In her poem “The Suitor,” Jane Kenyon wrote a line that stops me short every time. It’s nestled there between stanzas, a short sentence crafted to stand alone between visual breaths. “Suddenly, I understand that I am happy.” Kenyon struggled with anxiety and depression throughout her short life, before succumbing to cancer in her mid-40s….
I’ve written before about the difficulty of receiving God’s blessings freely and with gratitude. I still wrestle with this, especially on days when I read the news. While so many people in the world are suffering, why is it that I am blessed with a comfortable home, a loving marriage, the children I dreamed of,…
As autumn arrives, I reflect on the past year and how beauty has saved me. What comes to mind first is not the church (though I am grateful for her fellowship and sacraments), but the accidental garden in our front yard. The goodness of God is cloaked in mystery, which became apparent in the unexpected…
I love the meme that asks, “Have you ever looked in the mirror and thought, That can’t be accurate?” Uh, only every morning I wake up! Ha! Tell me it’s not just me. Next year I turn forty, and my body looks different than the one I sported the first three decades of my life….
The fire alarm rang like a siren in my apartment complex early Saturday morning, and I seriously considered staying in bed. But what if this was the one time there really was a fire? I knew I’d regret it. Before heading out the door, I looked around my apartment. The sirens droned on and on….
Most of us have heard the expression, “Bloom where you’re planted.” It is an optimistic idea and gives us a little boost of confidence when we think on it. But what if where you’re planted is hard? You’re in a difficult time filled with tremendous pain, loss, hurt, so much confusion, so many battles, and…