“Being scared isn’t really that much different than being scarred.” I read it on Ann Voskamp’s blog. It’s true. I nod my head. Read further.Tears prick my eyelids and squeeze at the corners. Scared and scarred both carry trauma and pain. Truth is, it doesn’t even have to be big or deeper traumas. It shows […]
The Illusion
The illusion bobs and bounces in a swirl of watercolor hues. Amidst teenage angst and insecurities and awkwardness, I believe middle-aged people have it all figured out. Life looks simple and easy. Effortless. Successful. Settled. Delightful. I’m not sure why this illusion beckoned me. Seemed believable. Goodness. I’d seen my mother burst into tears when […]
You Are His Masterpiece
Beauty in my week last week looked like…. Our local coffee shop + five lovely young women in our community who hosted a women’s evening consisting of ~ 🙏🙌💛☕🧁 faith + fellowship worship + words music + munchies coffee + conversation hygge + happiness @__grow.in.grace__ “Lord, I need you, oh I need you.” Our voices mingled […]
Bits and Pieces to Delight In {July}
Hello! Hi! July has been All The Summer here. High, high heat. The forecast hangs hot and heavy with the same heat forecasted and not a sign of a drop of rain!The sprinklers are running on our little patch of lawn by our basement patio and the irrigation systems churn water onto our beans. I’m […]
What Really Matters Now…..
What really matters now is linen overalls and Arnold Palmer and air conditioning…. What really matters now is ice and water and insulated jugs….. What really matters now is embracing the unexplained right next to the unavoidable and offering it all a measure of trust and hope and longing…. What really matters now is rambling […]
A Place For the Soul to Feel Safe in the Awkward Playacting of Life
You sit across from me on the cozy cerulean chair cushion, chatter, clatter, and espresso machine buzzing around us, your lemon-yellow kerchief corralling lovely curls.Me, legs curled criss-cross applesauce, snug on the vintage couch. My hands curled around a decaf cinnamon breve with whip while you sip a mocha complete with a lovely chocolate drizzle. My […]
Practices I’m Finding For the Word This Summer
I’d love to hear! When it comes to Bible reading and sitting with The Word in the Word, do you have one tried and true practice or do you find it shifting in different seasons, different stages, different ages? I find myself in the latter camp. Mine changes. {here’s another post about Bible + routine […]
Dear Me: Lines to the Person I Desire To Become
Compassion. Love. Hope. My fingers press against the words lettered in the journal in my lap. Why is it so much easier to heap condemnation, critique, and criticism on my heart, my mind, myself? And in so doing, really, I’m mired in myself. I may not admire myself, but self-absorption shows up in a myriad of […]
Pondering Life and Its Passing
Early this morning my uncle breathed his last breath, earthside. Honestly, I’m not sure what heavenside looks like, but I do see Jesus. I always picture Him as excited and delighted. Another one of His kids, HOME! Early this morning, 3 a.m. early, my kids headed to the city to board a plane: Destination ~ […]
Bits and Pieces to Delight In {June}
Every year we have wheat fields to walk and combat our nemesis known as rye. It waves, delighted with itself, a bit above our winter red wheat. We are not so delighted. If left, and consequently run through the combine, it will multiply in staggering amounts thereby consuming our clean wheat fields. Last October, we […]
Where Did Happiness Find You This Week?
Where did happiness find you this week? What activities or tiny details in life always bring a spark of joy to your soul? What makes you giggle….chuckle….grin….full-out laugh? What brings you comfort when life brings the uncomfortable? Where does your soul find solace when disappointment dashes hopes & dreams? What waits on your soul with […]
I Give You Me
“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him. Don’t become so well adjusted to your […]
Bits and Pieces That Delight {March}
Our weather springs back and forth, teasing and taunting. Cold and cold. Wind and a blow of snow. Pivot. Sunshine and seventy-five degrees. Loveliness and a nod toward spring.Hard left and back to winter and cold and wind.Hmmmm.It must be March in Kansas. Chit-Chat Are you a Wordle-er?! I am and I love it. I […]
A Story With a Very Good Ending
Giants are no joke. Forgetting who God says I am is the absolute amnesia. Placing a guard at the entrance of my mind and card checking each thought coming to call is a practical these-are-the-facts safeguard. Giants of shame, worthlessness, failure, overwhelm, angst, anguish, regrets, frustration, lovelessness, contemptuousness, lack of belonging, patheticness, accusations, pain, grief, […]
The Pause and Hope of Winter
I sit behind the window glass, snug, tucked away from the wind rushing its way across frozen fields. The dishwasher sings a gurgly song and the wind chime sways a melody on the porch. The window above the kitchen sink frames snowflakes in a swirling dance. Heat wafts through the vents from the fire my […]
A Layered Life
Life happens in layers. We aren’t always told this. Maybe because much of the time we don’t notice, don’t realize, don’t know how to name it. “The days are long, but the years are short” is a perfect capture. I don’t miss stumbling about at night with an infant or toddler. I do miss baby […]
Wherein There Are Morning Musings in My Basement
Morning in My Basement It’s messy and mundane, cozy and common. It’s questions and silence and answers apparently hidden deep away, far away, somewhere else. It’s musing and a small whispered prayer. It’s crumbs and coffee. A good read and The Way. It’s Red Sea Road singing on YouTube and a wood stove humming. It’s […]
