Gaining a heart of wisdom
For years I celebrated Easter as if it were a stand-alone holiday, singing "Up from the Grave He Arose" without giving much thought to the horror of the Dying or the silence of the Dead. Providentially, my early efforts to incarnate and to enliven an invisible God in the hearts of four sweet boys found a way into the obtuse heart of… Continue reading One Weekend in History – For Ruby Magazine
By midwinter, the empty canning jars on my basement shelves are beginning to overtake the number of full jars. Clear glass glints beside the jewel-toned beets, briny pickles, and thick spaghetti sauce. By practicing the dying art of canning, I pay attention to these containers, knowing that a family of six can put away as… Continue reading All You Have to Be Is Desperate
The walls had been rebuilt. The people living in and around the city of Jerusalem had gathered. Along with the fresh aroma of new lumber from Ezra’s wooden platform and his strong voice ringing out over the hum of the crowd, celebration was in the air! Within the barely-renovated city walls of Jerusalem, there was… Continue reading Celebration and Lament
Whether it's a movie, a novel, a picture book, or a tale spun around the dining room table, we are drawn to stories. In I Corinthians 10, the Apostle Paul looks back on one of the most well-known stories of his people and uses the important images there to illustrate sobering truth for a fledgling… Continue reading Sharing the Story
Remember the last time you were in a conversation with someone who really seemed to be listening? They asked all the right questions, and they seemed, honestly and truly, to want to hear your story. They nodded and looked you right in the eye, smiled with encouragement, laughed in all the right places. And it's… Continue reading Always a Surprise
“You don’t need to fast,” she said. “Your prayers are enough.” But I did need to fast, because her situation sounded really bleak, and God was talking to my heart about it. Bev was traveling alone in Uganda when she injured her knee hurrying across a busy street. Swollen to nearly twice its size,… Continue reading Let It Burn!
Unbelieving, I held the phone to my ear. Joanne? Sick? We had always talked by phone every few weeks, but wait . . . how long had it been? And now a call from her husband with tears in his voice. I could feel the conversation moving in a direction that I could not absorb:… Continue reading Sisterhood is Eternal
Life-changing . . . When I was fifteen, I attended a ten-day training event in preparation for a summer of children’s ministry. For the life of me, I’ll never remember what possessed me to think that I could hold the attention of a group of kids – or that I would dare to open my… Continue reading Relationship: The Active Ingredient
Close your eyes and do not peek, And I’ll rub spring across your cheek. Smooth as satin, soft and sleek, Now close your eyes and do not peek. I can’t begin to count how many times my husband has come home from a spring outing with these words from his childhood . . . and… Continue reading Blessed Are Those Who Persevere
“Spring is a promise in the closed fist of a long winter . . .” Lifted from a poem by Luci Shaw, these words frame my thinking on this blustery day when the promises I made to myself and to God back in January about healthy choices and better habits have begun to sputter out for… Continue reading Spring Is a Promise
Living Our Days 