With Every Cut
The arborists came out to our home yesterday to prune the Blue Feather Cypress trees and the Ginkgo. Another team came to remove so many dead limbs from two enormous oak trees. As I left my house for campus, I passed by two experts working right by the driveway. I watched who made the first […]
Smallest Little Reminder
While driving home from Penn State, I see a school teacher in the neighborhood signaling cars to stop so all the little children can cross this one road that leads to a big playground. The tall, strong teacher held up his big hand, and everyone on the busy road came to attention, slowed their cars, […]
Advisory
Late last night, our neighborhood received a “water boil advisory” because a main water line broke. With fears of contaminated water, we all boiled water for drinking and brushing teeth (and of course for morning coffee!) I quickly realized we didn’t possess any stock of bottled water in the house. Naturally, I woke up thinking […]
Interruptible and Double Harvest
Yesterday, I couldn’t post my blog on time because my college daughter and roommate wanted to pop in to visit. It didn’t matter what I was doing at that moment. When it’s your children wanting to visit, it’s going to be a “yes” — a sort of drop everything and put out the snacks kind […]
Perfect Little Pumpkins
We invite the little girls next door to journey into the mini pumpkin patch to pick a round of early pumpkins. We’ll have more ready to pick in a few weeks as well. Last year, we grew so many little pumpkins that we could deliver them to many neighbors. They don’t rot or soften, so […]
Of Which We Were Not Aware
This morning my dear professor friend passed along a quote about writing that she shares with her students. I just love it! I want to share it with my students when we start our narrative unit. Perhaps it will inspire your own writing today. It’s from Henri Nouwen, recorded today on the Henri Nouwen Society […]
Gather ‘Round to Learn
This morning, I walked past a class meeting outside under a beautiful oak tree. The students sat on the green grass. Two professors (obvious tree experts) passionately instructed their students about some kind of tree issue. The students sipped coffee and took notes in their notebooks. They listened to one professor as he walked around […]
The Repeated Request in Psalm 119
I notice the repetition of a key verb in Psalm 119 this morning. It’s revive. Nine times in this beautiful psalm, the writer implores God to “revive” him according to God’s lovingkindness. Over and over again, the prayer goes out: “Revive me” by God’s word, through righteousness, though His love. The prayer that God would […]
The Tug on the Heart
Last night I enjoyed a special time of prayer for our college students, teachers, and children. Something my friend prayed stuck with me all night and this morning. He asked God to continue to “tug at the hearts” of our children so they would be drawn to seek God more and more. I remember that […]
The Spirit Helping Us
This morning I read Romans 8 and loved looking at the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives. It’s a powerful moment in this letter when Paul writes, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” Let’s ask the Holy Spirit to govern […]