11Nov 27, 2015
Thanksgiving leaves scatter across our table, as though the Wind has carried them in a flying whirl through the windows, twisting them across the grass and through the air to land where we gather to give thanks. Adam walks to the table, turning first to reach for a pencil. I feel what he is about to […]
12Nov 20, 2015
Dinner time–almost, and already the crisp darkness makes our window panes cold beneath my fingers. I switch on lamps to fill the room with light, light I hope will glow well beyond the house, slipping out around the edges of the panels of the curtains, beaming boldly through the glass. And with the light, I pray […]
13Nov 28, 2014
We will travel a long way to be with family. Dark as pitch in the pouring rain, lights reflecting on the wet road, and our kids settle in with pillows and blankets—two wide-eyed; one quickly asleep again. I grip a tumbler full of coffee–black and murky like the night sky–in my chilled hands, preparing myself […]
14Nov 21, 2014
We sit in a restaurant not far away, because she’s tired and I’m tired, and it need not take long to get home. Time comes and we sit down, having carefully protected the hour. She begins by announcing a blemish, because our hearts have been friends an uncountable age, and we see no need for glossing […]
15Oct 17, 2014
I don’t know how much time I have left. Afternoon, and autumn leaves wander and twist to the earth, fluttering through the grass and along the sidewalk. The sun makes a blaze of the trees. I stop for a moment just to see, putting down my work, stunned by the fragility of life. I […]
16Oct 10, 2014
Sometimes wishing for something else, something better, something other, nearly spoils the planting. In our hands, we carry seed to sow, seed gritty in our fingers and sweaty in the palm. But standing in the middle of I don’t want to, we scarely imagine the blooms that will come once we reluctantly leave those hard, dead […]
17Nov 29, 2013
My son digs the bills out of his left pocket, spreading them flat on his thigh. He smiles–a small, delighted surrender, preparing for the giving. And somewhere long past—somewhere God can still see unfolding right with our present, a woman’s feet stir the dust as she walks purposefully toward Temple. Lightly, she walks across the […]
18Nov 22, 2013
Well okay, not just the holidays. I can’t ignore the resounding, soul-altering Comment: This is not just for now. We linger, just souls pouring, and in those moments, walls fall. The thunderous quake, the crashing of ugly pretense pushed down, is something I feel, something that shakes Heaven maybe, while here, our voices softly offer […]
19Nov 15, 2013
We spend an afternoon at the table passing sheets of sticky letters, photographs, pens. Before I turn my attention to helping Riley through homework, before cooking, before folding the towels, Zoe and I sit together tasting gratitude like honey on our tongues. I press down a bit of light-catching foam and wonder why it feels […]
20May 3, 2013
I love so many hurting people. And the impulse I have, because it’s God obliterating me, is to bring them joy. I want to grab the heavy shadows shrouding them and rip them apart with my hands. I want to free them from the grip of the things that steal their laughter. I want to […]