I hold my son’s son, both hands cupped against his wife’s warm abdomen. Her baby rolls toward my touch and she smiles down at me. Maternal delight mingled with innocence shines through her flush of expectancy. Love flows from each of us into the center of her universe, into the womb that nurtures and protects…
The first time I heard the term helpmeet was during a career development conversation with the vice-president of my department at my corporate job. After college, my husband and I had worked hard to establish careers and our family. My performance was stellar, and I was good at my job. I was expressing to my…
It was just a purple paper cone filled with tissue paper. The tissue was yellow and orange, the color of fire. The cone glistened with foil stars that coiled around its body. It was simply a handmade paper torch, but it had meaning. The torch commemorated fifty years of ordaining women in my denomination. I…
“All together now—applause for God! Sing songs to the tune of His glory, set glory to the rhythms of His praise. Say of God, “We’ve never seen anything like Him!” When your enemies see you in action, they slink off like scolded dogs. The whole earth falls to its knees— it worships you, sings to…
This summer, I will snatch those hydrangea blooms before they’re spent, pluck them at their peak, and set them on my table in a pitcher, just like they do on Pinterest, Instagram, and HGTV. Clippers in hand, I don’t step outside looking to be spellbound, but is it possible to be ravished by a bush?…
And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace. Your suffering is over.” Mark 5:34 It’s been over 20 years, but I can still recall the sound of the small voice reaching out to us from the back seat of the car. “Mr. Rowe, what can I call you?” Puzzled, my…
I wish I were that gal who regularly rose before the roosters to spend hours in Scripture and prayer. And when I wrestle with the fact that I don’t seem to be her, I vacillate between making weak excuses for why I don’t just get my poop in a group and feeling shame for not…
“Night is a time of rigor, but also of mercy. There are truths which one can see only when it’s dark.” Isaac Bashevis Singer Some nights never end. Alone in my head, I replay stories and the future seems dark as it dominates the landscape. I feel small and gloom overwhelms eight hours of space…
“…If we believed that even a little tree in our front yard is a miracle, we’d have to spend all day in gratitude to God. We’d have to pray without ceasing.” —Alan Noble Alan Noble, founder of Christ & Pop Culture, professor at Oklahoma Baptist University and author of Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a…
Loneliness in the United States has now reached epidemic levels. A recent study by Cigna Health Service Company revealed that “two in five Americans sometimes or always feel that their relationships are not meaningful… and one in five report they rarely or never feel close to people.” This is curious given the unprecedented opportunities we…
I have a confession to make: I love television. I always have. In fact, if a movie we own happens to be on television, I’d rather watch it with commercials than turn the TV off and pop in the disc. Crazy, right? There’s just something about TV. It’s part of my story. A Programmed Life…
Spinning thoughts felt like a whirlpool crashing in my mind, threatening to pull me under. I fidgeted and ached for the relief of the alarm signaling 20 minutes had finally passed. For years, this has been what my sporadic attempts at contemplative prayer have felt like—total failure. I started dipping my toes in the water…
Greasy fingers met in a communal popcorn bowl and laughter overpowered the details of dialogue: “Hey, somebody rewind! I missed that line!” It was family movie night, and the flickering image on the screen played second fiddle to the allure of an extended bed time. With cold pizza congealing at room temperature on the coffee…
Our hearts are restless, looking for connection in the most casual of places: a People magazine in the grocery store line or the trailer of an upcoming movie. In this entertainment saturated culture of ours, we spend hundreds of hours and dollars seeking diversion and amusement from the daily grind of life, searching for a way…