When I was growing up, my parents often used the book of Proverbs as devotional material for our family Bible reading. Conveniently, we used the day of the month to choose the corresponding chapter and we’d each read a verse, going round and round in a circle in our living room at 7 a.m. with […]
We’ve hit that time of year in southern Missouri where gray is the predominant color of things. The harvest has long been gathered from all the area farmland, the trees have shed their colorful leaves, and the sun seems paler each day as we barrel towards the winter months. Because it’s so flat in this […]
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 […]
when the alarm didn’t go off and the day started late when the surgeon called and the news wasn’t great when the date didn’t show and the heart needed mending when the mask slipped a little and there’s no more pretending when the teacher’s notes were discouraging at best when there is no rest even […]
I think about joy in the middle of the night sometimes. I remember when I was memorizing the book of James a couple of years ago, and I got really hung up on that verse in the first chapter, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds” because it seems […]
When I was eight years old, my parents bought me a 35-millimeter camera, an oblong pink, plastic thing with the name “Barbie” splashed across the top in that neon lettering so characteristic of the late eighties. I loved that camera and the ability to grab a moment and memorialize it in printed form whenever my […]
My grandmother used to have this phrase to describe a particular kind of family resemblance. She’d say something like, “He looks out of his eyes the way his dad did when he was a kid” or “The way you look out of your eyes makes me think of your mama.” She didn’t mean that you […]
My friend sat next to me in my living room. I still had the pink and teal couch back then, a confection of polyester and silver thread I’d inherited that was exactly as garish and horrifying as it sounds. I put it on the curb in front of my house last summer because I’d finally […]
By now, you’ve probably seen the new Webb space telescope images recently released from NASA. In one snapshot of glimmering, sparkling specks are entire galaxies that have existed since the Lord spoke them into being. The photos are breathtaking and hard to comprehend from where we sit in our homes on this planet in this […]
Many years ago, I visited a Sunday school class at a church where the conversation revolved around what the Christian life should look like. The consensus seemed to think that soldiering through life without acknowledging struggles or burdening other people was the right and noble way to follow Jesus. Stoically. Quietly. Solitarily. It was the […]
