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
I come from a tradition that is suspicious of written or scripted prayers, believing that spontaneity is a sign of sincerity and casting askance glances at those who must borrow the words of others in order to talk to God. Then I became a mother and realized that not only were my own words in… Continue reading A Mosaic of Images on Joy and Prayer
Welcome to Week 7 of our discussion of C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces! As we consider the events of Chapters 16-18, I'm looking forward to another opportunity to hear your insights into this unfolding drama. Plot Summary Once again, Orual creeps back into the palace unseen, but after this catastrophic encounter with Psyche, it… Continue reading A Veiled Life in the Sandy Waste: Till We Have Faces (7)
I have invited the readers who visit Living Our Days to join me in reading C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, and to return here each Thursday for a discussion. If you're just joining us, you can find the reading schedule here. Approaches to C.S. Lewis's brand of fiction vary widely, ranging from "This is a… Continue reading Till We Have Faces (2): Longing for the Grey Mountain
#2967 -- The sweet and tart of cranberry bread. #2968 -- Peach colored dawn behind silhouetted branches. #2969 -- Phone call from far-away friends . . . . . . and so I approach the end of another year of giving thanks, another record of the day-by-day goodness of God in my Gratitude Journal. Giving thanks is… Continue reading Three Thousand Gifts — A Thanksgiving Checkpoint
Knocking twenty-two years’ worth of dust off a resume stretches the definition of “creative writing” to its limit. After giving my time away for two decades, can I convince even myself that my skills are marketable? Am I still capable of holding my own in the workforce? The questions hang in the air like a… Continue reading Veering into the Serene Providence
David stooped down and picked up a handful of stones, smooth to his touch and weighty. The rest of his story tumbles effortlessly into memory: the battle with Goliath, David's rise to fame in Israel, the finger of God upon his life. In Five Traits of a Christ Follower, Doug Nuenke fills up the metaphor of those five… Continue reading 5 Smooth Stones
My youngest son's best friend is an adopted orphan from Africa. Their first "play date" was barely impacted by the language barrier, and they have been friends for so many years that they can just barely remember life without each other. For this reason, Mike and Hayley Jones' story about their adoption of eight (yes,… Continue reading The Great Eight!
Is there anything better than a book in the mail? The A to Z Guide to Bible Signs and Symbols landed in my mailbox last Saturday, and I was immediately drawn by its glossy weight. Everything about the book, particularly its colorful images, said "quality." Opening to the introduction, I learned that a symbol's job is… Continue reading A Week of Signs and Symbols
The Puritans, apparently, were not preoccupied with self-esteem issues. John Owen's opening thoughts in Chapter 12 of The Mortification of Sin demonstrate the great gulf between his mind set and present-day sensibilities. Even though it may be understood that, when compared with the God of the universe, yes, any mortal creature could be filled "at all… Continue reading Mind the Gap
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