There is a place within us that can be reached by intelligence. But there is a deeper one that only the spirit can get to. And that is why those who are “merely completely intelligent” — in science or art, verse or prose — always seem like spies. ~Juan Ramon Jimenez, The Complete Perfectionist […]
Read moreThis is a repost. I wrote it in July of 2007 after our last visit to 1126 Carroll Lane in Hermitage, Pennsylvania, the house where my in-laws blended their families of sons when my husband was sixteen years old. I fell in love with my husband there in April of 1988. We brought our babies […]
Read moreI’m a mother three times, and the births of my children were relatively easy. I say “relatively” because they were each (also) fraught in their ways. But the upshot was the same each time: healthy baby, healthy mother. I remain incredibly grateful for this. The birth of one of them, however, was a little dicey. […]
Read moreThe cat calls for her dinner. (This is a post about a poem, and these are some of its lines:) On the porch I bend and pour brown soy stars into her bowl, stroke her dark fur. No. It’s not a poem about a cat, although here at the beginning one might think it […]
Read moreThis is the fourth post in a series meant to be preceded by an introductory letter. Please read that here. Listen here: Click here to download the audio file. Foster Intimacy, part 2 “Shame and death are the two great enemies of the Gospel.” ~Jay Thomas “Much dysfunction is a function of denying brokenness.” […]
Read moreClick here to download the audiofile: Waiting on God in a Pandemic Or listen here: First thing every morning, before I even open my eyes, I listen for what I don’t hear: school bus brakes, construction’s rattle. Neighbors’ cars pulling out of driveways and the distant wind of traffic on I-40. These days […]
Read moreThis is the third post in a series meant to be preceded by an introductory letter. Please read that here. Foster Intimacy “Daring greatly means the courage to be vulnerable. It means to show up and be seen. To ask for what you need. To talk about how you’re feeling. To have the […]
Read moreThis is the second post of a series meant to be preceded in reading by an introductory letter. Please read that HERE. Grow Up. “Children learn more from what you are than what you teach.” ~ W. E. B. Du Bois “There’s a world of difference between insisting on someone’s doing something and establishing […]
Read moreThis post is the first of a series, and is meant to be preceded in reading by an introductory letter. Please read that HERE. Enjoy Your Children “Children should be seen and not heard.” ~ English proverb “The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight […]
Read moreDear Friends, Last year I was invited to speak to a Mothers Of Pre-Schoolers group on “teaching the gospel to very young children.” I immediately agreed, interested in returning to a subject I haven’t considered in a while. But I was surprised by some further dialogue between me and the woman who invited me to […]
Read more