“Church today,” I wrote in my journal early Sunday morning. “I could really use the fellowship. I’m feeling low.” I put down my pen. I hadn’t slept much. It was a relief to know I’d soon be among my church family, distracted from the interior concerns running through my mind. Better than distracted, I knew…
The Manna is Always There
I have a plastic bin filled with beans hidden in my basement. I packed that bin two years ago when I, like everyone else, worried about food supplies. I’ve borrowed from the bin a little, but if you need rice or dried beans, I’ve got you covered. I also have gallons of water in case…
A Bit of Earth
We moved in with my grandparents twice during my childhood. The first time, I was five years old, and my mom was in a wheelchair for months after giving birth to my sister. We stayed with my grandparents in their small house in an old Memphis neighborhood for nearly a year, until my mom could…
Chasing Sunsets
“Let’s chase the sunset,” I told my son. We were driving to our weekly kid’s club at our church’s community center, and we glimpsed the sinking sun through the trees. In this corner of southern Missouri, flat isn’t quite the word to describe the landscape. This is farming country, and the fields stretch for miles…
All This Wasted Worry
I once spent a whole night worrying about a bug bite. Well, eight of them, to be precise. My son had been playing outside that afternoon and came in with a strange assortment of bites across his shoulder that didn’t look like anything I’d seen before. They weren’t your average Southeast Missouri mosquito bites, but…
Prayer and Mental Margin
I took a walk this morning, my first since getting over Covid. It was brutally cold, but I couldn’t resist layering on some warm clothes to take a stroll through my neighborhood. Being cooped up for the last several weeks, I’d forgotten how much I enjoy the quiet of a morning walk. While shivering through…
Grow Like a Houseplant
I must confess, I was a bit of a pandemic cliché. Two years ago, I looked for some at-home hobbies to while away the time during lockdown. Like a lot of people, I baked loaf after loaf of sourdough bread, read numerous novels, and bought about a dozen houseplants. On one of my first weekly…
4 Questions for Your Bible Reading in 2022
Every year, in the days following Christmas, I make promises to myself. Weary of traveling for most of the holidays, sleeping little and eating one Christmas dinner after another, I spend the last days of December mapping out a healthier life plan for the new year that includes more vegetables, earlier bedtimes, and less screen…
There Will Be No Burden-Bearing if There Is No Burden-Sharing
I was having trouble walking that Saturday morning. Exhausted, fatigued, and discouraged, I had told my husband I couldn’t participate in the church leaf-raking service project we were doing for our widows and shut-ins. I felt embarrassed when my family left the house clad in boots and gloves and armed with rakes and leaf-blowers to…
What We Pray in the Dark
It was 1:30 a.m. Pain seared through my lower back, wrapping itself around my S. I. joints and radiating into the deepest part of my hips. I moved from bed to couch and back, rearranging the pillows a dozen times, applying ice and heat wherever I could. There was no relief. None. Tears dripped down…