My Personal Post-Election Lament and Encouragement
Influenza did me in before the election. For four straight days, I was literally sick and tired. When not sleeping, which wasn’t often, I just prayed. I prayed for my health. I prayed for my family and friends. I prayed for our country and our leaders. In fact, I’ve never prayed so earnestly about the […]
If You Need Some Love To Set You Free
I hired a prisoner yesterday. Well, actually, a former prisoner. Just out of the slammer. Spent two years behind bars and that wasn’t his first stint—in prison, that is. $150 to his name. Rent due September 1. No job yet but he’s hunting hard. Anyone want to hire a prisoner set free? Yeah, he’s made […]
When The Sky Is Dark and the Rain Comes and You Wonder If You’ll Ever See the Sun Again
The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. Luke 4:18-19 The thunder rolled. And […]
At the End of My Rope and What Came Next
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10 I have a love/hate relationship with spiritual growth. Actually, I prefer to do things I love. I prefer to […]
Peace on Earth
Never thought I’d see the day. Not in my lifetime. Just heard from a friend that an organization for which she works will never “make it” in a particular community because her organization employs devoted Christians in high positions, though it’s not a Christian organization, though it serves people of all faiths and all […]
Sudden Storm
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress. He stilled the storm to a whisper. Psalm 107:28-29 The weather was near perfect all day Sunday. Sunny blue skies dappled with puffy white clouds. Early evening, we were enjoying an al fresco dinner on our […]
Who Guides You When You’re Anxious?
The Lord is MY shepherd . . . Psalm 23:1 Sometimes the fog rolls in on this farm covering pasture like cotton plucked and pulled thin. Sometimes anxiety rolls in over me too, shrouding me. Sometimes I just shake for lack of vision, for need of compassion, for someone to reach out and touch […]
Some Thoughts on Dying When You Feel Like It and the Hope That Stops You
It is late September. The sugar maple is tinged with fire, a burning mix of orange and red and yellow, engulfing the green. Honking Vs of geese fly over the barn. One yellowed leaf curls on the grass. Three Sandhill cranes lift off alfalfa field, warbling their way into the air, a trinity created by […]
Connection with God and Others
She opens a spiral notebook and shows me a cross she drew. I saw her pain on the page. Not like she fell apart or anything. No one would ever know. I’ve known her for a long time, but I’ve not really known her. It’s just that when one has been hurt so deeply for […]
How to Get Real with Your Maker
Lament. To express grief for or about. To mourn. Sometimes when you’re in the midst of darkness, you can’t see the light shining behind. It’s there. But you can’t see the sun. You can’t feel the warmth. All seems like shadow and you wonder if the clouds will ever roll away, like your soul just […]
Closing and Opening
Some openings are sweet. Like this morning as I rub my eyes and open them slow to a new dawn with sun just about to sprout over that wide expanse of water I can see from my bedroom window. It’s just before 5 A.M. I scoot over to that man of mine, the one I […]
Open
How to find true love and life in loss . . . We’ve all experienced it, you know. Loss. It’s a reality of our broken world. We lose jobs to the economy. We lose friends and family through misunderstandings and betrayals. We lose spouses through divorce. We lose health through illness or accident. We lose […]