How to Go to Sleep: A Time to Search the Heart
In Psalm 4:4, we’re instructed this way: “When you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.” I remember how Libby Miller from Camp Greystone taught the young campers how to go to sleep: After the bugle played taps and camp was quiet, after the closing of the Bible and the prayer of […]
What Was True Last Time: The Schedule, The Cheerleader, and The Deadline
I’m having so much fun developing my favorite questions to use in coaching people to reach goals or to develop in some way. Twice this week, I used the question, “What allowed you to motivate yourself the last time you achieved a goal? What worked?” I love this question because it alerts us to the conditions that […]
When It’s Time to Revisit a Dream
Maybe you need to revisit a dream you once had for your life. Do you? Is today the day? Today, my literary agency reminded me that once, long ago, I wrote all these novels. Why not try again? Why not pitch to new, different markets? Why not reconsider. You can write nonfiction and fiction. You […]
Each Day, A Pearl
I was told on an overwhelming day to think of each day as a pearl you’re adding to a necklace. Each day, you make just one pearl. I have no idea why this image brought me so much peace, but it did. I sat there and pictured my pearl. You think of your life as […]
All the Choices
I love the soft, brown bunnies in my yet-to-be-planted garden patch. I also love these eggplants that belong in the patch. I will plant these eggplant and send the bunnies onward to other fields. I could have both for a time, but at some point, one must choose. The eggplant parmiaganna in my future won.
A Little Fairy House and Garden
Abundant Goodness
Driving around town yesterday, I realized that when I pray to God, I believe He can answer and will bless. But I think He will do so in a just enough kind of manner. He can provide, but I don’t often trust that He will do so lavishly or abundantly. I limit Him in my […]
Just Like That, They Go to the Pool Without You
Gone are the days of me, slathered with sunscreen, pulling a rolling cooler filled with tea and grapes and carrots. Gone are the days of weathered novels read through smudged sunglasses while pausing to talk to every neighbor. Gone are the days of coaxing children off diving boards, cheering deep end swimming, and battling wasps […]
A Turn Around Day
I wake up. I need a turn around day. I’ve missed my walk and all my healthy eating. I’ve missed the nests and photography. Instead, I’ve been mostly over-caffeinated, dehydrated, and. . .blah. But it’s never too late! We can turn it around at this moment! The things needed for joy and order (at least […]
Attracting the Hummingbirds
On the walk home from school I see the familiar flash of emerald. I stop and wait. He returns, darting into the azalea. He hovers, this little marvel. I feel blessed, chosen. I race into the house to announce the arrival of hummingbirds. Wherever they’ve been, they’re back. It’s finally warm enough, and the flowers […]