When grace is a hammock
Currently our thermostat reads 84 degrees. It could be worse. Outside, the temperature has risen to 102 -- more than a bit jarring to our Northwest sensibilities. Lala and a friend play store downstairs. When I bring them fruit and crackers, they tell me that someone...
Ode to a tree
Horse chestnut trees are considered a nuisance. Ask anyone who's had one, and they can tell you why. Tell all about the seasons of fallen leaves, spike balls (conkers), sticky pollen pods and flowers smelling of slightly distant poopy diapers. Many of you have heard...
The wardrobe and the storm
Thinking about the changes of middle age and the demands of a good life and a desire for energy to keep pressing to the center of things. Originally published February 6, 2014. She pushes past coats in the wardrobe, like Lucy seeking light from the lamp post that...
The breath catch of spring
One would be wise to notice the breath catch of spring not because it is revolutionary in the way of something never seen or thought before, but because it is the same as last March and the one before, what grace One would be wise to apply spring's wisdom to her own...
Five Minute Friday: SLOW
every day i wake slow, gone the days of feet to floor with grand plans these are the days of ordinary and first things, a need for quiet i shuffle downstairs in my cozy wrap and wool slippers, our bed quilt thrown across my arm i start the day with two cups of french...
Five Minute Friday: SAFE
Every pulse of my being desires to keep her safe. Draw her up close and not let go. Surround her with covers and the tenderness of my mama arms, stroking her tired head, rubbing her sore tummy in circles. I am still drunk on coziness, the wonder of stories read on...
Soup
the house falls quiet on a rare afternoon all three girls spinning in their spheres and me alone with my dog, who entwines herself around my feet as i light a candle and chop vegetables carrot coins and kale chunks, onions and shallots -- these ordinary elements that...
Not about me: A Christmas-time reflection
Hello, friends. I've made myself scarce around these parts lately -- the usual outcome of a full plate and little room to separate the portions. These days of Advent waiting seem much more like days of doing, plates piled high and course melding with course. And,...
Five Minute Friday: JOURNEY
certainty is not our promise, rather knowing God is leading us somewhere, and it is good I say I believe, but do actions show otherwise, as I pull out a compass in disappointed frustration, an exasperated now what? trusting more in the fact that I'm owed...
Reflections on the mountain top and coming back down
Instructions for living a life: Pay attention. Be astonished. Tell about it. -Mary Oliver- You might have found yourself there. On the backside of an experience that is utterly ground-shifting life change. You've returned home, and though part of you wants to share...