A Little Fortune
When Everyone Has Dogs
I live in a dog neighborhood. I love the dogs! I love Peanut, Skittles, and Belle on my street, and I love the regulars I see on the walk to school every morning. On any given day, I’ll pass a dozen dogs with their owners. But we don’t have a dog. We have cats. One […]
Plugging Into the Supply: The Best Image of a Neighborhood
My sister tells me of an unusual circumstance on her street this morning. Because of a broken water pipe, the county turns off the water to a neighbor’s home. What can he do while he waits for the repair? Apparently, he can plug into another home’s supply. He can run a hose from my sister’s […]
A Timely Southern Expression
My wonderful mother-in-law, a fine southern woman, has educated me well in the art of southern living. In the past 15 years of marriage into a southern family, I’ve learned all about fried chicken, fried okra, sweet tea, and pimento cheese sandwiches. I’ve learned about slow time around the table. I know southern food, and […]
Morning Light in the Forest
I love foggy mornings that make the sunbeams visible. On the walk to school, we stop and observe the sunlight filtering through the forest. It’s so beautiful that we pause and look, take pictures, and sigh. I will forever love dappled, foggy morning light streaming through trees. I pray I walk a million more miles […]
Hearing All the Stories
I’ve mostly solved my travel anxiety issues! I realize how much I love asking people about their lives wherever I am. When any setting becomes a rich wonderland of stories, I take my focus off myself and my mind’s worries. I participate in something extraordinary: you. I’ve met a researcher caring for Native American communities […]
An Inside Peek at Publishing and Promotion (So Excited!)
My little overnight bag is packed because I’m flying to Chicago to speak at Moody Chapel tomorrow. I have two radio interviews while I’m there (WMBI and Chris Fabry Live). I fly home right after. It’s so exciting! I’m actually giddy about the people I’ll spend time with and even the food I might eat […]
What You’re Used to Seeing
A magnificent transformation occurs in my kitchen. How? I decide it’s time to clean the window screens. They just seem dusty and more like a platform for spider webs than anything else. I don’t really notice on most days, but since I’m in a change-of-season cleaning frenzy, I pop the screens out to wash them. […]
This Must Be For Me
My daughters and I return from the store with a new little rug to place in front of the kitchen sink. Within minutes, our cat, Snowflake, who otherwise refuses to make public appearances, stretches out upon it and curls up into a comfortable little loaf of relaxation. This is now her little rug, apparently. I […]
Perpetual Kingdom
More and more, I hear sad news. More and more, I realize that my physical reality does not match my expectations for the joy and blessings one might expect in life. There’s so much to grieve and so much to worry over. And yet. I read this morning astonishing words written by Hannah Whitall Smith […]