Faith
No More Worms for Christmas Dinner
It’s the Christmas tradition I’m ready to ditch.
Living away from extended family means most of our holiday celebrations are either shared with friends or spent with merely my four fellow Holmbergians. More often than not, it’s the latter. As an introvert, that’s often okay with me. Other times it produces a subtle but steady pain, similar to a headache that you don’t quite realize you have until you find yourself spitting nails at your spouse — utterly unprovoked. Read More
Can you judge a family by their Christmas card? Should you?
Her disgust was vocal and overt.
My friend and I had both received Christmas cards from a third friend. Over the course of the preceding year, we had walked through some significant and painful territory in the life of our mutual friend: a miscarried pregnancy, a grave illness in her extended family, and an arduous household move. Yet the Christmas greeting that arrived in our mailboxes mentioned none of these; rather it was graced with a smiling family photo and written sentiments that noted only pleasurable travel experiences, milestones achieved by children, and professional successes. My friend was visibly agitated by the dissonance between what we had observed in person and what was recorded on paper. Read More
What Must Die: Making sense of Psalm 50:14
Death. Sacrifice. And thanksgiving?
“Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High.”
—Psalm 50:14 NLT
“Make thankfulness your sacrifice.” I scratched my head over that phrase for a bit, pondering the ways gratitude could be a sacrifice in the way the Old Testament describes it. The Hebrew word for ‘sacrifice’ is zabach Read More
Picture Perfect
I cheat every year.
The first morning of school is too frenetic in our household to stop and take photos on the way out the door. And my kids depart at differing times, making a group shot impossible. A few years ago, I began taking their pictures the night before school… or even a couple nights before. My goal is simply to capture what they looked like at this juncture in their lives… it doesn’t really matter to me that they don’t have a backpack on or that it wasn’t 7:45AM when I snapped the shutter.
If I take an honest look at my motivations, I admit I also prefer that their clothing is somewhat coordinated. I detoured from my Finance coursework in college and took a photography class, so I came to care whether colors and stripes conflicted or complemented. But we’re long past the days when I could mandate their ‘outfit’ for the first day of school. By taking photos on a different day, I manage to get a cohesive picture with a coordinating color scheme.
Here’s the shot I’m likely to hang in our home and send to grandparents. Read More
Seek
A four letter word. Of the best variety.
I’ve been reading the book of Amos this summer, in anticipation of studying it this fall. Amos beseeches Israel to repent of sin and return to God.
For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel:
“Seek me and live; but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.”
Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!”
— Amos 5:4-7 ESV
The word seek seemed significant in the passage so, being the word-lovin’ gal that I am, I looked up the Hebrew: Read More
No worries. Yeah, right.
I’m not much of a worrywart. Or so I thought.
I co-lead a small group for middle school girls on Monday nights. I don’t prepare the lesson, so I’m not sure I should be called a leader. Mostly, I’m there to be another adult presence in the room and to build relationships with the students in our youth group.
The true leader of the group prepared a lesson on worry for the girls. She encouraged them to journal a list of things they’re prone to worry about. Turning open our Bibles, we read passages that speak directly to the subject. Her definition of worry went beyond the notions of anxiety or fear. She expanded it to ‘taking responsibilty for something we’re not meant to be in charge of.’ Read More
Bad news. Good news. Or both?
I feel a little badly about saying this to you. Even just for thinking it, really.
But I don’t feel so badly that I won’t say it. I’ve been tracking the career of an author with some 10+ Lifeway-published book titles to her name and a prolific speaking calendar. Her trajectory is one that I admittedly envy. (I’m not proud of that, but there you have it.)
Today, in my inbox, I received notice that her next big event was cancelled. Cancelled. The reason? Lack of interest and registration. Not enough attendees to justify putting on the event.
So, here’s the part I feel badly about: Read More
Set Apart
This is the scenery from my kitchen eating nook. A cluster of Black-eyed Susans sitting on the far side of our patio wall. As the green foliage began to emerge earlier this summer, I looked forward to the blooms. To my surprise, amidst all the yellow and black, a pretty Purple Coneflower unfurled.
There are no other Echinacea planted nearby; the closest is some 20 yards away. Last summer’s blooms didn’t include this unexpected visitor. Every morning, as I survey the yard over a cup of tea, my gaze lingers on this sight. I try to make sense of it, waxing philosophical. Read More
In my hand
They were so little.
I watched my daughters, mere toddlers, playing near each other in the family room on the carpet, each with a toy of her choosing.
My youngest asked my eldest for the bauble she was currently enjoying. This was an unwelcome request, so eldest daughter searched the sprawl of toys in orbit around her. She selected one and handed it ever so sweetly to her younger sister. One might expect me to have been proud at that moment, delighting in the so-called sharing that had just taken place.
But I wasn’t. Read More
Not just a bad thing. Anything.
I like checklists, categories and formulas.
If you’ve been reading for any length of time, you already know this about me. In my life as a Christian, it’s tempting to reduce my relationship with Jesus to a set of behavioral checklists to satisfy. In my dialog with others, I see how many of us desire to know the ‘right’ way to act so our lives conform to the Christian image. In essence, we want a category to put things in so as to please God (or at least convey that appearance).
In reading the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20 of late, I was apprehended by the command against idolatry: Read More