Silver Hair and Wisdom Hard-Won
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 NIV I sit across from him at our favorite Italian restaurant, waiting for our pizza to come out of the wood-fired oven behind […]
Why Falling Flat is A Holy Experience
We call him Mr. Lime because he’s the brightest of all on the slopes, dressed in brilliant green to match his Burton board. He reminds me often that he’s not one of us. “I’m a BOARDER, Mom! Not a SKIER!” “Yes dear, you’re not like the other four of us. I forgot. Once again.” He […]
Thoughts on Death and Life in a Cold and Frozen Forest
As part of the slide into slow this new year, I ran away. Actually, I drove away with my husband to Door County, the thumb of Wisconsin separating two bodies of water—Green Bay and Lake Michigan. We strapped on our cross-country skis and headed into the woods. Sun shining. Not a bit of breeze. Every […]
A Call To Rest for the Weary
Our rest lies in looking to the Lord, not to ourselves. Watchman Nee I have this tendency to cut through the crap of social superficiality pretty quickly. I make some uncomfortable, I know. I ask questions, based on my intuition in the moment. I don’t mean to make people uncomfortable. I mean to […]
Unexpected Harvest: When You Wonder What God Has in Mind for Your Life
Harvest. Our garden provided abundantly throughout the summer and keeps giving. Lettuce, spinach, beans, peppers, carrots, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, cantaloupe, pumpkins, raspberries. Each summer, this garden reminds me of the same truth—I can’t out-give God. I plunge seeds into the dark earth in spring. And then this. So much blessing. Too much blessing. I must […]
When You’re Scared and You Don’t Know What To Do
Since this weekend? Seems we’re consumed. In our nation . . . What he said. What he didn’t say. When he said it. Or didn’t say it. Why he took so long to say it. Is he fit? Is he unfit? Are we safe? Are we unsafe? Is the world safe? This opinion. That opinion. […]
Why We Really Need Jesus To Clean Us
The older I get, the more I recognize my depravity, the deep-down dirty of my thoughts, words and deeds, of my even deeper motivations and instincts. And the older I get, the more I know my need of Jesus. Kind of like Paul in Romans . . . I do not understand what I do. […]
Fear Not—An Invitation to the Freedom of Dependence
The men in my life are laying out clothes, filling up containers, packing enough for five days of their ten away in two cities where terror has struck again—London and Paris. And they’ll be standing on the beaches where some other mother’s boys landed and turned the waters red at the same ages as our […]
Weathering the Storms
I stand on the balcony of our west-facing library and see the young pumpkin vines beginning to flower yellow. My eyes scan the rows of tender tomatoes and marigolds two weeks old, crying for relief from the oppressive heat and hard winds that can turn soil to dust and parch leaves crisp. Their vulnerable stems […]
Foreign Affairs and What’s Right With the World
Terrorist attacks. My two sons and my husband are heading to London and Paris in two weeks for a WWII trip . . . I pray. I reflect . . . I put a poster board together for him Saturday, the day before he walked the aisle. The day before he took his seat among […]
The Worth of Work and Pain
I cleared fall’s dead from the winding perennial borders—the purple coneflower stems, the sedum stalks. I removed the invasive honeysuckle and hemlock planted by birds in places they don’t belong. I cut down clumps of Karl Foerster grass, making way for new growth. I dug up and divided overgrown hostas, giving some away to those […]
Over the Edge
Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Luke 12:6-7 Soon, I will watch the swallows nest in the barn, hatching naked in cups of twig and […]