My pastor regularly makes use of elaborate sermon illustrations and being a visual learner, I gain a mental peg on which to hang his messages. He insures that I will think about them again during the week as I encounter the everyday articles he chose. My eldest grandson still has not forgotten the sermon where …
No Shame
My husband and I have enjoyed the warm temperatures this week by taking a walk in the woods once daily and sometimes twice. Our path snakes around the top of our property before plunging through the middle above the creek line. While the trees were bare in winter, Paul and Jake, our Great Dane, have …
Surprised By God
My daughter, Caroline, crept on cat’s paws through the house during the night. Being the only girl, her room was always situated closest to my own. When they were small, both her brothers raised the alarm at deafening pitch if they were ever sick or awakened by a dream. You heard them long before you …
Birds, Bees, and Fruit Trees
Water levels in the lake behind our house have risen a foot and a half in just a few days. The ground is saturated but it’s not a crisis. Spring is coming. We open valves to drop the lake level in winter for house maintenance. Sea walls and docks are built or repaired. Fallen trees …
Perfecting Holiness
https://videopress.com/v/tCLjsTgx?resizeToParent=true&cover=true&preloadContent=metadata&useAverageColor=true Proverbs 16:24 My life has been lived like yours, one day at a time, hour by hour, minute by minute. I do not spend much time looking back because I have an enemy, same as you, who loves to highlight and bombard me with my worst moments, never my victories or the long months …
Compelled
“You don’t get in my face, Poppy,” said Amelia. “I have a runny nose.” We had just stood to join in the congregational hymns and when I hoisted Amelia to my hip, she saw my husband coming down the aisle to take his seat next to me. She immediately lunged for him and as he …
If You Know You Know
Amelia is my favorite granddaughter and I don’t mind telling anyone so. As it happens, she’s also my only granddaughter. She’s the most beautiful, brightest, most gifted, most coordinated sweetheart and she holds her Poppy’s heart in her little hands. She saves our seat each week for worship. Her face lights up when our eyes …
Lifelines
I could no more choose a favorite Bible verse than I could choose a favorite child. God’s entire Word is precious to me because it is His presence with me animated by His Spirit in me. One verse or passage may have special meaning during a particular season, come in answer to prayer, or just …
All My Days
How would you sum up your lifetime in just a few paragraphs? I am nearing the end of my fifty-fifth year and though I feel what the psalmist asserts, my life is but a breath, at the same time my years have been full and rich in both experience and emotion. My grandchildren have only …
Failure To Thrive
Ezra is army crawling and he made his first full hands and knees attempts last week. In the meantime, he’s pulling up on anything he can reach. Timothy took his first tentative steps over the weekend while playing ball with his dad and big brother, Thomas. These second-born boys are highly motivated by their older …
A Fitting Reply 