Monica–God’s Flower, My Friend
“Listen, O daughter, consider and give ear; Forget [other] people… The King is enthralled with your beauty; honor Him, for He is your Lord” (Psalm 45:10, 11–NIV). Preparing flowers for the fair, I cut a plethora to carry into the house. Inside, I began to…
Rivers of Living Water
“Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from [their] heart’.” (John 7:38–NLT) We arrived just as we’d been promised–a helicopter delivering our group directly atop the 800-year old Taku Glacier some twenty miles outside…
Abundant Harvest from the Compost Pile
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23a–NIV). The fruit… Paul didn’t write here, “The fruits of the Spirit…” but rather “The fruit…” Singular. But when counted, aren’t there nine? 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8… Yep, nine! Why, I wonder,…
Message in a Mammogram
Awake! Awake! Put on your strength… Put on your beautiful garments… O captive daughter of Zion! How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet… who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God…
Springs of Living Water
“… Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13, 14–NIV). We’ve had…
When God Writes the Story
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven… [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 11–NIV). I…
God In A Haiku
I must go begging For water… morning glories Have captured my well. (Chiyo) The first haiku I ever remember reading was in my poetry volume of Childcraft — The How and Why Library. When I read it, I had no idea that a haiku is…
In Her He Dwells and Shines His Light
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds… let us encourage one another… (Hebrews 10:24, 25b NIV). Her name is of Spanish origin and means “light,” and that’s no surprise because that’s exactly what I noticed when I…
Mother’s Day, May 12th and ‘Evan Almighty’ — Oh My!
Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible things you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3 — Holman Bible). Mother’s Day fell on May 12th in 1996, just as it did this year. I know this because that was the year…
Birthmother — Such a Beautiful Name
You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy… (Psalm 30:11). Tomorrow, many women will celebrate how — through the arrival of a child, that glorious gain that’s both beautifully life-changing and heart-enlarging (and yes, sometimes excruciatingly heart-wrenching) — a new…