“I know it’s morbid, my daughter says, “but I’ve been thinking about it, and so I’ll ask. If you and Dad die, is there enough life insurance to fly you home and bury you?” She asks him the same question over the phone, and he assures her there is plenty and more. I tell her I don’t […]
One Word Less For Lent 2015 – 11
Sharing three 11-word poems today. Still For someone who craves stillness, my life moves pretty fast still. Word Count: 11 Death and Life Kara passes A plane crashes And my lilac tips are pregnant. Word Count: 11 Note: A plane crashed in the French Alps this morning. I heard this during the […]
In Which Cancer Brings Clarity for David
UPDATE: David Landrith, pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church, joined Jesus in heaven this morning, November 18, 2014. He now rests in the shadow of the Amighty. Please continue to pray for his family and his church. I’m so sad today, yet grateful for the privilege of having just a small connection with his people, for having […]
Cultivating Good In the Midst of Grief
She was my age, and also a nurse. She helped birth this place–a place where people could live out their last days in unforced rhythms of grace, where grief itself could cultivate good. I’m sure she never dreamed that she would be birthed to a new life from one of its beds. She was admitted the same […]
move forward, bounce back, and press on
I realized it just this morning. She was my age. She was also a nurse. Instrumental, I understand, in birthing this place. She was admitted the same day we were, to the room next door to ours. She’d done battle for 18 years. A bone marrow donor stood ready, but she could not bounce […]
sing a new song
Snow fell on Sunday. In May. On Mother’s Day. It frosted the tulips white. “My mother would not be happy today,” my sister posted on Facebook. “She wouldn’t even be amused.” And I doubt if even we could have made her crack a smile by bursting into song and dance, perhaps with a spring […]
the finger of God
I see God’s creative finger in all seasons. But never more, I think, than in the spring when life unfurls. These are the days when all that glitters is green. Yet life is sometimes blood-tinged like the color of death in this new leaf. That also carries the color of hope. Because life is in […]
Crossing the Bridge
Mom’s illness caused her fall and ultimately her death. Her younger sister passed on before. I don’t know when. I don’t know why. Theirs was a shattered relationship. Sometime after Aunt Lucy died, my cousin sought to reconnect with my parents. That’s how it is sometimes, I think. When we lose, we ache to […]
Still Grappling with Grief
One year ago yesterday, my mother died. I’m angry. And sad. And grateful. I’m remembering, second-guessing every decision. Immediately after her fall and diagnosis of a brain tumor, she spent several weeks in a local nursing home. She was not safe for surgery at that point. After the biopsy, she transferred to rehab where […]
31 Days on Coming to Grips with My Age ~ Day 3: A Lesson from the Leaves
God draped our woods with Jacob’s coat while I soul stripped on the edge of the Frio. The countryside explodes with color. “Aren’t the trees just beautiful? I can’t get over how they popped while I was in Texas.” Grace agrees. “But you know they’re dying, right? The colors mean they’re dying.” We’ve pulled into […]
