“Would you like an elephant plant?” She asks, holding up a tiny plant in a square pot–terra cotta orange, but plastic—a baby that moments later I cannot find. I’m not sure it’s actually called an elephant plant, but it might be.  She’s not the best for remembering the names of things, and she lifts this […]

In the last fifteen minutes before we rush off to school, I gather her hair in my fingers, smoothing the strands with my thumbs. I trace the unseen bumps and grooves along her scalp and map them in my mind, the geography of her, the feel.  I know the landscape by heart. Before I can […]

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 […]

On the bar in the kitchen, I find a scrap of paper she has forgotten.  The blocked letters and lines and paragraphs seem too serious for her, too stark.  Name: _______________________________ Title/Description for yourself (something you would naturally say to introduce yourself): _______________________________.  Her handwriting softens the lines, beautiful, plain, easy.  Riley.  Peace. I lay […]

Okay, listen:  whatever you feel like doing, do the opposite. It’s a war strategy, really.  It’s your secret weapon when the taunts come sharp and deadly, when your enemy thunders toward you, when the ground trembles with the assault.  It’s what I’m learning to do when I face defeat, weariness, complaint, anger, bitterness, pride, fear; […]

She comes to find me and starts the conversation casually, pulling her hair back with one hand, letting it fall.  The soft blonde strands, deepening now to brown, float out around her face, slide down along the edges of her cheeks.  Her eyes are wells, stronger and more serious at times than her years.  Her […]

2 days before Christmas, and Kevin and I walk early—a treat, Mom and Dad here, the kids snuggling with them in the dark.  The breeze feels amazing, blowing in our faces, a reminder of the Spirit walking with us.  Tears drip down my cheeks, renewing my eyes, even though I’m not crying.  And I can’t […]

Word to the wise: when you step off the airplane in Mexico, prepare to be deceived. The plane lands, and we share a conspiratorial smile, Kevin and me.  It is the smile of sixteen years as best friends, our souls all blended together; the smile that travels all the way up to our eyes, glinting […]

October feels ripe for walking.  So on Saturday, we walked in the park, away from hurry.  For a while, we left all else behind and moved straight to the heart of Grace, the evidence in things created. The leaves applauded our rest, dancing with the wind, dappling the sunlight that drifted through the trees, gold […]

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 […]