Sometimes at night, when darkness has settled outside, Zoe and I dream of glittering crowns.  “Glittering’ is almost too dull a word.  These crowns are other-worldy—piercing, as opposed to just shining; stunning in a way that we will feel instead of simply see.  These crowns would make human beings shield their dimmed eyes, still dulled as we […]

I need to be weeded daily by the Spirit of God, with a Word-shaped knife so sharp it divides my soul and spirit.  And this is why I cling to Him so passionately: I really hate weeds. Nearly every Tuesday, I make my fingers sore yanking them from the soil, digging into the dirt so […]

I’ve been disowned. The letter came while I vacationed on the coast.  It blew in cold and hard, and the words cut like a knife.  Others have walked away before, but this is my first rejection by association.  I’ve never actually been in conflict with this person, never shot them an angry look, never even […]

I see God everywhere on the coast.  I talk to Him, standing at the water’s edge watching, listening, feeling.  “You gather all this into jars (Psalm 33:7).  You alone rule over the surging sea (Psalm 89:9)… The seas have lifted up, LORD, the seas have lifted up their voice; the seas have lifted up their pounding […]

Adam hates waiting. When he was in first grade, he often got to be the line leader for his class when they left the classroom.  But Adam didn’t like to wait, so when the teacher said, “Line up at the door,” he’d just open the door and leave.  Every reminder, “Adam,wait,” he met with frustration.  “Please, wait!!” […]

We’re sitting in a circle, you and I, with half a dozen other people we love.  It’s late at night, past the hour when everyone started yawning, past the time when we all ambled into the kitchen looking for snacks, all the way past pitch dark and silence to that hour when the world seems […]

A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.~ Proverbs 25:11 Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. ~Ephesians 4:29 You know, words don’t really come easily to any of us. But in […]

Ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life. ~Dallas Willard, as quoted in The Good and Beautiful God by James Bryan Smith, 183 Sometimes I feel like a horrible mother. These are the days when I truly realize the power of grace, and these are the days when my thanksgiving for it is most earnest. Sometimes I feel […]

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And […]

For me, digging in the dirt is breathing deeply. It is a hundred different things at once, and among them freedom, imagination, fragrance, heat. This time of year, I’d rather be outside than in.  The hours out there run away on the breeze, and it returns bringing me peace and joy and conversations with God.  […]