In the valley of the shadow . . .
“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Psalm 23:4 Dear friends, I apologize for not writing sooner. It has been a rough few weeks. I somehow think that I must have all my sh** together to post, even though the very reason I started this blog was to speak from a point of not having it all together. I’m sitting on my family room couch, watching my husband and two sons eat a dinner I had enough sense to make multiple batches of weeks ago. I’m drinking…
Binding up wounds
He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3 I have another blog prepared for this week, but it feels as though we are supposed to talk about wounds today . . . a weird place to start the new year, I realize. But, when I think of all the new year’s resolutions that we so commonly make–lose weight, be healthier, quit smoking, limit or quit drinking, spend less, pay off debt, get organized, repair relationships, go to church—I realize that all of these problems or excesses in our lives may not be the problem at all. Rather, they are a symptom of the problems in our hearts…
past, present, Future . . . Part 3
“Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead . . .” Chapter XV, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis I have been thinking for some time now–really, since they gave us Sam’s diagnosis–about the future. The funny thing about the future is that it doesn’t really exist. We buy eighteen month calendars and fill them up, and many of us mamas out there could flip three or six or even nine months ahead and tell you what, exactly, we are going to be doing, and what each member of our family will be doing, on any given day. We put our finger…
past, Present, and future . . . Part 2
“Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead . . .” Chapter XV, The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis “Love to the present.” Hmm. Why did he say “love?” Why not “attention” to the present? We all know that love, according to 1 Corinthians 13, is “patient . . .kind. It does not envy [or] boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never…
Past, present, and future . . . Part I
“Gratitude looks to the Past and love to the Present; fear, avarice, lust, and ambition look ahead . . .” Chapter XV, The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis One of the first things I want to do when I get to heaven–right after hunting my dear son down and loving him a whole lifetime’s worth–is going to be to get in line for a C.S. Lewis lecture. I sometimes fantasize about what it will be like to sit at his feet–maybe his good friend’s, J.R.R. Tolkien’s, too–and listen to them as they smoke pipes and drink beer and toss around theology like a beach ball. I have studied C.S. Lewis’…
