Have you ever noticed how good it feels to give? I remember the first time I’d earned my own money to spend on people at Christmastime. I was 13, so I couldn’t go out shopping without someone driving me, which means they’d know about their presents, so I got the sneaky idea of ordering everyone […]
Read more "A Giving Heart"Well, Friends, here we are, headed into the last leg of the Christmas countdown—six days and a wake-up will bring us to Christmas morning. On a practical level, it’s the goal and destination of all our plans, efforts, recipes, and wrapping paper. Do you still have a lot to do? If you’re having a house […]
Read more "The First Motion of Love"I went to the State Fair yesterday with my son Christopher and daughter-in-law Ashley. It was an absolutely beautiful morning for it. We enjoyed all the animals and the displays—and discovered a big white ribbon on my son’s photography entry, which made us all happy. And of course, there was the food: I had a […]
Read more "Food Is Love"Sitting here just now, do you feel rested this morning? For much of our lives, many of us have a fairly complicated relationship with the idea of rest. When we are young, we don’t really want to rest. There’s too much to do, too many games to play, fireflies to catch, baseballs to throw, friends […]
Read more "Rest and Restoration"Scholarship Sunday, June 26, 2022 Our Old Testament reading for today is a welcome reminder that no matter how things might look in a given moment, God is always about the work of restoration and renewal: “See I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making […]
Read more "Christ Along the Way"Last Monday on my way to the hospital, against the soft blue and gold of the morning sky, I saw two different murmurations. Seemed like a miracle—or a message. So beautiful! And mysterious. In case you don’t remember what a murmuration is, it is a big, flowing flock of birds—starlings, scientists say, in groups sometimes […]
Read more "Joyful Murmurations"Yesterday afternoon, when it had warmed up enough for gardening, I spent a good long while carefully combing through a flower bed out back, trying to pull the wild strawberry plants out of the Dianthus. I don’t begrudge the strawberries their exuberance—they have lovely green leaves, sunny yellow flowers, and bright red berries—but they are […]
Read more "Taming the Wild"Many years ago, my then 8th’grade son and I drove a frosty four hours north to Kalamazoo, Michigan for an evening of live music. We were both excited about the event; he had received two tickets to hear Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Jazz Center Orchestra live as they made stops across the country on […]
Read more "The Song of God"An invitation… Love God in the world And then see it love you back Like a kitten purrs.
Read more "The Purr of Love"Reflect: Morning frost proclaimsEndings, now, and beginningsLet go and receive #morningHaiku
Read more "Impermanence"
The Space between the Words 