Gaining a heart of wisdom
The longer I live, the more dubious sounds the popular wisdom of couch pillows and coffee mugs advising me to “Listen to your heart.” When push comes to shove (as it invariably does), I’m learning the advice my heart dishes out is likely to lead me astray. Let me instead speak to my heart as the psalmist… Continue reading What’s the Worst Advice You’ve Ever Been Given?
Every January 1st, I am greeted by the same bracing truth as I turn again to the first page of my well-worn flip calendar of Elisabeth Elliot quotes: Lord, give me a quiet heartThat doesn’t need to understand,But, confident, walks forward inThe darkness, guided by your hand." In a sense, everyone steps into the darkness… Continue reading 6 Means Through Which God May Choose to Guide You in the New Year
Over the years, I have kept the same address book, a quaint and archaic practice for sure in this highly digitized world. To accommodate my more transient friends and family, all the entries are in pencil, and many bear the scuff marks of frequent erasures. This year, as I was addressing our Christmas letters, I… Continue reading Ending the Year by Noticing The Names Of The Missing
Decision-making is hard, and it's a process I never enjoy. Now, we've reached the stage in life when we're bearing witness to the decisions of our sons and their families, which is really a spectator sport—unless we get invited onto the field to share an opinion. Buying a house or a car, changing jobs, or… Continue reading Receive the Gift of Advent Every Moment of Your Life
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. I love its simplicity and its uncluttered focus: Gather and give thanks! That's it! No cards or gifts, and no expectation of a big program at church. For the believer, Thanksgiving is a wake-up call to a God-conscious mindset, so I view these days leading up to the holiday as… Continue reading Celebrating a Simple and Uncluttered Holiday
Food preparation and clean-up run like a perpetual conveyor belt through my kitchen and through my life, so for me, the bigger challenge of hospitality is always logistics. I feel overwhelmed as I gather chairs from the far corners of the house. I forget to dust the top of the piano or spend too much time perseverating… Continue reading Hospitality: The Power of Authentic Connection
The word on the street1 is that, of the twelve tracks on Taylor Swift's newest album, only four will emerge unfiltered on the other side of Spotify's parental controls designed to block explicit content. Having raised my four sons in the prehistoric era of dial-up internet in a remote outpost far from the nearest smoke… Continue reading The Sure Wisdom Found in Unfiltered Gratitude
I had never led a question-and-answer session during any of my past women's events, but I was looking forward to the experience. I wanted to hear the questions that had bubbled to the surface after a weekend of immersing ourselves in the Bible's teaching on hope. I wasn't prepared for the challenging contexts the women… Continue reading What Happens When You Fight For Genuine Joy In Impossible Circumstances?
I did something I've never done before at a recent women's conference. In a session on prayer, I asked the women to write their most pressing prayer request on a Post-it Note so they could see it and acknowledge the reality of that desire by pinning it to paper. Then, I offered to join them… Continue reading Keep Praying with Hope for Your Prodigal Child
Two of my grandchildren live in a house with a big picture window looking out over the driveway. They are known for setting up operations there in the window whenever they get wind of an upcoming visit from Bam and Bamp. Of course, having no concept of time, they might start looking for us right… Continue reading Do You Know What Your Heart Is Hoping For?
Living Our Days 