Love Stretches
She is darling! A former ballerina dancing in the Nutcracker and all grown up now, venturing out and into adult life. First love, real love captured her heart last year and the daisy-picking “He loves me. He loves me not” finally ended with “He loves me not” a couple weeks ago. But tomorrow is Valentine’s […]
Love is Tough
Dickens’ Oliver Twist became a movie when I was a girl. I was moved to tears as young Oliver, recently orphaned, sang Where is Love? To be orphaned at all, let alone in such bleak times as the novel’s setting, was beyond sad to me. Yet, I could relate. Growing up in an often tumultuous home, I […]
What is Love?
It’s Love Week! In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, I’ve been pondering love—what is it really and how does the world define it differently from God? So, in answer to the lead question starting the first entry of this week-long subject of mine, let me show you the banner hanging from our family room mantle that […]
Grounded Pilot
We had planned cross-country skiing this afternoon but a call came in. Grand-uncle had fallen and broken a table. Eighty-six years old and in hospital now. We want to be there for him. I grab a favorite vase and off we go for flowers first. I prune and arrange, then walk into his room, […]
Grace
Good will. Divine love and protection bestowed freely on people. These are definitions of grace. Two whole years we waited. The government agency determined that Anna, then 19, qualified as most in need of services on their long list of other qualifiers with disabilities. No one would know, looking at her. Our beautiful daughter […]
Wanted
No one wants me. Chin quivers and tears stream slow as our nineteen year old tells of yet another rejection. Our hopes had been high. A nearby cabinet assembly factory needed help and the employment agency sent Zach, informing him it was a three week stint with opportunity for hire. We were all elated. And […]
Love Song
I view contemporary worship music the way I view every other musical genre. If the music and lyrics and singers are good, I love it. If they’re not, I find the song annoying. Frankly, I find most contemporary Christian music falling into the second category. Now I’m not criticizing any ears that might be differently […]
Dear God
It happened again along the country road leading home. You swelled my heart with the everyday ordinary—deer close. My breath slows and I pull over hoping—hoping for a moment of deer time, up-close and personal. And they do stay and I speak worship words to You in my heart—a psalm, a love song to You […]
Forget-Me-Not
Why do I write words baring the brokenness of my own soul? Why do I share feelings deep and raw for all to read? Do others gasp and wonder why too? Why does she do this—this revealing? I do it because I have to—I’ve decided I just have to. One doesn’t heal without humility. And […]
Heart Warming
Bundled in layers of down, I head to the barn at daylight. It’s zero degrees. The wind is stiff and strong this morning, hurling like a sharpened spear out of the northwest, slicing me through. My fingers ache in minutes as I greet our five horses eager for morning meal. Three barn cats huddle tight […]
Learning to See
Life is about learning to see. Off we go again this morning on our country drive to Nick’s reading tutor. He reminds me to bring my camera because it’s foggy and he thinks we might capture some cool shots. As we drive, we look for lessons. We’re learning to see God everywhere, in everything teaching […]
Weathered and Worn
I take my camera and my son and head off to tutoring on a Wisconsin winter morning. Driving through fields, weathered and worn barns call out for notice. Yes, there are new but it’s the old I want. I don’t want to see perfection. I want to see holes and cracks and ragged edges. I […]