You make beautiful things You make beautiful things out of the dust You make beautiful things You make beautiful things out of us. ~Gungor The most popular show on HGTV is Fixer Upper. The show highlights how Chip and Joanna Gaines renovate outdated and sometimes dilapidated houses into beautiful showcase homes. While Chip works…
I sat on the cold window ledge and leaned my forehead against the glass, looking out at the hospital garden. Brown earth, dried and brittle, had replaced the green of months before. I looked up at a bleak sky. Bare-branched trees broke solemn clouds. I dislike in-between spots, those adolescent-awkward, neither-here-nor-there, twilight zones of somewhere…
January serves as a time for reflection and remembering for many. We look back at the previous year with a mixture of fondness and regret, calling to mind both our successes and failures. If you’re anything like me, your remembering tends to focus on what didn’t go well, sparking resolutions for better choices and behavior…
Big change is coming. I am readying you for it. I first heard the whisper last spring. My husband had been at his job for seventeen years, and massive changes were coming. I found myself daydreaming about moving to a new state with consistently warmer temperatures and year-round sunshine. I wanted a fresh start. We have…
In just a few days, we will enter what is known as Ordinary Time on the liturgical calendar. Or, as I also like to call it, The In-Between-Special-Candy Season. The candy and treats that come through our house between October and New Year’s Day can get out of hand. As much as I love mini…
“Make it your ambition to live a quiet and peaceful life.” ~1 Thessalonians 4:11 (paraphrased) When we first talked about doing a series on what the traditional church calendar identifies as Ordinary Time, I had no inkling of the longing that would accompany this season for me, of the way I would want to…