Gaining a heart of wisdom
2024 Best Reads! I'm flinching just a bit over the word "best" here, because what would be a blissful read to me might be torturous for you—or for my good husband who has yet to comprehend my devotion to Wendell Berry's and Marilynne Robinson's fiction. ("Nothing happens!") The four superlatives I've chosen have distinguished themselves… Continue reading My Favorite Books from a Year of Good Reading
Every year, I set a goal of reading 52 books—one per week, and I usually read at least that many. Then I show up here with a weekly book review. According to Goodreads, I read 87 books in 2023, and I'm going to cap off this year of reading and writing with a reflective post… Continue reading Favorite Books 2023—The Best and Brightest from My Reading Year
Sunday Scripture My not-quite-two-year-old grandson has an extensive vocabulary, and one phrase that is serving him well these days is, "Do it self." Instead of holding his mother's hand on the slide: "Do it self." Climbing the stairs or building a block tower with Bam: "Do it self." Clearly, he is both loveable and capable!… Continue reading What is the Meaning and the Method of True Rest?
This month I have been making a practice of noticing all the regular, ordinary parts of my life that inspire gratitude. If we’re friends on Instagram, maybe you’ve seen that I’ve been posting a gratitude journal (almost) daily in my stories, but I haven’t been calling it a gratitude journal. I’ve been calling it a… Continue reading The November Book Talk and Why I Think Gratitude Is Like a Bouquet
Who would imagine that biblical lists could be a rich source of spiritual insight? It's really tempting to just skip over them, but lately, I've come upon a better plan. Rather than skipping over the lists as if they were somehow “extra,” what if we viewed them as a string of beads to finger and… Continue reading The September Book Talk Plus a FREE Printable to Guide You Into Scripture Meditation
Summer time is famous for its beach reads, for light fiction with a happy ending or lots of breezy self-help selections. If that's you, then I'm not judging. Happy summer reading to you! Sometimes, though, summer is the perfect opportunity to go deep with your reading, to tackle a challenging author, to make time for… Continue reading Did I Hear You Say You Want to Go Deep with Your Summer Reading?
Movement outside my window is a continual distraction this time of year. Leaves floating down in vibrant shades of turmeric and cayenne pull my attention away from the pan on the stove, the recipe on the counter, the book I’m trying to read. The autumn foliage is breathtaking on this country hill, and I’m reminded… Continue reading The October Book Talk: Where Reading Friends Love to Gather
May has been a month for gathering and for celebrating milestones. Our third son graduated from Eastern Maine Community College on a Friday afternoon, and then the family landed here on the hill that Sunday for Mother's Day. On Monday of that same weekend, the Ladies' Missionary Fellowship came for a turkey dinner and our… Continue reading Musings: May 2019
A worn banister sits at the center of a colonial-era farmhouse in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. There, the winter of 1777-78 brought deep suffering, privation, and grueling labor in freezing cold with the goal of building adequate housing for the Colonial Army--two thousand small cabins. Once his men were settled, George Washington took up residence--along with… Continue reading Musings: April 2019
I'm no physicist, but it would appear that a cannon ball, shot due north from Bangor, Maine on a snowy-cold Saturday morning, could travel unobstructed all the way to the Canadian border. We left home in the dark for a quick visit with much-loved relatives, eight hours round trip, but worth every minute and every… Continue reading Musings: January 2019
Living Our Days 