I am sitting peacefully in my in-laws’ living room now, but a week ago, I was all lit up in Christmas stress. I felt guilty about the stress, for I love Christmas. I tease that I was raised by elves. I start listening to Christmas music as soon as the heat of summer lifts. I […]
Category Archives: Devotionals
I often think of Einstein’s words: “There are two ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle; you can live as if everything is a miracle.” Children live with a sense of awe. Sometimes I’m afraid that the pain in this life will chip away at my sense of wonder until […]
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” Isaiah 53:2b Isaiah prophesied that Jesus wouldn’t be physically beautiful. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first read Isaiah 53: 2-3, but I felt its truth in my heart. Would the Servant King, born […]
“Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11 To a tiny town, snug within the Bible belt, I drove to meet my friend beneath a funeral tent. Her younger sister, who had been sick since we were little, had gone home to heaven. When I reached the town, raindrops greeted me, thumping upon my […]
My husband is fond of saying, “We don’t do what we know we need to do to be happy.” I know I need to live gratefully. This week I didn’t. I know I need to keep up with the laundry. This week I didn’t. I know I need to read books, plan meals, spend time […]
I first saw this poem in its entirety when I was surrounded by beautiful blooms at Bellingrath Gardens in Alabama. The last stanza will probably be familiar to you, as it timelessly echoes the reveries of every gardener. God’s Garden THE Lord God planted a garden In the first white days of the world, And […]
The bluebonnets are blooming this week. The roadsides are thick with them. I felt compelled to get Little One out in them to take his picture. Normally, I would have been hesitant (to say the least) to let my three-year-old frolic beside a busy road, but the blue beauty so captivated us that we hardly noticed […]
“The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17 I was hesitant to go to Australia. Please don’t gasp and call me ungrateful. Label me, instead, with the […]
“Many waters cannot quench love . . . .” —Song of Solomon 8:7 (NKJV) * “Valentine’s Day at the Laundromat,” my aunt’s folksong hums from the CD player, and though I’m not literally in a laundromat on this day of love, the dryer is rumbling in the background. I started a load of laundry after […]
The same God who brought you the good old days will bring you the good new days.” I read this bit of wisdom in a book by John Claypool when I was a teenager, and I’m still quoting it to myself today. The New Year is beginning, and although I feel a twinge of excitement […]
A Children's Book World 