In high school and college, I despised group projects. I hated having to rely on others for my grade, but since most students also had extracurricular activities or a job outside of school, it was difficult to coordinate schedules and invariably, I felt the need to complete the project in its entirety on the off …
Anxious Thoughts
Reach with your hands. Now move your feet up. I stood, feet planted wide, at the bottom of the slide, ready to play catcher, while my daughter coached her toddler up the ladder on the other side of the platform. At eighteen months, he’s reached that phase where he’s comfortable enough on his feet to …
What’s For Dinner?
My husband hit a home run with dinner plans when he asked if he could pick up a specific meal from a specific restaurant for us one evening. In our thirty-one years of marriage, we’ve had plenty of exchanges involving what we’d have for dinner that sound like echoes. What do you want? I don’t …
Where is your Damascus?
The spring of my daughter’s wedding, she asked if we could ride the Virginia Creeper Trail together. We traveled to Damascus, the midpoint of the thirty-five mile trail, rented bikes and chartered a lift to the trailhead seventeen miles up in Whitetop. That first year was perfectly magical! We shared a quaint little room in …
Not What I Want
I experience claustrophobia in moving crowds, more particularly behind moving crowds. When the way ahead is clear, I breathe easier. When my way is blocked by a wall of humanity, even though we are all moving in the same direction, I hold my breath and make a dash for the nearest opening. Shopping malls have …
Speaking From Experience
James and John were fishermen by trade, the rough and tumble sons of Zebedee. With these two, everything must have been a competition. Jesus chose them to be among his closest followers and nicknamed them “Sons of Thunder.” (Mark 3:17) Even before they were called out by the Christ, these boys must have been pretty …
Amen!
Amen! I use it daily as an affirmation when I strongly agree with a social media post or comment and to close my prayers and blessings over meals, but its meaning is far more rich. As a term of determination or resignation, “so be it” says so much more than yes or okay. There is …
Trust Obeys
“Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus.” Matthew 14:29 There are intersections in life where I’ve felt my voice and my influence waning. When my children began driving, preparing for college, and marriage- moments when their heads were turned and I prayed that …
A Fitting Reply 