Gaining a heart of wisdom
My friend Joanne was continually clearing off her kitchen table–with little success to show for her valiant efforts. Whenever we talked on the phone, I could hear her moving about, tethered by a 1970s-era phone cord, and I knew what she was doing. She was clearing off the kitchen table. Again. Even so, whenever I… Continue reading Do the Next Thing and Fine Tune Your Focus
Keeping my voice confident (more confident than I felt!), I greeted my Sunday morning learners with an unexpected request: “Let’s stand together for our reading of God’s Word this morning.” They didn’t know I had chosen a longer passage than usual.They didn’t know I had timed the reading to fill about three minutes.They didn’t know… Continue reading How Can I Cultivate a Listening Life in a Noisy World?
In the Pie Chart that is your life, how big is the slice devoted to prayer? I don't ask to induce guilt or to point the finger of condemnation. It's actually a question I'm asking myself, and it's been prompted by a statistic I just bumped into once again: Eleven percent of the book of Nehemiah… Continue reading Are You Satisfied with Your Prayer Life or Is Prayer Simply a Means to an End?
Sunday Scripture I have begun to consider listening to the morning news as a spiritual discipline, a small act of patriotism in which I put the good of our country above my own comfort or preferences. I've never been a political animal, but events of the past several years and a fleet of newly minted… Continue reading How Can an Ordinary Citizen Begin to Practice a Radical Patriotism?
Today I attacked the kind of cleaning chores that I envision other more diligent and domestically devoted women doing all the time: the tidying that requires pulling furniture away from the wall, vacuuming under beds, and applying a ferocious dust cloth to the rungs of chairs and the hidden recesses of bookcases. Homely household routines… Continue reading Elisabeth Elliot’s Unique Blend of Grit and Grace and My Review of a New EE Biography
My young friend’s question was as deeply earnest as it was misguided: “I know I need to read and pray every day, but isn’t it just hypocritical to go through the motions on days when I’m not feelin’ it?” It’s not hard to trace this line of reasoning to its source. In Western thought, a… Continue reading Is It Hypocritical to Practice Spiritual Disciplines When I’m Not Feelin’ It?
I have a new plant sitting on the window sill of "The Princess Room." Its pink flowers will undoubtedly bring delight to the heart of my oldest granddaughter--primary inhabitant of that particular guest room and the reason it is so named. Now, if I can only keep the plant alive! I have a terrible track… Continue reading 5 Practical Resources to Encourage Daily Rhythms of Spiritual Discipline
Serving as the substitute teacher on a field trip with a kindergarten class leaves plenty of room for disaster, but I didn't expect to come away from the experience with sadness. We spent a May morning at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, and the tulips, peonies, jonquils, and flowering trees were putting on quite a… Continue reading The Power Source for All that You Could Never Be
Sometimes afternoon lands heavy and hard. The morning caffeine has long expired, the daily to-do list looms unfinished, and it’s clear I’m going to run out of energy before I run out of day. That’s when the brownies in the pantry start crooning my name. The open carton of mint chocolate chip in the freezer… Continue reading Celebrate the Glorious Partnership of Willpower and God’s Power
“I want to keep it handy in case I need it,” she said, matter-of-factly. She wasn’t talking about a flashlight. Not a package of tissues. Not even a cell phone...(They hadn’t been invented in 1978.) She was talking about Isaiah 55. “I liked it,” she went on. “So I memorized it.” Come, all you who are… Continue reading Memorize the Mind of God and See Your Own Mind Changed
