Lesson Learned from a Restive Retriever
“The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” (Ps. 16:6 — NIV) Unlike our Pyrenees prisoner, whose restlessness landed him behind extra strands of barbed wire on our neighbors’ farm, our restive Retriever puppy faces restrictions for…
A Lesson Learned from a Pyrenees Prisoner
“When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight…” (Jeremiah 15:16 — ESV) Our Great Pyrenees has traded open pastureland for a confined space measured in yards rather than acres. We drive by where Finley is now a prisoner,…
The Gift of Waiting
I’d been waiting — holding on for a quarter of a century. Only recently have I let go. In the early 1990s, I collected everything I could Noah’s Ark-themed. This was a time in my life when I yet believed my broken body would one…
Lamb Light
The City doesn’t need sun or moon for light. God’s Glory is its light, the Lamb its lamp (Rev. 21:23 – The Message)! Well past midnight on Christmas Eve, we made our way to the barn and to the pasture beyond. No celestial orb lit the…
Where I Walk
“The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.” William Blake I walk a parish called White Oak, which inconspicuously “becomes” after a simple bend off Fines Creek. We have a community center; a church with a bell that rings “Welcome!” three times a week;…
Walk On
On our recent trip to D.C., Bill bought me a new pair of shoes. Black ones — simple, beautiful. In them, I walked. I walked the spacious grounds of Mount Vernon — strolling in my shoes where George and Martha Washington once walked in theirs….
Naked and Afraid
“… the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’ And he answered, ‘I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid’” (Genesis 3:9, 10 — NIV). Confession — I watch a show called Naked and…
March On!
Yesterday I protested, though I held no sign. I didn’t shout, though I communicated emphatically. I looked in the mirror first thing in the morning and heard an incriminating voice, “You’re a NASTY woman,” but I combated it with truth — claiming instead “And I…
Free to Fly!
If the Son has set you free, you are free indeed. (John 8:36) Overnight, the temperatures had dropped. I awoke to frost on the ground — a good morning for a fire, I’d thought. But the morning slipped away, and the idea was soon forgotten….
A ‘Thank You’ to Veterans
(Previously offered at a dinner honoring veterans — Nov., 2016) It is both a privilege and an honor to speak to those of you here this evening who are veterans — to offer you thanks on behalf of myself and so many others — some…