Count the moments when you ONLY felt pure joy. They are few and far between. Count the days when grief was so overwhelming that there wasn't even a moment of a rainbow. Also, praise God, those days do not occur often. Yet, I've experience both. You too have undoubtedly walked through the rainbow and the... Continue Reading →
Sacredness
Gentle country music caresses my kitchen walls, wrapping around my recently-cleared table and fast-emptying mug of coffee. There is something sacred about Saturday mornings. Something sacred about the more leisurely pace of life. Blinking wide-eyed at a nonexistent alarm clock... Watching my husband move in his sleep... Reading my Bible while still snuggled under paisley... Continue Reading →
Framed by words
To be perfectly honest, I am not always honest. With myself. With others. With God. This morning, though, I will try to be transparent. Try to let the dirty and the lovely shine through the same window pane. I am, after all, a mosaic of God's making. I am here in Texas for the next... Continue Reading →
Resilient
After a great storm, there follows a great calm. While the landscape may have become forlorn and desolate under the great winds and pounding rains, new life is fermenting in the ground. It's making merry, waiting for just the right time to taste birth. Seeds of hope have been putting down roots for months. The... Continue Reading →
Living on the edge
"If you are not living on the edge, then you are taking up too much space. ~Ugandan saying Once again, I found myself reading through an old prayer journal this morning and found this quote. I believe it's been a while since I've seen the "edge," but that doesn't mean that I am not going... Continue Reading →
Pinching, perfection, and passionate patience
A brown fleece blanket wraps itself snuggly around my folded legs, as embroidered couch pillows cushion my curled form. Events, decisions, thoughts, disappointments, joys, and lessons of 2011 parade themselves through my heart just as the televised New Year's floats meander down the San Antonio, Texas, riverwalk display. Maybe, you too are snuggled somewhere, resting from... Continue Reading →
It’s a serrated howl
"'If it were up to me . . .' and then the words pounds, desperate and hard, 'I'd write this story differently.' I regret the words as soon as they leave me. They seem so un-Christian, so unaccepting - so No, God! I wish I could take them back, comb out their tangled madness, dress... Continue Reading →
Preparations of the heart
"Our God comes with power to save us. Each of us can name what it is we long to be saved from. Today, let's imagine ourselves freer. Throughout the day, let's picture new ways of responding to challenging relationships, habitual sins, and other ruts we are in. As we envision our freedom we experience how... Continue Reading →
Between Denver and Dakar, Day 5
Dear David, I eagerly logged on to my friend's computer this morning in her adorable clapboard house in North Carolina, hoping for an email update. Hoping to hear your voice breathe life through black-and-white words. Hoping to know how the Talibe street boy outreach went yesterday. Hoping to know how the team is handling the heat and... Continue Reading →
Four small tokens of gratitude. They happen to be chocolate.
My desk is covered in papers and miscellaneous teaching supplies. Make-up work for two students - one who has been downed by a stomach virus, another who is heading to Hawaii for a family wedding - nearly slides off the edge. Psychedelic Kleenex box perches near partially-completed current event report and often-jammed stapler. Coffee sits precariously near very full agenda... Continue Reading →
