Gaining a heart of wisdom
Sunday Scripture Really? What were they thinking? The Sunday school lesson for my fours and fives featured the life and ministry of John the Baptist. "Perfect," I thought. "He's Jesus's cousin, and two of my little guys are cousins. They'll love that. But what about this...?" "Repent!" That was John's message, and an abstract concept,… Continue reading Do You Have the Right Facts but a Wrong Heart?
Sunday Scripture The only possible downside I can see in exposing young children to classic hymns and great works of music is that sometimes they mange to misinterpret the lyrics and completely miss the point. Handel's great rendering of Isaiah 53:6 in The Messiah landed on my youngest son's ears as "Oh, we like sheep,"… Continue reading Is There an Upside to Being a Sheep?
Sunday Scripture In the practice of mothering, we become fairly adept at knowing when to step in and help our kids with their struggles. As "The Finder of Lost Things," the sounding board for pondering important decisions, or even as a baby-sitter of grandchildren for tired parents who need a break, we love our children… Continue reading The Every Day Grace of a Burden Bearer
Sunday Scripture The day I arm wrestled with one of my sons, it was apparent on which side of the table the real strength lay. Amused, he let me struggle for a bit--rather than flattening me in a heartbeat, which he could have easily done. I'm not the same girl who could once whoop all… Continue reading Looking for Strength in All the Right Places
Sunday Scripture We don’t know who he was because he didn’t sign his name. Was it fear that drove him to anonymity in an age of persecution? Or was it humility? Whoever wrote the letter we now refer to as “Hebrews” certainly knew the Old Testament scriptures, and in chapter eleven he’s connecting the dots… Continue reading Can I Walk by Faith if My Faith is Small?
Sunday Scripture Last night, a full moon lit up the sky here on the hill as a three-dimensional bank of stars drew my eye upward into cold darkness. When daylight comes, evidence for a lavishly generous Creator arrives in living color. Even on a bleak February day, the evergreens stand out against a field of… Continue reading The Amazing Hope of Transformation
Sunday Scripture Every Sunday morning I hunker down at a low table with the four and five year olds at my church. Everyone wants a blue chair, and there's almost always a tussle about something, but eventually, we put the attendance stickers on the bulletin board and settle down to business. There are crayons and… Continue reading The Purposes of God Fulfilled in the Blue Chairs
Sunday Scripture After a long night of empty-net fishing, seven discouraged disciples turned their boat toward shore. The surprise of an early morning Jesus-sighting and the gift of an unexpected and bountiful catch turned their day upside down, and their shore-side picnic with Jesus is one of my favorite New Testament images. What's not to… Continue reading Breakfast for Your Body and the Bread of Life for Your Soul
Sunday Scripture I crave wisdom even more than a single-digit jeans size. All the time, I come face to face with the realization that intelligence, talent, cleverness, or stellar SAT scores pale in comparison to the house-building wisdom of Proverbs 14:1. The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one… Continue reading Making a Commitment to the Wise Building Life
Sunday Scripture But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so… Continue reading All You Have to Be Is Desperate
Living Our Days 