“As you always do. . .”
Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do. . . I read in Psalm 119:132 the cry of the priest who writes, “Turn to me and have mercy on me, as you always do to those who love your name.” As you always do. . . The phrase reminds me that […]
Caring for Others (When they Don’t Like Being Fussed Over)
My husband does not like to be fussed over. When he’s sick (like he is now), that means I have to care for him while pretending like I’m leaving him alone. It’s an art form. But I’m well-trained in offering support that doesn’t look like support (after all, that’s what teenagers like). So I make […]
Give It Time
My friend mentions that when she wasn’t feeling well last week that, even when well again, it took three days to feel like herself again. “It takes three days,” she says again. (I actually remember a nurse telling me that once. She said that the first day I begin to feel better means I should […]
Safe In Here
All evening and into the morning, the wind howls. We wake to black branches scattered on the snow and green trash cans tumbling down the icy sidewalks. I hardly sleep. I burrow into my coat to make it safely to my classroom. As I teach, the high-pitched wind shrieks against the windows. It’s a haunting, […]
Ask, Seek, Knock
This morning, the pastor spoke on Matthew 7: 7 and this astonishing sentence: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” I find myself wondering about the difference between the three verbs. Ask. Seek. Knock. We ask for what we need. […]
Years That Ask
This morning I read a line from Zora Neale Hurston: “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” So true. An asking year means, perhaps, that an answering year is just around the corner. In an asking year, one goes deeper into prayer, into faith, and into hope. In an answering year, I […]
A Little Writing Lesson: 3 Questions
Think about your current writing project, especially if you’re at the proposal stage. When you compose any piece of writing, begin with these three questions that, if answered, greenlight the project: Why this? Why now? Why me? These questions tap into the rhetorical theory we’ve worked on in my class all semester: Why this? helps […]
All That Is Ours
The sun emerged this morning and lit the icy backyard, the berries, and the Northern Cardinal that always returns. I’m not a photographer, so you’ll have to imagine the beauty: Imagine the chipper call of that bird against the silence of a winter morning. Imagine the clean smell of snow. Imagine his bright red feathers. […]
We Tried These Cookies With Low Expectations. They Were Amazing!
I found this cookie recipe that uses dates and ground walnuts as the base. No sugar. No oil. No flour. No eggs. I couldn’t believe it, but since I love the sweetness of medjool dates (and since I have a food processor now), I had to try it! Enjoy the recipe here, aptly named this: […]
On Your Knees
This morning I read in Psalm 95:6 these words: Come let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. So I kneel. On these old knees, in this little bedroom, from this joyful heat. Something about the physical act of kneeling primes my heart to worship. The body here reflects […]