Gaining a heart of wisdom
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
Elisabeth Elliot offers the most durable definition for suffering I've ever heard: Suffering is Having What You Don't Want -- This covers everything from cancer to a flat tire. Or Wanting What You Don't Have -- A spouse, a child, a new job. Life on a fallen planet includes suffering of all types and intensities,… Continue reading Knowing God in the Midst of Our Pain
According to popular wisdom, ten thousand hours of deliberate practice are required for excellence in any field. After 20 years of homeschooling, 25 years of mothering, and 30 years of gardening and canning, I'm doing the math and wondering if mastery is even a possibility in any of these life compartments. Maybe a more realistic… Continue reading Why It’s Great to Be a Woman
One thing so often leads to another, and, in retrospect, it takes a conscious effort to trace the trail of God's active participation in our lives. Here's a fresh example: In August of last year, I wrote a piece about praying for our teens because that's something I do. (A lot.) When Desiring God picked… Continue reading Musings: March 2019
He said: "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose." She said: "The deepest lessons come out the deepest waters and the hottest fires." And all the world still takes note, for Jim Elliot was a courageous missionary pioneer and martyr. Elisabeth Elliot was a superior… Continue reading Jim and Elisabeth Elliot: A Deep and Delighted Love
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
Sit on a wooden bench (behind a goat) for a day long bus ride through the Andes. When the bus stops, the only way forward in 1952 is to rent a horse for an excursion over steep mountain trails with muddy puddles up to your knees. You'll know you've reached the village of San Miguel… Continue reading The Gift of God in Exchange for Ashes
Starting in the book of Acts, the history of missions is characterized by controversy. It may have begun when Paul and company set out with freshly-minted instructions from the Jerusalem Council, defining the parameters of the message they were sharing. It was certainly evident when the citizens of Lystra decided to fold Paul and Barnabas… Continue reading The Missionary Experience: A Path of Faith in the Midst of Paradox
Dining on cubes of watermelon and calling it breakfast, the youngest son stands pajama-clad at the counter, his toothpick a dowser for the juiciest chunks. In just a few end-of-summer days from now he will be up to his fetlocks in geometry, and I will be preserving the summer sweetness of our red tomatoes with… Continue reading Sending Grace Downstream
The corn's not as "high as an elephant's eye" here on this country hill in Maine, but it's shoulder-high, and I'm sure the raccoons are already planning a picnic. The tomatoes are in blossom and I picked two big bags of green beans today, so canning season has officially begun. And . . . the… Continue reading Musings — July 2017
