He is still and he trusts me and looks up at me like I’m the love of his life. And how can I resist that smile? With those steel-blue eyes and small gap between his teeth. And I’ve been falling for him since my eyes first met him that January morning over six full years ago. He’s calm […]
Grace FULL and Overflowing
Full. Satisfied. Filled to the top with favor and overflowing. A gift that’s unearned. Underserved. And just plain surprising. And He says it’s sufficient–that it’s enough. No more looking around and longing to be satisfied. No more longing for significance or worth or wishing to belong. No more coveting what’s not ours and hanging our […]
Only God Can Change Tragedy Into Beauty
Only God can change tragedy into beauty. And it is only because of Him we can give thanks in everything, and by doing so find joy. I first met her 2 years ago when she became my neighbor. I’m really not the bold and brazen type who randomly knocks on a door. And I’m certainly not a door-to-door evangelist, but […]
Because It Is the Stretching That Brings the Change
It’s in the stretching, that change comes. And you know what’s a stretch? I’ll tell you, me being a runner! (Although it’s becoming less of a stretch every day.) When I got talked into signed up to run this half-marathon in October, I knew it would be hard, but I didn’t really know how hard. And […]
Because It’s All About Choosing to See
I wonder how much I’ve missed because I often fail to see. My eyes are blinded to a perspective beyond myself, and frankly its easier to just wallow in my current view and refuse to consider another one. It is often easier to see the dark clouds over my head and the difficulty of the now, instead […]
On the Certainty of Suffering {And our Promise of Hope}
Photo credit: Daves Portfolio, Flickr Creative Commons My patient held her baby today, like every mama here does … except her baby had only lived for 16 weeks and could be held in one of her hands. We took pictures and gave mementos. And the family was there and the chaplain came. And I continue […]
For When We are Tempted to Speak Cutting Words
Photo credit: bored-now, Flikr creative commons She didn’t know she was talking about me. She didn’t realize as she complained and all the rest laughed and sympathized, that she was complaining about me –that she was irritated and annoyed by me. And what seemed to them, to be a passing critique of a stranger, cut my heart […]
Removing the Remnants
On a hot June day, with a silent and grumbling heart, I pulled into the parking lot, the heat of the day pressing down and unrelenting no matter my task at hand. Me here to serve, and my heart not really here. And the project before me…this abandoned lot…ridden with weeds and needing restoration, a need for the weeds […]
The Grace Giver
I still feel it like it was yesterday. Memories sear hearts. She had been my friend. My familiar friend. My close friend. The pain. Memories still ringing, resonating in the deepest rooms of my heart…in rooms I don’t visit often and where cobwebs reside and where time has run past… But still, aching resides there, echoes of the […]