Lead ME not into temptation
The Lord taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” ~ Matthew 6:13. It’s the oddest of requests really. Why in the world would God ever lead us INTO temptation? Do we really need to request that God not? Yet, I have been feeling a bit tempted lately. For me this […]
Dear Graduates, chart your own course
Caps and gowns everywhere! Smiling faces. Proud parents. Adoring Grands and even congratulatory hugs from siblings. It’s a great occasion and we mark it with well-deserved fanfare. Pomp. and. circumstance. So many graduates! I imagine each of them bouncing on their own personalized trampolines, springing giddily into the air, paying no heed to the creaking complaints […]
Still, not stationary
Still. Is it even possible to be still, in the presence of one who is never still? Mirror neurons, they are a-buzzin’ How is it that God, who is stillness, is strength and power, endurance and accomplishment, rest and calm, undiminished all? While I, overtaken by sorrow at the weeping, muffled by the world’s accounting, leaden […]
What do I do with my “me too”? One Woman’s Manifesto
Me too…I am seeing it on Facebook posts, in comments and in conversation far and wide. I am not sure where it came from, but it’s picking up steam. Why? Because it’s the skeleton in every woman’s closet, the elephant in every room. We’ve carried it cautiously, buried it fastidiously, and borne it boldly until […]
A functional faith: the Struggle is Real
I want a functional faith — not just a faith of works, but a faith that works. a faith that works out, a faith that works for, a faith that functions. I want a faith that does, while I am doing other things, faithfully. a faith that works its way into my day, along my […]
Does What I Do Really Matter?
For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction. So Newton says. That’s not to say that whatever you do, they’ll do it back to you; or whatever you give, they’ll give it back to you. No, good doesn’t necessarily beget good, it does good in the do-er. Some call it grace; some call it […]
Out of the Dust There is Life
When my girls were small, I had magical healing powers. I could kiss a scrape or bandage a cut and presto! It would be “all better.” They would smile and go back to playing. Today, these girls are young women, and I no longer have that power. They spend their days working hard in places […]
To whom do you pledge your allegiance?
When they play the National Anthem, do you sit? stand? lock arms? kneel? put hand over heart? Do you sing? remain silent? Can you remember all the words? Can you reach all the notes? I’m pretty sure we’ve never given it so much consideration as a nation as we are doing right now. What does […]
Dismounting
Lord, bring me down off my high horse to mingle with the crowd; for they will teach me to follow you completely. You are there among them, riding on a donkey, on the colt of a donkey. Up here, I’ve just been making an a$$ of myself.
The Trust Game
Have you ever played the trust game? Where someone demonstrates trust in his or her fellows by falling backward into the waiting arms of a team of people set to catch her or him? Blind fall. Big risk. No guarantee. Complete confidence. TRUST. Whom do you trust like that? I just played a new trust game. […]