I don’t know whether you’ve noticed this where you live, but at my house, the flower beds—which actually have very few intentionally planted flowers in them at the moment—and bushes and grass are all growing like crazy. Every time I turn around, it’s time to mow or weed again. The rainy spring and the hot […]
Read more "The Blessed Community"The walk to Emmaus is one of my favorite New Testament stories. It contains everything a good story needs: heartbreak, challenge, effort, confusion, struggle—and ultimately, a big reveal and a happy ending. We learn from this story that there is good—that God is still working—even when it feels like all is lost. We’re reminded that […]
Read more "On the Road Again"It’s a curious thing about human nature that our daily experiences—our hunger, our thirst for life—seems to be heightened after we’ve gone through a time of trial. Maybe after a period of what feels like darkness, we’re more aware somehow of the shining of the light: After a long, gray winter, the colors of spring […]
Read more "Time & Treasure"On a scale of 1 to 10, how good would you say you are at forgiveness? Is it easy to let the frustration roll off when someone cuts you off in traffic? What about when a friend makes an insensitive comment? Or a stranger is rude for no reason? Little things like that don’t cause […]
Read more "At Home in the Heart"Our Quaker meeting was honored to be asked to lead worship for the spring retreat of Western Yearly Meeting yesterday. This post is the message we offered as vocal ministry. Also, an invitation: It warms our hearts that so many people around the world find and read our blog, and we want you to know […]
Read more "Deepening and Stretching"I’m glad to tell you that Gloria is here, and I’m totally in love with her. She is soft, sweet, playful, doing what puppies do—chewing and jumping and tugging, spilling water bowls (or splashing in them with her chubby paws). And oh my goodness the innocence that just pours out of her, as she experiences […]
Read more "Perfectibility, Not Perfectionism"Here we are in chapter two of the Winter of 2019 story. Again we canceled meeting for worship–two weeks in a row!–this time because of ice, wind, and dangerous cold. (It is on it’s way to a low of -10 tonight.) So this post is a reflection in lieu of a longer weekly message. Ice […]
Read more "Ice Isn’t the Whole Story"