Today, I will hug each of my children as many times as I serve them meals — because children’s hearts feed on touch. I’ll look for as many opportunities to touch my children today as possible — the taller they are, the more so. ~Ann Voskamp Every day breathing, for me, means learning this: love comes first. I remember […]

It’s as though every day is the first time I’ve met God, the first time I’ve loved Him. I wake up and I can’t remember who I am, or that I’m abundantly blessed.  I feel trapped in the weary, aware of the walls that surround me, boxed in and dull.  And then He shows me […]

Last week, Kevin and I went backpacking on the Appalachian Trail.  I loved it.  And I hated it.  And now, days later, I still want to go back. Identity intrigues me, the way we allow the details of life to shape our perception of possibility; the way I have limited my own view of who […]

The last year I shopped Black Friday, Mom and I sat in a parking lot for two and a half hours, gridlocked, trying to leave.  Our bargains, over which we’d shared exhilarated gloating, sat in their bags, looking less impressive as the minutes passed.  All in all, the madness just didn’t seem worth the money we’d saved. […]

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 […]

“And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” ~Simeon (man “moved by the Holy Spirit”) to Mary (mother of the Savior of all mankind) the gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verse 35 She could not have known.  Standing there, with her baby just over a month old, showing up as she was for obedience—Mary […]

lav·ish [lav-ish]–adjective 1.expended, bestowed, or occurring in profusion: lavish spending. 2.using or giving in great amounts; prodigal How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!~1 John 3:1 I came into this world on Easter Sunday, the same year my dad started his business.  My dad is a Certified Public Accountant, […]

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 […]

Some time ago, I asked God to teach me to love. It’s interesting to me, after all these years, that the first passages of scripture my mom took me to, teaching me to allow the Spirit to write the Word on my heart, were passages about love.  Sitting on her bed after the light had […]

Love is patient, Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered. It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, […]