We are celebrating the coming of the Christ Child as Emmanuel, the With-Us God. Since the week before Christmas, I have been encouraging visitors to our home to acknowledge what they need, what their hearts need, and offer it to Jesus, taking in exchange a star with a specific promise Read more…
Last week, I wrote of needing comfort in all my wrecked places. This week, I can say, He has turned my mourning into dancing…literally! Friday, I had a regular checkup at my primary care provider, and in the name of full disclosure, had to check the boxes on the form Read more…
O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in Your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before You… my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. Let the morning bring Read more…
“No discipline is joyful.”* Oh, how I hated this verse as a child! Hearing it was supposed to make me feel better about feeling bad about something that was being done to make me be better! It is challenging enough to give thanks for the hard things God brings into Read more…
Many years we have kept a thankful journal during the month of November. Some years we have kept a continuous thankful list. Other years, just those around the Thanksgiving table recorded gratitude. Re-reading some of them recently brought some tears and some giggles. Stick figures drawn by those too young Read more…
Lest you think following Jesus every day in the everyday is just a catchy hashtag, here is a glimpse into what it looked like for me a month ago… My mind an heart are a bit weighted this morning. I don’t understand. Please examine me and show me what I Read more…
Recently an old friend asked for the words of an old song. I had to dredge my memory for the words, since my only partial copy of them is 90 miles away! Searching the dusty vaults of my mind, I found them, still vital and vivid, but perhaps requiring a Read more…
Rest… Yeah, good luck with that! In our culture, rest is seen as an offense against productivity…and we are what we produce, right? God has been working on me in this area lately. (By lately, I mean over the last few years…I’m a slow learner!) The latest adventure has included Read more…
Yes, again… So, I finished the hügelkultur pit; the brush pile has been reduced to a flat patch of ground covered with twigs and grass. Not a thing of beauty by any means, but at least unobtrusive and less obnoxious. It no longer looks out of control or dangerous. I Read more…
Good morning, Papa-God, My heart is heavy, my body weary and pained, my mind restless. I need You, Your peace. You know the source of my trouble. I know the circumstances (at least in part) but, You alone know the end from the beginning, and You know the true root Read more…