I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. All the richest treasures of wisdom and knowledge are embedded in that mystery and nowhere else. ~Colossians 2:2-3 (MSG) Still and […]
still saturday: finding wonder
Young children have no sense of wonder. They bewilder well, but few things surprise them. All of it is new to young children, after all, and equally gratuitous. Their parents pause at the unnecessary beauty of an ice storm coating the trees; the children look for something to throw. The children who tape colorful fall […]
comfort in the uncomfortable
Comfort, the word, always takes me back to that uncomfortable place. A hospital bed surrounded by a forest of faces and the smell of alcohol and acetone. They’re removing the polish from toenails and fingernails, making yet another stab in my forearm, trying to pour life back into my body. While life pours into my […]
a lake and an artist date
I slow down as I turn the corner and scan Lake Abby. Something dark floats at the far end. Not a goose. Maybe a mallard. But I can’t be sure. It looks black. I smash forefoot to floor, fly down asphalt, jerk wheel to left, spin gravel in drive, and ram gear into park. When […]
when you neglect your body
I throw off everything that could weight me down while I weigh myself–first thing in the morning, before a drop of water passes my lips. I smile because the needle settles a few pounds lower, and I know it’s because of my recent illness. Sickness has its benefits. I mentally pummel myself for all […]
bless the mamas
They mother the motherless, the mamas in this orphan village. The team that traveled to Jeremie, Haiti, the month before us went specifically to love on them. The photo of women washing the feet of women who wash feet nearly undid me. These mamas carry hearts heavy with Jesus. Though some bring their own children […]
scripture sunday: two are better than one
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. ~Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (NIV) Stilled times two, Sandy
still saturday: heaven quiets
“And maybe, just maybe, the deepest experience of prayer begins to happen when we, too, learn to be silent. To stop. To pay attention. To offer just one word, or two, to sit in the presence of God, in the anteroom of heaven itself and become prayer. Our very selves, offered on the altar, and then flung […]
five minute friday: brave
Brave is not just bold and blue nails with flowers on the thumbs. Or climbing a cargo net when you’re old enough for a social security net. It’s not just leaping tethered off a platform. Brave slips through circumstances as slick as melted butter. It treads the waters of trials and doesn’t drown. It forgets […]
life, home, and hospitality
Please, God, let my parents come and beat her up. We’d had a sword battle with pencils, Patsi and I. And Mrs. Smith rapped my 7-year-old knuckles. But not Patsi’s. So I turned around and scribbled on Patsi’s picture. And now I stood in the corner, lump in throat, cheeks aflame. It didn’t occur to […]
