He had just cursed a fig tree, and it… Continue reading When God Says No—The Good Gift of Unanswered Prayer
Have you ever noticed people's reactions when they are unexpectedly confronted with their own reflection in a mirror or a storefront window? Tiny corrections of posture, expression, or clothing seem to be called for to align the image with the person's self-perception: "Oh, no! Is that what I REALLY look like?" Lent comes to us as… Continue reading Observe Lent Full of Hope Because Easter is Coming
I've been writing obliquely about my Parkinson's disease diagnosis for the past year or more, but today the story takes center stage in an interview with Lois Flowers. She asks probing questions that tease out the details of my story, but more than that—it's a conversation about what C.S. Lewis would have called The Problem… Continue reading Discovering the Love of God on the Pathway of Adversity
I've recently taken up my knitting needles and resumed the practice of making mittens. My homemade mittens used to warm the hands of my four sons, but these days I'm working on making mittens for my six grandkids. Right now, I'm over halfway through the second tiny pink pair. I love being “Bam” to six… Continue reading How Has God Demonstrated His Love for You?
On this collision of holidays with ashes for mourning and hearts for love,We are grateful, Lord Jesus, for your perfect love and for your wrath-absorbing sacrifice. We confess that our own love is unreliable, intermittent, and usually utterly dependent upon our feelings and our circumstances. Thank you for your steadfast love that extends to the… Continue reading On this Day of Hearts and Ashes—You Are Deeply Flawed but Also Deeply Loved
An Old Testament Love Story—My Valentine to You! Oh, how she had grown to hate him. Ten thousand offenses, both small and large, had accumulated over the years since their arranged marriage. Practical and traditional, Father had seen a prosperous match: “Abigail, you will marry a descendant of Caleb,” he had exulted. Abigail had found… Continue reading An Unexpected Love Calls You to Rise and Follow
Living Our Days 