I do not occupy myself with thing too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother… Psalm 131:1b-2a I hate not being listened to. I resent not being asked for my input, especially when it comes to Read more…
For the last week-and-a-half, I have had the joyous, challenging, and exhausting privilege of leading a group of nearly 30 teens and adults to prepare for and present a series of short continuing-story dramas for a week-long children’s event. (That is why there was no post last week.) This is Read more…
Someday I will write a book called, “Eternal Vigilance Is the Price of Grapes.” As easy as it is to grow grapevines, tending them so as to get a bountiful harvest is an ongoing struggle. One year there are grape-leaf skeletonizers. The next year there are leaf-hoppers and thrips. If Read more…
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well. — Matthew 6:33 So…about those leaf-hoppers… My current theory (or insight) is that the tiny, sap-sucking things are very like the “secret” critic that often infests the places that Jesus means me to live Read more…
I have a leaf-hopper problem. They are not usually a big enough issue for the “insects of the garden” book to give more than a nod to dealing with them. But they ruined last year’s grape crop. Instead of the hundred pounds I expected, I got about twenty-five, if that. Read more…
The roof of wooden lattice suspended on three long pieces of metal pipe supported by aging wooden trellis on one end and a rusting archway on the other finally gave up the ghost! I planted the Thompson seedless grape vines the first spring we lived in this house (over fifteen Read more…
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well. -Matthew 6:3 This week seeking His kingdom before mine looks like swapping out a planned writing session for listening to a heart-breaking story and making space to let Read more…
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be yours as well. -Matthew 6:33 I didn’t want to go. I was warm and comfy in my quiet time corner, Bible and journal in my lap. It is cold outside, (at least for here in the Arizona Read more…
On the twelfth day of Christmas my True Love gave to me… twelve gates of heaven! This twelfth gift is one that bears more consideration that we tend to give it, unless someone dear to us is at the brink of death. Heaven! The place where no one cries or Read more…
On the ninth day of Christmas my True Love gave to me…nine fruit of the Spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control: the nine-flavored fruit is fragrant evidence of the presence and work of the God’s own Spirit in our lives. It describes a living still-life Read more…