Gaining a heart of wisdom
The patient husband and I have challenged ourselves to be more purposeful in our practice of hospitality this year -- to "meet the stranger at the gate" in our own little rural setting by inviting someone new and different into our home each month. January was wonderful! We enjoyed an evening with a couple we've… Continue reading The Glorious Right Angle
Holding hands around a table; a focus on gratitude and shared celebration; dressed in their Easter best, the Berenstain Bears lead the way into a fun and family-oriented celebration of Resurrection Sunday. Presenting as normal the discipline of church attendance, prayer before a meal, and portraying the beauty of love and respect among extended family, Easter… Continue reading Easter Morning and Every Morning
You're sitting around a table at your favorite restaurant. The kids are just cleaning up their plates; you're fiddling with the debit card, when along comes the little lady with the big smile and the kind eyes. "I just have to tell you how much I enjoyed seeing your children this evening . . ." she begins,… Continue reading Raising Uncommon Kids
People and books reserve the right to surprise us, and it's a real delight when both happen at the same time. I opened the pages of Barbara Hughes's book expecting the equivalent of a heart-to-heart over a mug of steaming tea, an open Bible and a warm sharing of practices that have held us close to… Continue reading Strength Training for Countercultural Women
In matters of relationship, a teaspoonful of doing is worth more than a bushel- basket full of knowing. We've all read Dobson and Chapman and Eggerichs until we've become so accountable before God with all our knowledge that we are clearly without excuse. So, while it's become a tired cliché, it is no less true: … Continue reading 10 Words to Consider Before Becoming a Husband
Boy #4: What's for breakfast in the morning? Me: Pancakes. Why? Boy #4: I just like knowing what I have to look forward to. Good Night. I was reminded of that conversation and my smile in the darkness of a little boy's bedroom as I read Good Night, Little Love by Laura Neutzling. Her comforting… Continue reading A Safe Place to Say, “Good Night”
With a huge garden, an apple tree that produced two pies this fall, and a rainbow of full canning jars in my basement, it is quite possible that my life approximates Rachel Macy Stafford's day dreams in the Home Depot outdoor garden section. Or could it be that my brand of rural chaos demonstrates that her… Continue reading Remarkable Things Spoken
I heard her footsteps on the stairs last night -- jolted out of a sound sleep and into the familiar world of worry. Step, click, pause. The foot, the cane, the balance check. Exhaling in the dark, I realized . . . no. I had been dreaming. She’s not here anymore. She’s walking in safety… Continue reading The New Mommy Guilt: Putting Your Parent in a Care Facility
What do you call a dentist who cleans an alligator's teeth? That's a great question to ponder on a car trip or a plane ride or a lazy, rainy Saturday, and it's just one of the many jokes and riddles found in Rob Elliot's and Jonny Hawkin's latest collaboration for kids: Laugh Out Loud Pocket… Continue reading Creativity and Fun in Your Pocket
My faith unraveled at a Christian college. I know that’s not the way it’s supposed to happen, and I can remember wishing that a hostile, atheistic professor had bludgeoned me into my doubts with brilliantly irrefutable arguments. It would make for a much better story. Instead, the truth is I just got numb. The constant… Continue reading Finding the Way Forward
Living Our Days 