Doors, real and imagined. They invite and shut out. They can lead to life or to death, to the past and to the future, to longing or loneliness, to hope and sometimes despair. Doors handle memories and opportunities. These are just some of the doors I saw last year–in my home, in my yard, in […]
when I was worthy of spit
I’m guessing I was pretty much a handful for my barely 20-year-old mom. Why? Because the very first thing I remember is she spit at me. It’s my first memory. When she leaned over the side rail and spit smack in my face. She said she didn’t do it. Didn’t remember doing it. But […]
poetry at work: shanty boy
My great-great grandfather, James G. Baxter, lived near Alpena, Michigan, in the late 1800s. He found poetry in his work as a shanty boy and wrote a poem called “The Harvest of the Pine” in 1910. Let me read it to you… And here’s a poem I wrote a couple years ago after visiting […]
the geography of memory: saving scents to save sense
… memory isn’t an arm or a leg, to be controlled at will. Sometimes a memory leaps like a big playmate who hasn’t booked a play date. It won’t take no for an answer. I try to sit with it. I try to give it my attention. Then later, when I call, it won’t […]
scripture sunday: road-tested
Suddenly, God, your light floods my path, God drives out the darkness. I smash the bands of marauders, I vault the high fences. What a God! His road stretches straight and smooth. Every God-direction is road-tested. Everyone who runs toward him Makes it. ~2 Samuel 22:29-31 (MSG) Still running, Sandy Thank you, Alison, for sharing about this […]
still saturday: uncrushed by care
“O may my soul, uncrushed by care, Direct her gaze to where Thou art; And in the splendor find, O Christ, The strength of life, Thou canst impart.” ~adapted from the poetry of Synesius (Greek, AD 375-430) At the Still Point, compiled by Sarah Arthur Stilled and uncrushed, Sandy Welcome to Still Saturday where we […]
poetry at work: my workspace
No closet pocketed the clothes back then, so his bed tucked in that space under the ceiling slant where he peeled wall paper during nap time. I imagine cowboy boots kicked careless in the corner, hat hung on peg while Roy Rogers ticked time. Some years later, his mom exchanged the twin for double and […]
leaning into the winds of change
White waves roll across the field, and cyclones swirl from the surface. The feeder’s are a’flurry, and the windows thunk more often as the birds bounce off them. Everyone’s talking about the weather. Janice Dean of Fox News says she’s never seen anything like it in all her years as a meteorologist. But I remember […]
scripture sunday: what is real wealth?
A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough. 1 timothy 6:6-8 (MSG) Be yourself. Before God. That’s where to find […]
still saturday: give yourself fully to this
“Come to Me with a teachable spirit, eager to be changed. “A close walk with Me is a life of continual newness. “Do not cling to old ways as you step into a new year . . . “Give yourself fully to this adventure “of increasing attentiveness to My Presence.” ~Sarah Young, Jesus Calling: […]
