Just Some End-of-Day Light in the Trees
The Night Before
I’ve always said that a great day begins the night before. I take my own advice after a day of feeling rushed, tired, and overwhelmed again. I remember how to set up for a wonderful morning today by beginning last night. You can do all sorts of activities to prepare for a great morning. You […]
“I give you yourselves.”
I keep going back to the same little line in The Magician’s Nephew, the first book in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. At creation, we read of a special gift given to the animals in Narnia. “’Creatures, I give you yourselves‘, said the strong, happy voice of Aslan.” I give you yourselves. There’s something about God […]
Online Teaching Update: The Easiest I Can Make It
It’s the last week of class at Penn State. What a journey it’s been to transition to online teaching! What a journey to grow alongside these students into a new way of living and learning! I will remember this time always. I woke up thinking about how, normally, things should feel harder in a residential […]
Some Little Delights
Today I’ll offer some activities that currently bring some joy: rereading The Chronicles of Narnia (and then watching the movies), seeing minnows and trout swimming in the creek, and lastly, knowing where owls nest and raise their owlets (I’m visiting this evening for the first time–if the rain stops). On this last point: my birding […]
A Return to the Vernal Pond
A Delicious Little Cake: Almond Cream Cake
During COVID-19, sometimes it’s fun to bake and enjoy a sweet treat for the weekend. Today, we made an Almond Cream Cake from Taste of Lizzy T. Since I love almond flavoring, I thought this would be the perfect cake for our weekend. And it’s delicious! It’s the best cake for an afternoon tea or […]
Joys in the Pennsylvania Woods
This week as I walked along Spring Creek, I learned about a native Pennsylvania wildflower–the red trillium. These don’t last long in the spring, and it’s illegal in some places to pick them. They die very quickly if you do. To me, they seem so beautiful but also rather fragile and almost unnoticeable unless you’re […]
A Prayer God Answered: Easy and Light
On Sunday, I ask my praying neighbors to pray that my week could feel “easy and light.” I was so tired from online teaching and all the stress of future decisions related to teaching, launching a daughter into her freshman year of college, and caring for people. The days felt hard and heavy. But on […]
If You Don’t Have Much Left to Give
This morning I found myself reading 2 Kings 4 and the very familiar story of The Widow’s Olive Oil. Read it as if you are the widow with almost nothing left to give emotionally or physically. Read it as a worn out leader, a depleted parent, or an exhausted teacher. The widow finds herself in […]