Gaining a heart of wisdom
The insistent tone of my cell phone’s timer carried through floorboards to our basement schoolroom--another call to prayer unanswered. I sighed, turned the page, and continued with my sixth-grader in a lesson on fractions. I had been reading about the historical practice of praying the hours, setting aside intentional moments throughout the day at specific… Continue reading Holiness in the Here and Now
The gardening life is full of surprises. It yields good surprises like volunteer tomato plants that show up among the squashes from last year's random self-seeding—and bad surprises such as the utter gluttony of one woodchuck who feels entitled to our green bean plants. This year's best gardening surprise has been the unexpected results of… Continue reading God’s Joyful Surprise: The Gift of His Given Strength
By the third or fourth time one of their thorns had punctured a lawn mower tire, we had started to call them "devil trees." An invasive species here in Maine, they began to take root in fields and fencerows, but their lovely blossoms and bright berries fail to redeem the damage they cause with their… Continue reading Why You Need to Have a Thorough Knowledge of Scripture
The word narrow has taken on an ugly cast in modern parlance. Its neutral usage is defined as "something that is considerably longer or higher than it is wide." It describes parking spaces, the bridge on my road, and hipsters' ties. Narrow is also used to refer to something limited or restricted—the worst possible evil… Continue reading What Do Christians Mean by Choosing the Narrow Way?
A studio upright sat by the door, but the small piano was truly the centerpiece of Helen's apartment. A widow transitioning from married to single, from missionary to retiree, she poured sadness out the tips of her fingers, and the wealth of words absorbed over seven decades found their way into melancholy melodies. Helen introduced… Continue reading Whatever Made You Think the Christian Life Would Be Easy?
The Golden Rule as Jesus has phrased it is one more example of Jesus’s rejection of bare-minimum obedience. Jesus has called us to a deeper obedience whose focus is character and motive—not simply actions.
One of the greatest gifts of my life is my grown-up kids. We have fun together, and we also engage in conversations about important topics. I can feel my role in the family changing as everyone takes on increasingly responsible positions in his own world. While I’m sure they would each say their mother’s communication… Continue reading Encouraging Our Adult Children to Practice a Mature Faith
Roots and wings are the gifts Christian parents pass on to our children. We establish rules, give them responsibilities that build confidence and skill, and water those deep roots with lots of love and prayer, knowing that strengthening wings will soon carry our children away from home, out of reach of our influence and our protection. In my prayers for the four young men who are so close to my heart, I’m taking my cues from the book of Philippians.
How’s YOUR relationship with the discipline of silence? Twice in Psalm 62, David exhorts his own soul to “wait in silence,” and 21st-century believers need to have the same conversation with our souls.
Waiting for spring, hanging off the northeast end of the U.S. mainland, it’s a challenge to get into an Easter frame of mind. The dark is still holding sway over the light, and resurrection-thinking requires a muscular faith. Although the calendar tells me that spring will come, this hope in a future date can seem like a… Continue reading When You Are Wondering if Spring Will Ever Come
Living Our Days 