Gaining a heart of wisdom
Since the blossoms will become green beans, since the tomatoes will soon be crowding each other for a peek of the red-ripening sun, since going to the garden feeds my soul as well as my family, I look forward every year to the season of hunkering down between the bean plants. It seems to become… Continue reading Diligence and Focus: Lessons from My Garden
As the mum to four sons, I've tackled a lot of tough stains in my mothering career, but no one had ever embedded Slime1 in my living room carpet—until this year. Full disclosure, our rug has a floral pattern, and this (combined with my slipshod housekeeping practices) allowed the Slime to pass as a "leaf"… Continue reading On Mother’s Day, Rinse and Repeat with Truth
Today, you and I are writing the story we'll be remembered for long after our life is over. As a parent to four adults, my mothering story has been written, and the lessons learned are being folded into the story of my grandmothering days. What story do I want to be able to tell?What stories… Continue reading What Story Do You Want to Leave Behind?
Hope is one of those words that might show up on a couch pillow or a coffee mug. We've domesticated the word. The church has tamed it until it's become a floating, sentimental abstraction. The truth is that hope is our lifeline. Paul commends the believers in Thessalonica for their "steadfastness of hope in our… Continue reading Hope: The Sure And Steady Anchor Of My Soul
When you’re five years old, baking cookies with your Sunday school teacher at her house on a Saturday morning is just about the best thing in the world. The moment I arrived to pick up my son, I could tell by his beaming face that he had enjoyed every minute of the baking, the snacking,… Continue reading Little People with Big Feelings: 5 Strategies For Emotionally Healthy Kids
Do you ever stop and think about the why behind all that you do? Especially if you are involved in ministry, what motivates you to keep on working? Is it duty?Pressure from others?Habit?A desire to look good, to be thought well of? Or do you serve God from a heart of love?What motivates your obedience… Continue reading What’s the Temperature of Your Love Relationship with the Lord?
“Do you always read to your kids like that?” she queried. My friend was referring to my rendition of a Dr. Seuss classic delivered at tongue-twister speed from a rocking chair in the church nursery: “Would you like them in a house?Would you like them with a mouse?Would you eat them in a box?Would you… Continue reading How To Cultivate a Healthy Relationship with Time When You’re Hardwired for Hurry
The Christmas cards we send are a tiny point of connection that happens once a year. As a reader at Living Our Days, you have given me that gift of connection repeatedly in 2022, every time you have met me here over my offering of words. Thank you for all the many ways you have… Continue reading Thank You for the Gift of Connection: Merry Christmas 2022
My granddaughter's ponytail falls in blonde ringlets, and her wardrobe manifests all the many moods of pink and frilly. Having been a girl of a very different stripe, and then having raised four rowdy sons, I am in quiet awe of her unmitigated girliness. Together, we have made jam, blown bubbles, and painted messy pictures.… Continue reading Standing Beside You, Teaching What Is Good
Read me the stories Of Jesus and Santa, Of stockings and shepherds and toys. Tell me the wonders Of snowflakes and wisemen, Of cookies and mystery and joy. Read "Night Before Christmas," Recite from Luke 2 and The wild words from prophets of old. Sing a Blue Christmas Then open your throat wide And shout… Continue reading Growing Up with the True Christmas Light
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