There’s an old Puritan expression, “Pray until you pray.” I first stumbled across it when I read Tim Keller’s book on prayer a few years ago, and it’s stuck with me ever since. Pray until you pray. This little four-word exhortation captures what I often think about prayer but am hesitant to say aloud—that prayer…
Daylight Savings & Spiritual Disciplines
I’ve long used January 1st as the day I’m going to get my life together. New diet? Clean slate starts January 1st. Exercise plan? I’ll begin on the first of the year. Keep the Tupperware cabinet from throwing plastic containers at me every time I open it? Organization will commence on the first day of the…
Funeral Pants
I think I bought the pants before the pandemic began. I can’t remember, to be honest. But we’d had a series of deaths in our small congregation, and being a work-from-home mom, I didn’t own anything quite right for a funeral since I hadn’t attended one in a while. I found myself standing at a…
More Than This Life Only
I checked the final item off my long to-do list the other day and felt a bit of euphoria when my pen made a straight, black line through the words “answer emails.” It had been a day full of work at my desk (which is really just the dining room table between meals), work in…
I Wasn’t Half-Dead
I penned the name at the bottom of my prayer list. A friend had asked me to pray for her friend to come to faith in Christ, so I did. Each morning, I spoke the name to the Lord, asking for His saving power in their life. It wasn’t hard. It was important. And then,…
Jesus is the Thread
“What brings you joy?” she asked me. I was sitting in a room full of women, having just shared some of the trials the Lord had brought me through in recent years. “Just in general?” I questioned. “In ministry,” she answered. “What brings you joy in ministry?” Oh, that’s easy, I thought and then said…
What the Seasons Say
A few days ago on my early morning walk, I noticed some leaves drifting down from the neighborhood trees. A few leaves scattered in the breeze, falling right in front of me. I happily crunched over them because when the trees start undressing, I remember that the heat of a long, discouraging summer will certainly…
Check Your Idols
Have you ever found yourself yelling at a character in a movie or a book because they’re making a really stupid decision? “Don’t open that door!” you think, trying to imbue the fictional character with some common sense via telepathy. “Nothing good can come from opening that door.” And then you sigh in frustration when…
Sometimes I Need a Sunrise
Every morning this week, I’ve watched the sun rise. Every morning, without fail, the sun persistently pushes down the dark of night, lower and lower, into the horizon until I can’t see anything but light. It happens so slowly that you can’t tell it’s happening at all. Were you to try to decide which moment…
Sharp Tools, Good Hands
I didn’t have to look at the clock to know what it said, but I looked anyway. Two-thirty-six a.m. I know what that part of the night feels like; it’s not a new phenomenon. I’ve had nightly waking pain for the better part of eleven years. I creep out of bed, walk in a stooped…