Gaining a heart of wisdom
Remember the last time you were in a conversation with someone who really seemed to be listening? They asked all the right questions, and they seemed, honestly and truly, to want to hear your story. They nodded and looked you right in the eye, smiled with encouragement, laughed in all the right places. And it's… Continue reading Always a Surprise
Little people find words first for the people and the things that are most important to them. As one of the "named people" in my grandson's life, I love to read books to him that include pictures of the sun, moon, and stars, because he responds by pointing to them, naming them over and over,… Continue reading The Heavens Declare!
We did it! In August, my Sunday morning kids finished our study of ten of God's incommunicable attributes -- the characteristics we marvel at but cannot share. (How many can you name? I will list the ten that we studied in the comment section below.) All that majesty has not been wasted on me as… Continue reading Musings – August 2016
July has been a month of gatherings, and nothing is more precious to me than the gift of my patient husband and our family. To celebrate Independence Day we all trekked to our favorite State Park on Lake St. George for a daylong picnic and swim, and then off to the fireworks. We've relished a… Continue reading Musings — July 2016
“These bean plants are a mess,” I muttered. “But, wow . . . lots of beans.” Our eleven rows of Providers (that’s the variety of green bean we always plant) had lived up to their name, but after four pickings, the plants looked tired, ransacked, plundered. They looked like us. I smile when I say… Continue reading Parenting Past the Mid-Point: More Thoughts from the Garden
The epigraph for Psalm 142 reads: “A contemplation of David. A prayer when he was in the cave.” How wonderful that David knew God could hear him from his gloomy hiding place. These thoughts, shared today, were written during the summer of 2014, at the beginning of my mum’s precipitous decline, and from my season… Continue reading A Prayer from the Cave
He walked into the bank, obviously carrying a heavy load, and wearing a proud smile. "I can help you over here," I chirped in my newly fluent teller-ese, and the white plastic bucket landed with a thud on the counter. He had personally counted and rolled over five thousand pennies and was bringing his loot… Continue reading Musings – June 2016
For Mother's Day 2015, my boys collaborated on a load of bark mulch for my flower gardens -- and then faithfully spread every last particle. What a gift! They were certainly speaking my love language! Gary Chapman's five love languages have become woven into the fabric of our culture. Any conversation centered around interpersonal dynamics… Continue reading Filling the Love Tank
I can just barely admit this, but I have finally hauled all the cassette tapes -- John Michael Talbot, Carole King, Billy Joel -- out from under my bed. And I’m going to throw them away. Letting go of this one thing may not free my hands to grab hold of an entire universe, but… Continue reading Are We Following?
For me, Round One was not such that I would have predicted a mushy Father’s Day blog post in my future. (Who would have ever predicted blogs, anyway?) My experience with this Hallmark holiday was aptly described by author, Leslie Leyland Fields: “Some will turn away from thirty minutes at the card rack empty-handed and sad.” Then,… Continue reading Father’s Day {Redeemed}
Living Our Days 