Gaining a heart of wisdom
Bread dough the color of molasses yielded to the pressure of my working fist. Fold, press, turn, repeat, and soon I lost count of how many times I had kneaded the fragrant lump. With the recipe calling for three hundred repetitions, I began to wonder... Three hundred? Really? Switching to the heel of my hand,… Continue reading Create the Right Conditions for Spiritual Growth: Trust the Recipe
Along the wooded trail behind my home, a birch tree arches in a graceful curve as it stretches across the pathway. It’s a veteran of a good many northern New England ice storms and knows what it is to bow low under a weight of snow and frozen rain. Even though its tip-top branches have… Continue reading Solid Theology and the Gift of Community: Keys to Resilient Mothering
One of the best features of the church I call home is the perpetually shifting hats I get to wear. Recently, the flu sidelined several of our families, effectively gutting the Sunday school. I teach the ladies, and since the mums were all home with their sick kids, I got to teach the only healthy… Continue reading On What Are You Basing Your Value, Your Hope, and Your Being?
Depending on what time zone you're in and what your reading habits might be, there's a good chance that, if you're reading this post on a Sunday morning, I'm either getting ready to go to church, driving toward the church we call home, or actively engaged in Sunday worship. For our family, church attendance is… Continue reading Sunday Worship: 5 Arguments in Favor from the Writing of C.S. Lewis
Anyone who tries to keep up with the publishing industry--even if your scope is as narrowly focused as mine--can attest to the truth of King Solomon's sigh: "Of making many books there is no end." It does seem that way at times, and I've responded by making some adjustments to my reading life to prevent… Continue reading The December Book Talk: Old Acquaintances and Old Books for a Happy New Year
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
Sunday Scripture We hear the disclaimers after every major tragedy: "God had nothing to do with this! A good God would never have allowed it to happen." Trying to let God off the hook for the inexplicable and ignoring scripture's affirmation of God's sovereign control over life and death, some misguided God-followers even question the… Continue reading Are You Trying to Create God in Your Own Image?
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?
Since the Lord in his infinite wisdom has ordained that, here in Mid-Coast Maine, snow and cold should always be followed immediately by rain and warm temperatures, it's unusual for the ground to be covered with white for weeks at a time. https://videopress.com/v/ewIVqeKl?preloadContent=metadata Here's what snow sounds like underfoot at zero degrees Fahrenheit, and my… Continue reading The February Book Talk Where Friends Come in from the Cold
Living Our Days 