by Ashley Larkin | Dec 10, 2013 | Biblical tales, Celebration, Childhood, Faith, Family, Just Write, Mothering, Parenting
The tree shines so brightly this year. It’s amazing what 800 white bulbs can do to an evergreen. (I’ve been known to overdo the lights a smidge in the past.) Much fills our moments, hours and weeks during December, but, as my sister Lizzy and I talked...
by Ashley Larkin | Dec 6, 2013 | Biblical tales, Celebration, Childhood, Faith, Five Minute Friday, Hope, One Word: Trust, Open endings, Surrender
As we light the candle at the table’s center, we describe Advent to our girls as “coming,” as in not here yet. And it’s the anticipation of childhood Christmases that I might remember more than Christmas itself. The waiting. The glowing Dickens...
by Ashley Larkin | Mar 29, 2013 | Biblical tales, Five Minute Friday, Redemption
Before Jesus died, he drew his followers attention to a kernel of wheat. If that kernel lived, he said, it would remain only a single seed. But, if it were crushed and broken, it would produce much life. And this kernel is truth, and this kernel tells the story of my...
by Ashley Larkin | Feb 4, 2013 | Biblical tales, Community, Concrete Words, Faith, Fear, Grace, Hope, Risk-taking
For the last weeks, Sici’s collected boxes. One fits inside another inside another. She will wrap them in different papers, and her friends will unwrap one at a time, passing the square around the party circle. I’m not sure if it’s the peeling itself...
by Ashley Larkin | Dec 6, 2012 | Biblical tales, Celebration, Faith, Family, Joy, Mothering, Perfectionism, Perspective, Redemption, Rest
“Christmas says that we have everything going [for us] — Jesus, the journey and the dream.” Brennan Manning Something feels different this year. It’s a little difficult to put my finger all the way on it, but as I sung some of my very favorite...
by Ashley Larkin | Oct 19, 2012 | Biblical tales, Faith, Five Minute Friday, Perspective, Risk-taking, Surrender, Truth-telling
It’s Friday, and I’m meeting up with the community of Five Minute Friday at Lisa-Jo Baker’s Tales from a Gypsy Mama for some free writing. Here are the rules: follow the prompt, no extreme editing, write for five minutes flat and encourage the person...