Gaining a heart of wisdom
Flipping open the pages of my Bible, I turned to the book of Matthew, my scheduled reading for the day, and my entry into the New Testament after months of reading in the Old. This is where I should have picked up my phone and texted my reading partner, Peg, to say, "Hey! We made… Continue reading Stay Present to the Truth Even in Your Grief
Going through an old journal from the days of four kids under the age of nine, I found an entry based on my reading of Nehemiah 4:10: “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot build the wall.” “Wow,” I thought, scanning the entry. “That must have been quite… Continue reading Feeling Helpless in the Rubble? Remember the Lord!
In the aftermath of a big snowstorm, I'm grateful for the good work of our son with his snowplow. He clears the driveway, pushes the snow into big piles, and leaves the yard accessible to our vehicles and our feet. What works great here in the northeast when winter has us by the throat does… Continue reading You Need to Know that God Is Not a Snowplow Parent
When my sons were small, I kept a running list of their funny sayings in my journal or in the memory books I kept for each of them. Many of the most amusing or surprising were questions: "What's inside my tongue?""Did Moses watch tv?""Does Penny (our dog) pray?" They kept me on my toes, but… Continue reading Does Your Life Inspire Questions from Your Grandkids?
Remember when photographs were tangible? Captured on film and then printed on paper? Before the digital age, that's how memories were stored, so I have boxes and boxes full of photo albums and loose, individual pictures that need to be passed on to my sons. In this sorting process, I keep bumping into pictures of… Continue reading Are Your Heart and Your Feet in the Same Place?
We've been tackling some much-needed cleaning projects here on the hill, and it feels good to move furniture, vacuum up accumulated dust, and throw away the things we don't need. Big jobs require time and a certain amount of elbow grease, but the results reward the investment. Routine tasks are less exciting: wiping down the… Continue reading Your Only Sure Protection from the Tragedy of Moral Collapse
Every January 1st, I am greeted by the same bracing truth as I turn again to the first page of my well-worn flip calendar of Elisabeth Elliot quotes: Lord, give me a quiet heartThat doesn’t need to understand,But, confident, walks forward inThe darkness, guided by your hand." In a sense, everyone steps into the darkness… Continue reading 6 Means Through Which God May Choose to Guide You in the New Year
Over the years, I have kept the same address book, a quaint and archaic practice for sure in this highly digitized world. To accommodate my more transient friends and family, all the entries are in pencil, and many bear the scuff marks of frequent erasures. This year, as I was addressing our Christmas letters, I… Continue reading Ending the Year by Noticing The Names Of The Missing
Decision-making is hard, and it's a process I never enjoy. Now, we've reached the stage in life when we're bearing witness to the decisions of our sons and their families, which is really a spectator sport—unless we get invited onto the field to share an opinion. Buying a house or a car, changing jobs, or… Continue reading Receive the Gift of Advent Every Moment of Your Life
Generations ago, here in Maine, I imagine one way mothers prepared their daughters for life was by teaching them how to make a good chowder. They would have needed to learn how to regulate the heat on a wood-fueled cookstove, and if they wanted to eat in February, they would have needed to learn how… Continue reading The Best Preparation for a Meaningful Christmas
Living Our Days 