The name of Jesus is the one lever that lifts the world. ~Author Unknown Early morning light bathed the bedroom. My husband kissed me goodbye, and I rolled over on my left side. I heard the door close and the lock turn. I went back to sleep. And woke with a start. I was not […]
Window on Writing: The Sounds of Silence
Deeply listening to what is within and around us changes us. ~John Fox I’ve tried to write to the sound of music. It doesn’t work for me. I create better in silence. Although there really isn’t such a thing. It’s when I’m silent that I hear the sounds of silence. Silence makes you attentive to […]
Friday Fuel for the Weekend: Dare to Sabbath
Go nowhere to go somewhere. Do nothing to do something. Dump fuel to refuel. Stop to go. Pause to produce. The paradox of sabbath. And sabbath is what chapter 8 of God in the Yard is all about. Trusting in cycles of strength and weakness, rest and work, presence and absence (or presence and hiddenness.) […]
Monday Meditation: Playing with Stones
Grace is uncommonly quiet. But that doesn’t mean she isn’t busy. I go in search of her and find her in the bathroom. She’s washing stones. With her toothbrush and my toothpaste. Water ripples green and blue and rose and yellow and orange from polished pebbles with names like carnelian and amethyst and quartz and […]
Friday Fuel for the Weekend: Hope
Hope Rises heavy under a misty veil i see dimly until startled by a cardinal on a naked branch and hope rises on scarlet wings. ~Sandra Heska King (2010) Hope is that thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops . . . at all. […]
Textures of Text: Stone Crossings ~ Rising Above the Mess
I read it last summer. Straight through. And posted about the towla worm here. But there is more, so much more in this book by L.L. Barkat, author of God in the Yard, the book that I am slowly making my way through while I sit in my own yard. I pick Stone Crossings up […]
Friday Fuel for the Weekend: Presence
“Like Steven Chase says, “absence sharpens our seeking: it sets the tone and temper of our attentiveness.” God in the Yard (chapter 7) I have been absent from the yard. The holidays, my daughter’s surgery and hospitalization, and caring for my grandgirls during her recovery have messed with my schedule and self-time. Oh, I’ve made […]
Diving into the New Year
Many of my friends have picked words to define their year. I choose three. Deep. See. Dive. They’re not new words. God’s been whispering them to me since at least September. But this year, I want them to color everything. In fact, I have a book burning deep inside. Deep See Diving. And I want […]
Slowing Down
It’s late. The house breathes silent. Waiting. The night inhales expectant. Breathless. Soft light turns black to gray, illuminates alabaster earth skin. Hushed. Green glows gold and blue and white. I strung the lights and hung the ornaments alone this year. Simple. On sale artificial tree. Just a few color-coordinated ornaments. The rest left in […]
Resting on a Monday
She’s eaten. Had her diaper changed. I doubt you want to see a photo of that! Played on the floor. And laughed at the cats. She’s had her way. But now she struggles. Thrashing this way and that. I know what she needs. But she does not want to give in. We try the high […]
