Gaining a heart of wisdom
The distance around my elliptical driveway is one-tenth of a mile. I know this because I drove around it, watching the odometer—and then did it again just to be sure. Sometimes in the fall, I take a careful jog-trot around its leaf-strewn gravel, a compromise intended to jump-start a flagging metabolism without putting undue wear… Continue reading The Benefit of Keeping an Open Mind to the Possibility of Gratitude
The email landed in my inbox from a total stranger, and it arrived with an almost audible thud so heavy were the emotions it carried. It came from the heart of an expectant mother who had just received the news that the baby she was carrying was a boy. She had been hoping for a… Continue reading Mother-Son Relationships | How to Build a Love that Lasts
I had begun to picture cobwebs growing in the corners of my email inbox, and my impatience was rivaled only by my disappointment. After two years of watching my speaking ministry grow, suddenly the invitations had stopped coming. Of course, I kept all my fraught feelings to myself. How could I share this particular sadness… Continue reading Ambition as Cooperation with God | 3 Prayers for the Ambitious Woman
If you want to live well and share wisdom with your children and your neighbors about how they can also live well, the Bible will chart a sound course. If you are looking for inspiration or comfort or if you are preparing a speech, you will certainly want to lift some of the soaring phrases… Continue reading Open Your Bible and Discover the Life-Changing Art of Spiritual Reading
Today, I'm writing for The Joyful Life blog in my role as their Boy Mum contributor, but I want to stress that this post on developing leadership qualities in our children is relevant to ALL mums! As mothers, we sit in the seat of influence with our sons. How we respond to their initiative, their… Continue reading Leadership Qualities Your Son Needs for Today–and Forever!
I woke to the sound of my youngest son calling me.“Muuuum…” His tone told me everything I needed to know. He was sick, likely nauseated, and he needed help. I sat up in bed, ready to rush to his aid. As my feet hit the floor, my head cleared, and two facts crowded into my… Continue reading Bring Your Real Words to the Welcoming Heart of God
I’ve heard it many times and from the most unexpected sources: “I try to read the Bible, but . . . it doesn’t seem to say anything to me. I don’t understand what I’m reading. It doesn’t help me, so I end up quitting . . “ Set this response beside David’s from Psalm 119:… Continue reading So You Want to Be Relevant? Commit to Taking God at His Word!
In the dark, in the car, hands on the steering wheel, I sighed in frustration. “I can’t do this anymore,” I said out loud, startling myself with the fierceness of my tone over the sound of the car’s heater. On that frigid January night, I was brittle with fatigue and hollow with disappointment. I had… Continue reading What Is Your Reference Point for Success in Ministry?
Today I attacked the kind of cleaning chores that I envision other more diligent and domestically devoted women doing all the time, the tidying that requires pulling furniture away from the wall, vacuuming under beds, and applying a ferocious dust cloth to the rungs of chairs and the hidden recesses of bookcases. Homely household routines… Continue reading The Unexpected Gift of Homemaking and What I Learned from Elisabeth Elliot
COVID-19 has initiated the celebration of some very unique milestones. For me, the most memorable was the day I sat between two of my grandchildren and read them a story for the first time since we began sheltering at home. We celebrated the relaxation of strict quarantine here in rural Maine with our little group of… Continue reading How to Persevere All the Way Through the Pandemic: Are We There Yet?
Living Our Days 