Moments of thankfulness often pass us by without acknowledgment. But what might happen if we create a habit of noticing and capturing them. From one thousand gifts to three thousand gifts and counting. This is a Guest Post from Pauline Turnbull. It all began on the 24th of October 2020 […]
Something new had to happen, and it could, but it would take a wire brush to shift the bark. So we submit to the master gardener. As I came to winter prune this old rose, I said a prayer. ‘Creator God, guide me as I prune. As I cut and […]
Having a Mental Illness can mean you feel very alone, but does being a Christian mean that you’re somehow on the outside? I wouldn’t have noticed it at the time, but a few years ago, I began to look at the shaping influences that happened in my early life, particularly […]
You’re tired, drained, but you can’t find a simple way to restore. So maybe it’s time to cease and savor delight in the little moments. It had been a tough week—full-on giving out. People, work, tasks, energy-draining memories all want a piece of the energy pie. What was leftover were […]
There is a grain or a pattern to our thinking that needs to change, but we are stuck, so God gently comes against the grain and changes it from the inside out. It goes against the grain of self-protection to let someone in, especially when we have been hurt. But […]
No one likes to submit. It feels foreign and dangerous, but we long for intimacy (in-to-me-see), so we taste and see if the other is good and safe. There was movement and rhythm as the couple glided across the dance floor. He gently led, she moved in response. She would […]
There is a self-centeredness to ourselves, a turned/curved inwardness, incurvatus in se, but there is one that shows how to break the gravity, the pull of the curve. There is a pull on me all the time. It’s in the lyrics of the eighties pop hit. What about me, it […]
Tired and weary, worn down and burned out. You can’t find relief because you have no refuge. So let’s build a storm shelter together. It’s the noise that wears you down. The ambient, in the background but all around you, stresses of life. You’re the meat in the sandwich, and […]
“The problem is not the problem. The real problem is much worse.” Sandy Burdick I can still see the look of abject horror on Alma’s face, and the dark brown eyes opened wide as I approached her. I was about to tell her that she was magnificent, and she was […]
If you want to see the growth, then you have to stop the horses. Build a fence and let the natural growth come. There wasn’t any fence—nothing to stop those horses from coming down into our bush area and trampling down the undergrowth. But there was a lesson for me […]