Gaining a heart of wisdom
One morning, deep into the throes of our kitchen renovation, it dawned on me that I had no idea where our toaster was. Having reduced breakfast to the lowest common denominator of toasted bagels with cream cheese, my quest for the toaster was more than idle curiosity, and when it showed up in the furnace… Continue reading Following the Instructions for a Grateful Heart
It's the terminal milestone on the parenting journey: "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." III John 4 Even so, there are a good many ways of measuring its achievement. It's what we aim for and pray for, but how do we know that are children have made the leap from… Continue reading The Beauty of Sacrifice and the Joy of Giving
Sometimes it’s the very thing that makes you wild, the thing that feels as if it may be your undoing, which ultimately saves your life. For me right now, the pebble in my shoe is a 15-foot speed boat parked parallel to the north side of our house. The college-aged son is a project magnet… Continue reading Following the Trail Back to Hope
For those of us in the United States, this is a day of thanksgiving. However, gratitude is not circumscribed by geographic boundaries. Nor do we need a calendar’s permission to leave room for gratitude, so . . . LORD, we thank you! We confess that our hearts are often full of ourselves, for we mistake… Continue reading Thanksgiving Prayer
4988 -- Warm zucchini bread smelling like a cinnamon candle 4989 -- Church supper to celebrate our new pastor and our family connection 4990 -- Clanging of wind chime in the chill autumn breeze On the Monday before Thanksgiving Day, I recorded gift number 5,000 in my gratitude journal -- confirmed evidence of God's goodness… Continue reading November Musings — 2016
Finally, about ten years ago, the light began to dawn, and you can't imagine how disappointed I was. I realized that parenting is not a cause and effect proposition. It's not a vending machine in which I insert my actions (seizing teachable moments, training in character, consistency in discipline) and then am rewarded by equal and… Continue reading Grateful Parents: Grateful Kids
#2967 -- The sweet and tart of cranberry bread. #2968 -- Peach colored dawn behind silhouetted branches. #2969 -- Phone call from far-away friends . . . . . . and so I approach the end of another year of giving thanks, another record of the day-by-day goodness of God in my Gratitude Journal. Giving thanks is… Continue reading Three Thousand Gifts — A Thanksgiving Checkpoint
Just this morning I penned gift number 4,013 into my gratitude journal where, for four years, I have been recording everyday blessings: candle light before dawn; everyone home for dinner; first apple pie from our very own tree. Eileen Spinelli has created a rhyming picture book that will set readers onto the path of remembering all… Continue reading Everyday Blessings
I love a decisive verb, and when it appears in the setting of a solid, declarative sentence? Well, so much the better. When autumn rolls around my mind returns to the pronouncements in Isaiah 12, because I studied and memorized it in the season of bright leaves and stiff breezes. The prophet's bracing words stood up to… Continue reading Giving Thanks Is a Choice
Two weeks into the Beatitudes with my Sunday School class, and my ear is finally becoming accustomed to the cadence of another Kingdom, one in which those who are meek and mournful are pronounced fortunate -- even happy. All of this is a fitting backdrop for reading Joshua Choonmin Kang's Spirituality of Gratitude. His collection… Continue reading The Language of Thanksgiving
Living Our Days 