“I need to go plant flowers at the cemetery this weekend,” I said. “When you and Dad are gone, will I have to do that?” My daughter brushes a blond strand off her forehead. “You don’t have to,” I smile. “I mean, is it my job, my responsibility?” I shrug. “I like to […]
Still Saturday: When You Face Unexpected Demands
I AM A MIGHTY GOD. Nothing is too difficult for Me. I have chosen to use weak ones like you to accomplish My purposes. Your weakness is designed to open you up to My Power. Therefore, do not fear your limitations or measure the day’s demands against your strength. What I require of you is […]
My House Is On Fire
I’d just set down bowls of chicken and rice kibble mixed with canned lamb dinner when my phone rang. I’m used to not being able to understand the grandgirl because of giggling and commotion in the background. But tonight (Monday–the day after Mother’s Day) was different. Through her panic, I finally understood her screams. “My house […]
Still Saturday: What’s To Be Done?
“You are seeing everything for the last time, and everything you see is gilded with goodbyes. The child’s hand like a starfish on the pillow, your hand on the doorknob. Caught between screen and window, a wasp unfolds one wing. With a sick smile, guilt-ridden, the old dachshund lurches off the forbidden couch when […]
Nursing School Memories (Repost for National Nurses Week)
I graduated from Saginaw General Hospital’s diploma nursing program in 1969, a member of the last class. Most programs lasted three years, but this one packed all the work in two. We went year around. The hospital staffed around the students, and some of us also worked as aides on the weekends for a little […]
On Jumping Tandem, Grace, and Glue
They said the drive to Nebraska and Jumping Tandem: The Retreat would be long and boring. They were wrong. A week ago I’d messaged my prayer warriors, “I’m having a little trouble holding it together right now. Could use a little glue prayer.” And they were on it like bees on crabapple blossoms. One […]
Still Saturday: Dynamic Stillness
But it is hard to hear that inner voice unless I allow myself time and quiet to center down, to focus in. I can find silence indoors, but it seems static. Breathing in the dynamic stillness as the whole creation pauses before God, the psalmist also sensed that, “The heavens declare the glory […]
Old Jeans, New Jeans (A Poetry Prompt)
Old Jeans, New Jeans We traveled from up north and downstate, met in the middle of the mitten for family time at an indoor waterpark. Then, after showers and pizza (cheese, veggie, and meat supreme), we cut shoe patterns out of old jeans in our hotel room to give some soles some hope. The grandgirl grimaced […]
Still Saturday: One Breathless Contact
A door opens in the center of our being and we seem to fall through it into immense depths which, although they are infinite, are all accessible to us; all eternity seems to have become ours in this one placid and breathless contact. God touches us with a touch that is emptiness and empties […]
Could You Be Faithful To The End?
She was young, just a teen. He waved his weapon in her face. “Are you a Christian?” he hissed. She paused. Would she choose life or death? She straightened her shoulders, and her eyes locked on his. “Yes. Yes, I’m a Christian.” He pulled the trigger. It seems we hear stories like this more […]
