Climb the Hill
I jerked awake, heart pounding. Men’s voices came from the deep darkness outside my window. My husband gone that night, I mentally ran through my options. A call to the sheriff would be routed to a city 30 minutes away. I didn’t own a weapon outside of a softball bat. Our house backed up to…
Who I Was Waiting For
I was waiting for a better version of me. Thinner, more accomplished, minus the hundred tiny shards of awkwardness crowding my chest every time I entered a room. I was waiting for her for half my life, but she never arrived. She wasn’t real, after all, but a whisper of longing and sometimes harsh expectations,…
What We Haven’t Heard
I’m coming up on my third year of wearing hearing aids. Yes, I’m a bit young for this. Also yes, I should have done it many years ago. My father, bless him, not only left me his extraordinarily large feet, but also the family trait of hearing loss. (Thankfully, he left his balding head to…
Written in the Clouds
There’s something holy about sunsets. Long after it sets, the sun’s light lingers in the lavender clouds drifting slowly over me as I stand in my front yard, small against the majesty. Each evening brings the chance to pause; to consider the art and Artist speaking in silent extravagance. We visited Italy last year, and…
In the Alley
We found it, unexpectedly, in a back alley of Riga, Latvia’s Old Town. “Sinagoga”, the plaque read, and I peered through the gate to spy a Star of David over the door. The building had been restored after the ravages of the Holocaust followed by the persecution of Soviet rule. Now security cameras followed me…
When We Can’t Tell What’s Real
The time has finally come. With the rapid growth and development of artificial intelligence, we can now officially say that it’s impossible to tell what’s real. Everything can now be faked in such a way that the savviest among us can no longer tell the difference between reality and AI. Even our most trusted news…
Ben Carried the Banner
It was Tall Timber Days in our town here in the Minnesota northwoods, and we had a parade. For two miles, from the fairgrounds and through the old downtown, floats and fire engines, vintage cars and civic groups walked and marched and danced and drove past sidewalks lined with old people in chairs and younger…
Carry On
Carry on, the hard rock band sang from the school bus’s tinny AM station as it wound it’s way up and down the mountain to my high school. I rested my head against the cool glass, grasping at those words of encouragement between electric guitar riffs. Tenth grade was a time of tension. My parents…
What To Wear
I’ve visited a lot of different churches over the years. A few have required a head scarf. Some, something nicer than jeans. Most don’t care. Mine was the generation to break traditional church dress codes, following on the heels of the hippies before us. It felt daring. Rebellious, even. Like we were laying aside the…
A Time to Build
We built a house. We found a beautiful lot filled with maple and birch with a perfect rise in the center. For two years we visited the spot, soaking in its beauty and dreaming of the day we could build, and now we have a home here. I didn’t realize, when we first walked the…
The Cool of the Day
The lowering sun’s light softens as it shifts through the trees, and I come outside to breathe in the cool of the day. The Lord walked with Adam in this slanted light, purples and blues shimmering on the edges of evening. I sense him here, too, keeping company in this golden hour. It is good,…
The Astounding Persistence of Life
I’m blessed to live in a part of the world where Spring charges in like a green tsunami, a sudden wave washing over winter’s barrenness with life bursting from every twig and field. So overwhelming is the change, that within a week we’re outside in the still-cool air, mowing and trimming and cutting the growth…
The Secret Things
I was a young teen, bursting with questions about the God I was just discovering. George was a fireman and a man of faith attempting to explain the infinite to the few youth of our tiny church. The others accepted the beautiful truths they had been brought up in, but I, a new believer, had…
A Gift Continually Unfolding
Every mother has been entrusted with a wonder. A mystery. A gift continually unfolding. Who will she be? you wonder, as she squirms and kicks inside you. Then you meet, and fall in love. Who will he be? you wonder, as his little personality begins to show itself, meek and easily contented, or fiery and…
Return to Light
On May 4, 1945, the people of Denmark heard the joyous news that their long night of Nazi occupation had ended. For five terrible years, the occupiers had forbidden outside lights, and required Danes to hang blackout curtains in their homes. Those long, dark nights became synonymous with the cruel Nazi occupation of their homeland.…
For the Joy
“Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of…
My Grandfather’s Slate
My grandfather was born in 1866, a mere three months after the end of the Civil War; long before the first light bulb or automobile. The telephone wouldn’t make its appearance for ten more years. And he carried a simple slate to school in the one-room schoolhouse in rural Maine. That slate sits in my…
The 10%
You came home from work today, excited to tell me who was there and what you did. You dropped your backpack by the front door and gave me a long hug before washing your hands to eat and change for basketball practice. You are one of the 10%. 60% to 90%* of your peers are…
Resurrection People
Lent is a tradition in some churches where worshippers conduct some sort of fast, or abstinence, during the 40 days leading up to Easter. It begins with a ceremony where the worshipper has ashes smudged on their forehead, signifying death. It’s meant to focus the heart on repentance and sorrow for sin. But when I…
Why Did the Angels Leave?
Sometimes I wonder why angels left the love and beauty of heaven. How could they abandon such goodness? They were created into wholeness and perfection, surrounded by glory, given power and purpose. And yet, the Bible tells us that a third of them gave it all up to follow Satan and his cruel ways. Adam…
A Box of Our Own
“It must be him.” His eyes shifted to the messenger standing uncertainly in the doorway, his mind spinning frantically at the memories. Of the party, the dancing. His foolish oath. “It must be John the Baptist, risen from the dead!” The messenger bowed and backed away as Herod clenched his fist. Herod, who had killed…
The Middle of Somewhere
I live in the Middle of Nowhere. Well, kind of—depending on where you’re from, I guess. I live in the land of lakes and forests on the far northern edge of America, far from everything that makes the nightly news. Our newspaper is filled with high school sports and fishing reports rather than shootings and…
Jesus First
As we start to gain a bit of traction in this new year, a trend keeps popping up online: choosing a word for the year. This idea isn’t new, but has become more prevalent lately. The exercise of finding your word is meant to guide you; to keep you focused on your goals. In the…
You Never Know
Here we are in 2025. Are you as surprised as I am? And truthfully, are you afraid of what’s coming our way in this next year? The dawning of a new year used to bring hope. Determination to do better. Plans to make it our best year yet. But ever since Covid-19 upended the world,…
The Line Between
We know the story, don’t we? An innocent peasant girl, a heroic fiance, and angel visitations. Peculiar starlight. We hold our children close, paging through brightly colored storybooks, reminding them of the miracle of the baby in the manger. “Silent night, holy night”, we sing, clutching candles in the dark. Its a beautiful story. A…
We Thank You, Lord
For peace that keeps our hearts soft in a raging world; for ferns unfurling in the forest damp; for a glance and smile across the aisle, we thank you, Lord. For comfort that strengthens us in the face of fear; for ancient words that nestle deep; for moonlight’s caress in midnight hours, we thank you,…
A New Word
“I have a word for you,” my sister said. We carry the DNA of our vocabulary-loving father, who enjoyed puzzling us with unusual words as we gathered around the dinner table growing up. His influence was strong. The word she shared was “marcescence”, and it describes a tree’s leaves that cling to the branches, dead,…
Election Season
Our presidential election is finally here for those of us who are United States citizens. To say that this election season has been ugly would be a vast understatement. As I considered how to cast my vote, I was struck by how seriously many of us take it. Any one vote won’t decide who will…
What to Wear
I have one sibling, a sister five years older than me. All of my life, I’ve looked up to her fashion choices. She chose a financial career in the city that required a fashionable wardrobe, while I mothered in a small mountain village in tee shirts and jeans. So whenever I had an event that…
Prayer Requests
We lean across the table, straining to hear each other. “What are your prayer requests?” the leader asks, pen poised above her notebook. We speak hesitantly into the holiness of being heard. A hurting relative. A wayward child. Relational struggles. Fears. Change. Outside, we manage. We persevere. But here, around this table, our vulnerability weaves…
Exposed to Hope
Here’s an article I wrote for Gospel-Centered Discipleship. I hope it blesses you. https://gcdiscipleship.com/article-feed/exposed-to-hope-the-evangelism-of-welcome
Sorting the Silver
When I was a teenager I worked at a local camp, running the snack bar and helping in the kitchen. One of the tasks was drying and sorting the silverware. After a large tray of knives, forks and spoons came out of the industrial dishwasher it was dumped onto a counter lined with towels, where…
Choices and Limitations
“He’s 3, with 32 years of experience” is how I describe my son Ben these days. Still stymied by tic-tac-toe and overjoyed by a jar of peanut butter, yet he’s got over three decades of living under his belt. Last winter we took a long car ride, spent a night in a hotel and took…
The Door Behind Us
We squeezed into our airplane seats, Ben poking eagerly at the seatback video screen. The familiar safety instructions started and I turned my gaze to the window as we rolled down the taxiway. “Your closest exit may be behind you,” the perky flight attendant reminded us. Why? Because sometimes our focus is so fixed ahead…
A Mother to Me, Too
“You’re Bill’s wife!” she exclaimed, holding out her hand. “And what do you do?” “I stay home,” I replied, mentally kicking myself for feeling foolish. “That’s the hardest work of all!” she chirped, scanning the room for someone more interesting. “I’m sure your family appreciates it.” I shifted uncomfortably, trying to appear confident as my…
A Lingering Song
I roll over, open my eyes to a new day. My heart breathes thanks, and I notice it again: a lingering song. I have awakened to a phrase or a chorus most days now for a number of years, seeping into my consciousness with morning’s light. Frequently a line from Sunday’s worship, sometimes from a…
Under the Eaves
Under the eaves I sit, watching the rain wash the darkness. Knowing it breaks and nourishes the ground it fills, cleansing in its course. A breeze cools, fingers my hair. Vanishes. I breathe in the sweet, damp air while the rain falls down, flows down, always down its way, its design, refreshing and softening the…
A Sudden Spring
Here in the far northern part of the U.S., spring arrives in a rush. Mere days after leaves start to appear, small and tightly curled, they burst forth, transforming the forest from stark gray to startling, glowing green. Our neighbors, who a few weeks ago were boiling maple sap into syrup in the snow, are…
Keeping Watch
I watch the sun sink beyond the birch and maple, grateful for lingering light on these almost-spring days. Soon the bare branches will bud and green, crowding the sunsets over the lake. But tonight, in the cool and quiet, I keep watch. I think of other sunsets, in other places. Of ribbons of colors over…
The Story We Keep Telling
I told the old, old story again this week. The one about how Jesus came to us, and why. The one that tells us we are seen and loved. Pursued and rescued. Swept into both the grandest adventure and an all-or-nothing surrender, thrilling and frightening together. The roomful of women silently considered again that gospel…
“Moon, Moon”
Logan presses his face to the window, searching the darkness. He stands on the couch, pushing the curtain aside, pointing. “Moon, moon,” he says, clapping with joy. On warmer days Logan paces beside the backyard fence, always gazing up, watching birds and clouds and airplanes, and then as night falls he points out the window,…
Celebrating the Twos
My son Ben played his heart out last weekend. He and his teammates went to our state’s Special Olympics floor hockey tournament and came home with bronze medals. (Lest you think they are amazing athletes, they won their medals from a group of four teams. Special Olympics forms divisions of four teams each, according to…
My Latest Newsletter is Coming Soon!
It’s been a long time since I’ve mentioned it…… Every month I send an update on life here, fun things about Ben, books that I’ve been reading and Scripture that I’ve been pondering. It’s been fun getting to know people on a more personal level that way. Interested? Click the link below to sign up!…
The Picture We Hold
It’s been eight years now since we’ve taken a picture of the whole family. Eight years since one daughter walked away from our family circle, taking our grandchildren with her. The rest of us still gather every year, and at the end of our time together we take a group picture. But now, our pictures…
Creating
I’ve heard it said that part of the imprint of God’s image on us is our need and ability to create. God creates food, and we create recipes. He creates people, and we nurture them. He creates beauty and we capture it with brush and pen and lens. Wool becomes a scarf, dyed in sunrise…
The Ones Who Cook
If you ranked all the gifts that the Holy Spirit distributes to His people, which ones would come out on top? If you listed all the people serving in your church, who do you admire most? If you could have any skill or talent to leverage for blessing others, what would you choose? We admire…
An Ordinary, Everyday Life
“Give him the name Jesus,” the angel said. An ordinary, everyday name at the time. Nothing special. Born in an ordinary, everyday place. He lived an ordinary, everyday life. Working his father’s trade in an ordinary village. Living our ordinary lives. Experiencing our hurts and dreams. Our pain and joy. Dancing exuberantly at weddings. Grieving…
A Distant Country
I packed away the Christmas decorations this week. We once had a larger tree in our larger house, circled by gifts for our larger family. Now we have a simple tabletop tree by the window. Ben was excited when we brought it in from the garage. “Twee!” he crowed at the sight. “Ho Ho!” For…
We Didn’t Expect You to Come This Way
We didn’t expect you to come this way. You were supposed to rescue us from our enemies, but instead you rescued us from ourselves. We expected retribution, but instead you brought healing. We thought you would bring judgment’s sword, but instead you brought words of kindness. Humility. Love. You washed our filthy feet. We didn’t…
They Came to Shepherds
To the shepherds they came, millions of angels dazzling in the night. To the last and least, overlooked in the darkened fields owned by others. Not to the blazing torches of power or golden lamps of religion did they appear, for those glory in their own light. But to the glowing coals of the shepherds’…
It’s So Easy
It arrived in my mailbox last month, a small yellow envelope containing words of affection and encouragement. The person who sent it, I knew, had precious little time to compose and mail it to me. And yet, she did. A sacrifice of friendship that sank deep into my soul. The world can be a hard…
Footsteps Left
We pulled off the highway, bumped our way down a tiny side road, and stopped in a small area with fast food wrappers and cigarette butts scattered around it. The sounds of traffic faded into the background as we climbed out of the car and viewed the rugged track before us. The Via Egnatia, once…
Saying Our Prayers
We removed our shoes and stepped into the Blue Mosque, one of Turkey’s most famous sights. The decorated domes soared over our heads as we pressed in to see this remarkable building. The tourist crowd surged around us, snapping pictures and selfies in the beautiful, and yet empty, room, the large carpeted area cordoned off…
The Real War
Some of us remember when the world’s suffering was relegated to one hour on the nightly news. We watched a sober-faced newscaster recount famines and wars and disasters in far-off places with sorrow in our hearts, and then we returned to a sink full of dishes or our algebra homework and the horror faded as…
A Gift of Chestnuts
We plopped onto a shady bench, weary physically from touring one of Istanbul’s famous mosques in the heat. Weary spiritually from what we’d observed in the intricately decorated building packed with tourists yet devoid of life. “I am old,” my husband sighed to the Turkish man beside us, snacking on a bag of chestnuts. He…
The List on the Door
We kept a list inside our pantry door when we lived in the mountains. It was an evacuation list. And like the earthquake supplies we stored under the stairs, I kept it updated, just in case. When smoke billowed over the ridge, we packed our papers and our treasures in case we needed to leave.…
The Audacity of Disability
My son Ben holds tightly to the tissue-paper torch at his Special Olympics meet. He should be settled in a career by now, I think, raising a family and making his mark on the world. But instead he clutches this small honor like it is the real Olympic torch, eyes bright with the seriousness of…
Come
Perhaps it was the diagnosis. The abandonment. The failure. Maybe it was that one great rejection. That loss that saps color from your life, wrapping you in its invisible shroud. You smile and laugh, performing like an Oscar is on the line. But the wound eats at your heart, reminding you of its presence; demanding…
It Is What It Is
“It is what it is,” he shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it now.” I sighed in frustration. Was that all? No anger? No complaining? I wanted to bemoan it for awhile. To vent my frustration. But that little phrase sucked the air out of my protest. “It is what it is”, she said sadly,…
Stacking Rocks
After navigating miles of narrow country roads, we finally located the small dirt lot and pulled to a stop, gazing around at the Scottish countryside. According to our map, there was supposed to be a castle nearby, but we couldn’t spot it. A marked path led over a creek and through a wooded area so…
The Assignment I Wasn’t Expecting
My son Ben leans up against me for his morning hug and kiss. He needs my affection, this simple morning routine, to start his day; to confirm the goodness of his existence and the security of my love. He is needy, always. Pleading for peanut butter. For a tattoo. For Christmas. Calling to me from…
Let’s Pray Real Quick
“Okay, ladies!” the women’s leader called us to order. “I’ll pray real quick and then we can get started.” The small group leader glanced at his watch. “Our time’s up. Let’s pray real quick, and I’ll let you go.” The ministry leader finished up the last agenda item. “I suppose we should pray real quick…
Just Like You and Me
It’s Mother’s Day, and the mom mystique is on full display. Flowers and candy are front and center in the grocery store. Pink, flowery cards overrun the rack at the mini-mart. Today we will hear sermons about extraordinary mothers. The ones who we deem are doing well at mothering. And we will honor them, as…
It Never Gets Old
Winter’s ice is softening around the edges of the lakes now, the white giving way to dappled gray as the first of the geese make their way home. Death is ceding ground to life in the lakes and woods. The sap is running in the maple trees, and birds are showing up at the feeders…
In Your Wake
One of my husband’s earliest memories is the day you left your family. Left them to poverty and shame, to insecurity and a weight of bitterness while you transferred the care due them to a new family. You fed your sin silently. Secretly. It crept around the edges of your life, gradually stealing more and…
March
Last week was beautiful. The sun came out, temperatures rose, and walkers showed up in the neighborhood. Today, though, it is snowing again, covering over the hopeful ground with another layer of cold. Ah, March. March is that in-between month, when winter struggles to make space for spring. When too-early buds appear only to freeze.…
See Me
“Mommy, watch!” She twirls through the living room, nightgown billowing around her legs. “Watch me!” she pleads, spinning and dancing in the hope of her mother’s regard. “Please notice me,” the teenager begs silently, scrutinizing herself in the mirror, before casting her beauty as an offering in front of the lunchroom crowd or flaunting her…
The Safest Place
The morning lies on the brink of light as I open His book. He joins me there, guiding my hungry eyes to truth; my thirsty heart to living water. He meets me in my questions, never dismissing them or me, the doubter. I am safe in the asking. He draws me out from my fortress…
Just Listen
When we moved here nine years ago, we didn’t know a single soul. Our first priority was finding a church, and we settled on one filled with younger people. I was excited for the opportunities it presented me to minister to younger women. They seemed eager to know me, and I imagined that they would…
The Picture Frame
My gift from Bill this Christmas was an electronic picture frame, the kind that you load with digital pictures from your phone or computer, and it randomly scrolls through them throughout the day. It sits in the living room beside the couch, where we can see it easily, and I find myself glancing at it…
Significance
When I started blogging, it quickly became apparent that I had no idea what I was doing, so I signed up for a writers’ conference in hopes of finding help and maybe making some like-minded friends. At the conference, I was told that the aim of all things is to write a book and win…
While Mortals Sleep
The heavens tore open that night as a peasant girl labored in darkness. Music flooded the space between heaven and earth. A flaming, blazing ball of gas appeared from nowhere, pulsing, burning overhead, while magi watched, puzzled, in a distant country. Awestruck shepherds ran to find their Creator suckling, needy. And we, the citizens of…
Hedgerows and Big Yellow Trucks
A hard rain was falling that afternoon, and I was eager to get home. After a long day of doctor appointments in the city for my son Ben, I loaded up the car with groceries and headed up the twisting road to our home in the mountains. Only a few miles up, however, a large…
The Missing Leaf
There is a leaf missing from my Thanksgiving table. Where once it seated eight or more, the old table is now reduced to a small square. I am hard-pressed to remember a Thanksgiving with so few place settings. I miss the days of a full home and table. Of four children, hungrily eyeing the rolls.…
Ribbon Collecting
My son Ben loves competing for Special Olympics, and has a giant collection of medals and ribbons from various meets and tournaments. He participates in eight different sports, and every competition finds him swaggering home with something shiny. The medals and ribbons hang proudly from his bulletin board, the overflow crumpled in his desk drawers.…
Planted
A northern sun shines through my windshield, late rising over harvested fields as I head for home. Winter’s breath mercifully withdrew as we stood around Pam’s grave the day before, a small group of witnesses to her quiet life. “Dust to dust”, the pastor said before we parted ways, her ashes left in the dark…
Cooper’s Coat of Many Colors
He’s just a dog. A plain one. We adopted Cooper from a rescue organization last winter, and now he has claimed a place on our couch and in our hearts. He’s just a brown dog with a black muzzle – nothing fancy; not carefully bred. Nothing much to look at, until he’s lying next to…
The Door
This is the door of my father’s stories. This very door, pictured above, in an abandoned church in a tiny stone village in England. My family worshipped here 500 years ago, and probably long before that. Through this door my tenth great-grandfather walked one last time before leaving on an impossible journey to the distant…
Something to Eat
“Little girl I say to you, arise,” Jesus spoke into death’s stillness. Then, as life crept back in and she stirred and sighed, he turned to her parents. “Give her something to eat,” he said. There would soon come a time when he would call Lazarus back to life before a stunned crowd, but this…
A Wing and a Prayer
I walk down my driveway and a multitude of dragonflies lift and glide around me, silent and shining like the morning. I’m glad to see them, knowing that they feed on the plentiful Minnesota mosquitos. They fill the space around me, fluttering in the yard, resting on the patio, basking on the trees as they…
Roe v. Wade was Overturned and I’m Sad
I have been involved in pro-life work for 36 years. Once I understood that abortion kills an innocent human life, I knew that I had to do something. Few issues have gripped my heart and my conscience as this one has. I have prayed, fasted and donated. I formed and helped lead a chapter of…
For Those who Thirst
My husband brought a beautiful birdbath home a few weeks ago, to my great delight. We have long had a feast of seed waiting for the neighborhood birds, but they have so far shown little interest. Perhaps a birdbath will draw them, I thought. Surely they would enjoy the clean, clear water! But no. They…
Extravagance
A few weeks ago, NASA released some of the first photos from the James Webb telescope from 932,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) above the earth. Have you been as captivated by those pictures as I am? The photo above shows a portion of the night sky hidden behind a grain of sand held at arm’s…
After the New
A tender space lies after the new. A gap between delight and complacency, of courage and disappointment. A place ripe for tending. For hope. Being new can be exhilarating. The group welcomes you in, eager to know you. They include and invite you. The new marriage is thrilling, joyful, as you dream of all the…
Finding Family
I think it was in 1978 that I first realized it. Coming from a small church in a small town, I was under the impression that believers like me were few and far between. But 1978 was the year that I, a newly licensed driver, headed out of our small town in my father’s old…
Born, and Born Again
My grandson was born two weeks ago, and since then his parents’ lives have been completely given over to helping him adjust to his new living situation. I’ve gained an appreciation for all the adjustments he’s making. For learning to breathe air. For responding to the voices of his parents. For learning how to focus…
Under the Tomatoes
My breath came hard as panic pressed on my chest. I stood in the produce section of the grocery store, scanning the aisles, desperate for a glimpse of my towheaded boy. Every parent has been in a similar situation, but most aren’t searching for a nonverbal child who can’t understand when the game has gone…
May Newsletter Coming Soon!
The next issue of my newsletter is coming out next week. Have you signed up? Each month I send out an update from home, giving you a peek into life up here in the northwoods of Minnesota, what I’ve been up to lately, and a snippet about my family or thoughts about current events. I…
Where Our Ends Meet
We adopted three of our children. It is a miraculous, complicated, thrilling and terrifying way to become a family. Our children have been our teachers on this adventure. Their presence replaced our expectations with simple wonder. They have each had a hand in casting our tightly-wound bundle of assumptions into God’s glorious basket of possibilities.…
When Winter Lingers
We are over a month into spring here in northern Minnesota, but we are still wearing our woolen socks. We all know that the colors of life will eventually reveal themselves, but right now the earth is still hard and cold, the sky gray. It has been a long, cold, snowy winter, even by Minnesota…
Introducing: A View of the Lake Newsletter
I have exciting news! I have wanted to produce a monthly newsletter for a long time, and that day is finally here! I hope you’ll decide to sign up so that we can get to know each other better. Each month I will send out an update from home, giving you a peek into life…
If Ben Had Been There
My son Ben has cognitive disabilities and very little language. But sometimes he intuitively understands what our “normal” intelligence blinds us to. Our Easter celebration last weekend got me thinking: If Ben had been at the tomb that first Easter morning, things might have gone down a little differently…. Early on the first day of…
I Remember
Music plays softly as I hold the little cup quietly in my lap. I cradle the cracker in my hands, praying. Then I taste, and I remember. I remember how He came for me when I wasn’t looking. How He opened my eyes to beauty and my heart to hope. I remember the first time…
To Ben on World Down Syndrome Day
You came as a surprise; your life tenuous, your little body limp in my arms. We brought you home, numb and determined, the future unimagined. Your extended family welcomed you with a tenderness tempered by grief. Your church family, stunned, embraced you. You were changing us, even then. Making your mark on our world just…
As Long as It’s Healthy
“I just got the test results”, she leaned close as we waited in the school hallway. “I don’t care if it’s a girl or a boy, as long as it’s healthy.” My smile weakened, tears pressing as I looked for my child, the one who wasn’t born healthy, instead sporting extra chromosomes and their complications.…
Here We Are Again
It’s a disheartening deja vu: Another regime swooping in on a weaker country, wreaking death and destruction. We grieved over Afghanistan just six months ago. Now we weep with Ukraine. We who are citizens of the most powerful country on earth are caught helpless in front of our Twitter streams and news broadcasts. There is…
A Common Face
It happened again last week. This time it was an older gentleman at the doctor’s office. “You look so familiar,” he said, squinting his eyes and tipping his head slightly. From there the questions branched off into possible mutual friends, workplaces, or schools. This happens to me regularly. I look just like someone’s sister-in-law /college…
Winter Light
The snow lies deep, unsettled against the sharp wind. Here in the north woods the winter sun falls cold between storms. The sun’s course lowers to a shallow arc, it’s apex briefly dividing morning from afternoon. Evenings bring long, golden fingers gradually giving way to dusky blue. The snow sparkles, each slight breeze smoothing the…
The Breath of God
God breathes, and uncountable numbers of universes take shape. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth. – Psalms 33:6 He breathes into humankind and we become embodied souls. The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into…
Into the Waves
I love the ocean. I love its vast, glittering expanse; the knowing that I stand on the edge of a continent, on the brink of a wilderness covered by the pulling, surging tide. I love the sharp, salty scent as it flows in and back, the soft hiss of waves leaving, depleted after their rush…
A View of the Lake 