It Doesn’t Depend on My Feelings About It
Sometimes I sit in my chair with my Bible and journal, and I grapple with all sorts of complex theological issues. If I’m not careful, I invite existential crisis by 8:00 AM. I worry and worry about correct doctrine. I labor over what I’m feeling about things. I wonder why I don’t feel particularly close […]
Enclosed
I read the simple reality in Psalm 139:5 that God “hems” us in, and His hand rests upon us. The verb hem means to completely enclose. We are completely enclosed. Guarded, protected, surrounded. I’m hemmed in by God’s great love.
For As Many Days As We Have Suffered
I notice the strangest thing: the old, gnarled trunk of the Weeping Cherry–the same angry trunk that looks haunted and dead–has blossomed into the most beautiful blooms. It’s true: the worst of the tree displays a shawl of white and pink blossoms against the freshest, newest green growth. This observation comes after I see the […]
All the Verbs We Never Use
I’m not sure why, but I rarely find students using verbs that start with the letter B. I check. I do. It’s a strange phenomenon (both the lack of B verbs and my checking up on this). We must banish this discrimination and beckon beautiful B verbs! A student delights me with a sentence in […]
They Love the Weekly Dinner Menu
When my youngest was just a toddler, we visited a home where the mother displayed the weekly dinner menu on a big chalkboard in her kitchen. I wasn’t even a member of this family, and I was excited about their dinner for the week. I gazed up in wonder as I thought about each evening’s […]
Two Ways to Think About It
As I listen to a Christian professor discussing what motivates his research, I’m so struck by his claim. He says, “God gives us significant insights. . . that we then share with people to make their lives better and their appreciation of God and His goodness greater.” We share our God-given insights to improve lives […]
All the Childhood Projects
Our days of childhood school projects for the S.L.A.M fair (Science, Literature, Art, and Music) will end after just next year. As I get ready to deliver another project to school, I find myself reminiscing about days of glitter and hot glue. What fun we’ve had! One year, we explored making butter from cream; another […]
An Overgrown Lesson About God’s Timing
Do you remember how our daughters planted all their seeds in their mini greenhouses several weeks ago? Well, we realize that we began the process much too soon. In Pennsylvania, the planting season really begins later in May, and folks often don’t touch their gardens until June 1st. Our plants have nowhere to go. They […]
5 Little Joys
1. The sound of a creek flowing over rocks that I heard this morning (I visited a retreat center where I parked my car next to a hillside that tumbled down into a litte creek!) 2. Thinking I forgot my umbrella in a downpour only to realize my daughter tucked one into my bag. 3. […]
The Blossoms Blossomed
They opened! Despite last night’s hailstorm, chilly temperatures, and a cloudy sky, the blossoms opened. They are all the more beautiful because of what they’ve endured.