Tricked or Treated?
On this date, 496 years ago, nails pierced wood. Truth pierced lies. On this date, 496 years ago, one brave man stood alone, probably knowing full well the potential consequences from others—the Church, in particular. And this one man started a movement that still moves. Because truth never stops expanding, consuming lies. Light never stops […]
Keeping It Real
So do I write spiritual platitudes today or real life story delineating the purpose of pain? It would be so much easier and safer to stick with platitudes—some vague spiritual truth far removed from the trenches where I find myself fighting for life with Christ this day. I will choose to speak of the trench […]
Humble Pumpkin Posts
In early June, I wrote a post lamenting about our flooded Wisconsin farm fields—how the farmers might not be able to plant corn in time for a decent harvest. My own farm garden lost the first pumpkin planting. Although seeds were pushed into freshly tilled earth on June 1 as usual, the persistent cold and […]
Adopt an Attitude
I’ve been adopting the needy since I was eleven years old. Really. My first was a rose-breasted grosbeak hatchling fallen from the nest, knocked out by a vicious red squirrel who ate his three siblings and must have forgotten about the one on the ground. I saw the whole bloody mess on the edge of […]
Have Mercy
A dreary Monday followed a bright Sunday on which I made a pot of chili, baked some cornbread, and rode my horse with John Wayne (a.k.a. husband, Todd Johnson) on our farm trails. What is it about sunny days that create a sense of well-being in some of us and overcast days usher emotions as […]
Horror Moans
I’m sitting in a circle of single women, all in their early to mid-twenties except for my co-leader and me. We’re reading Unglued by Lysa Terkeurst, discussing our emotions and how to deal with them in God-loving/self-loving/other-loving ways. Well, how can a group of women have discussions about emotions without bringing up the topic of […]
Dry and Rattled
Is dry and rattled ever a good thing? Around here it is. Our south field is full of soybeans waiting. Dried up and rattling with the wind blowing through, plant leaves have gone from green to gold to brown, all in a season. And the beans are about ready for harvest. Am I? I have […]
Plucked (How True Love Sets Us Free)
He loves me. He loves me not. He loves me. He loves me not. When I was a young girl, my friends and I went hunting for daisies in the field behind our house and when we found one, we plucked the petals till there was only one left, hoping to end on . . […]
Costco Church
I went to church in Costco this weekend. Trying to hold back my tears, the lump in my throat made it hard to swallow. I’m a mess, really. Things touch me in ways that make me think I’m weird—like really at least two standard deviations to the left of the bell curve weird! Like, really, […]
Uncontainable Beauty
We walked our trails together yesterday afternoon, Todd and I. Peregrine falcon floated on southeast breeze, surveying the fields for a mouse. Yellows of ash, maple reds, burnt orange of oak, and evergreen pines, spot-lit by sun, back-dropped in blue. I tried to absorb every bit of wonder. Sight of stained glass monarch wings. Smell of crisping autumn leaves. […]
True Self Love
He pulls the cinnamon raisin bagel from the toaster and does not spread butter or cream cheese. Just plain and warm. He stuffs his mouth and I watch his face contort as he chews, lips never meeting. Years ago I would have told him to close his mouth when eating, but the years have softened […]
Body Parts
My right hand is sore and partially purple from my fling with the Kitchen Aid mixer last night. Yes, I flipped the wrong lever while trying to remove the paddle and nearly mixed off my hand with the whirling. Thankfully, I pulled the plug on myself immediately, ending my misery and stopping what could have […]