Gaining a heart of wisdom
Early in the year, I invested several weeks in an attempt to memorize The Nicene Creed. It's not as if I didn't already know what its words reveal about the nature of God. I just wanted those particular words in my tool belt to remind me of all I can and should be remembering and… Continue reading Is the Book of Common Prayer Still Useful Today?
The calendar and the brisk morning air have agreed that summer is over and autumn has arrived. It was time for me to get on the same page and decorate for fall. Understand that this is not a huge production here in this minimalist's life, but I do like a few sunflowers, a few pumpkins,… Continue reading Overcome Frustration with Gratitude and Action
Prayer is hard work, and it is important work—perhaps the most important and impactful ministry to which God has called each of us. In prayer, we carry those we love into the presence of God. We stop our mad rush and acknowledge an occasion, a moment, a feeling, or a state of being. Our prayers… Continue reading The Gift Of Fresh Language For a Daily Practice of Prayer
With the right book and enough time, reading becomes a form of transportation, a deep river that carries me along in the current of words, characters, and ideas. Simply looking at the cover or hearing the title of certain favorite books evokes a place and a time and even remembered dialogue as if I had… Continue reading Have We Lost the Essential Practice of Deep Reading?
In a fit of sleep-deprived stubbornness, one day I just stopped reading the Bible. I certainly still believed in God, because I told him quite directly that I had no intention of reading his recycled words. It seemed to me that the prophets and apostles had no idea what it was like to bear and… Continue reading How to Stay Motivated and Excited About Reading the Bible
One summer, I was responsible for a team of high-school-age summer missionaries. They were helping with children's outreach opportunities through area churches, so I would drop them off at the church on Sunday evening and pick them up after their last kids' club on Friday. After a few weeks of regular contact, I began to… Continue reading 8 Encouragements to Grow Your Appetite for God’s Word
I can hardly stand to watch my oldest granddaughter eating an ice cream cone. It's almost as if she forgets that it's in her hand, so before you know it, she's holding it horizontally, even gesturing with it, while pink ice cream drips on her shoes. Reminders are useless. "Honey, eat your ice cream" may… Continue reading Build a Strong Foundation by Hearing and Doing
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
Living Our Days 