Advent 2025, Day 3 Luke 1:5-25, 39-56 All her life, she has watched the mothers. Early in her marriage, in the blush and confidence of youth, she waited with eagerness her own turn. The swelling of her belly. The deciding of names, the making of baby clothes, the trading of stories, the laughter and camaraderie. … Continue reading Barren
Advent, Day 2 Luke 1:5-25 For so many years they had prayed. And always the answer was no. They kept serving God, faithfully following day after day, carrying the disappointment that grew heavier by the year. Surely, though, they wondered why, took it by turns to rage and weep and beg for the child they … Continue reading Incense
It has been almost one full year since I have posted anything. Almost one full year since I have written much of anything at all. For someone like me who writes to find herself, this is unimaginable. Of course, I have journals filled with my soul-wanderings. I have maybe journaled more this year than at … Continue reading A quiet place
Maybe they told me about the tearing, that I would wish to die before the end. But of course I didn’t understand. Somehow I thought, maybe, You’d come easy, slipping in among us like a soft word. But is birth ever so compliant? No, I see now, You came for it all, all in … Continue reading Mother of God
Lord, every time I have finally reined in my proud heart, it gallops off again, searching for greatness among the ruins. When I think finally, finally, I will only see Your face, will only ever look at You, my eyes break ranks, sweeping off in their arrogant, restless quest for adoration. I say I long … Continue reading Yearning for Psalm 131
I know. I have done this too, constantly cataloging my worries. They play through my mind over and over like a checklist of doom, sucking up all the light. Sometimes I write them down to try to get them out of my head and then they are just there on the page, staring up at … Continue reading An exercise in peace
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Is. 26:3 You know, Jesus, that when I pray for peace, I’m actually saying, “Jesus, please take away all this mess and chaos. Please bring calm. Please get me out of this.” All right, You know that when … Continue reading Right here
Daughter, Fifteen. I can hardly believe it. While you are sleeping in on your birthday, I am watching the sun rise and thinking back to when you arrived. You don’t realize it now, how much we anticipated your coming, how we longed for your arrival. After your older brother, we couldn’t seem to get pregnant … Continue reading To my daughter on her fifteenth birthday
Soon, You say. “I am coming soon.” From here it doesn’t look that way, it looks as though we waste and languish while You delay. Too soon the innocence fades, too soon children grow and pipes break and garbage piles high. Too soon hearts cool, joints swell, beauty flees, and boards begin to rot. Too … Continue reading Soon
(Five Minute Friday) When following Jesus, the needs tend to chase after you. Like when you get into a boat to sail away and be alone, and you arrive on the other side only to find the need waiting for you, hungry. “Send them away, Jesus,” you say, a little desperately. You don’t have anything … Continue reading Have
View from the Valley 