I’m off on another hunt that takes me under the couch cushion, inside a chartreuse kitchen cupboard, under the gray Formica table, behind the toaster, on top of my parents’ dresser, and finally into the oven. I stare at the package tied up with string, and the fun fades. I so don’t want a […]
Becoming Mindful in Place: Under the Maple Tree
I’m sunk into a red sports chair in the shade under the backyard maple. The site of the Great Lilac Massacre is behind me and in front is the home of the baby bluebird murders. In my mind, I still see the blood-splashed walls and little pecked heads. The grandgirl no longer plays softball, […]
Still Saturday: As You Sit Still
It takes courage, of course, to step out of the fray, as it takes courage to do anything that’s necessary, whether tending to a loved one on her deathbed or turning away from that sugarcoated doughnut. And with billions of our global neighbors in crying need, with so much in every life that has […]
A Prayer For These Days
Share a prayer for these days in the comments. Your own or an existing one. In the stillness, Sandy
I Didn’t Expect
I never expected to have children. I never dreamed of a family. I didn’t play love and marriage or stuff my shirt with pillows. I did dream of caring for others. Maybe in far countries. I even used to hope I’d find an injured animal so I could take care of it. But I […]
Still Saturday: Murmurs
i find myself thirsty for plain sounds that whisper, glory. sure words resonate where i can hear, once again, God moving through broken lines that murmur with tenderness. but at the heart of poetry, silences. ~Laure Krueger as quoted by L.L. Barkat in God in the Yard In the stillness, Sandy […]
God, Are You In . . . ?
At the end of chapter 12 (“Hospitality”) in God in the Yard, L.L. Barkat suggests a writing exercise. Begin with a simple jotting of the objects and people around you . . . Choose just one of the images and make a second list, focused particularly on the item’s attributes . . . Next, try […]
Still Saturday: Surrender
Sabbath requires surrender . . . If we refuse rest until we are finished, we will never rest until we die. Sabbath dissolves the artificial urgency of our days, because it liberates us from the need to be finished. ~Wayne Muller in Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest In the […]
Between the Lines
Stories often hide between the lines even in old cookbooks. Like this well-used one that belonged to my mother-in-law and holds many ink-altered recipes. Mom loved to entertain and often had small groups in her (now our) home. In fact, she had two kitchens because the family lived in the basement for a year while […]
Still Saturday: All Is Well
Do not think, believer, that your sorrows are out of God’s plan; they are necessary parts of it. “Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom.” (Acts 14:22) Learn, then, to “count it all joy . . . when you meet trials of various kinds.” (James 1:22) O let my trembling soul be still, […]
