You are what you’re doing right now
A prayer for these days
What’s worse than hitting STOP on a moving treadmill?
A sudden stop taught me a life lesson. Funny how it’s all coming back to me now.
Hand Washing as Prayer
How kinesthetic is this act of hand washing? Of soap and water sudsing, hands a-rubbing, fingers folding, interlocking, palms compressing and releasing, slipping one past the other, slick even slippery, signaling finally that it’s time to rinse. What if, instead of counting obediently 1,2,3… instead of singing happy birthday mindlessly… we prayed intentionally? The Lord’s […]
Their Cup is not empty
Dear World, forgive me. In my desire to share what is so important to me, so necessary, so powerful, so helpful, so true, I have neglected to notice this about you: your cup is not empty.* Willing students, perhaps, come with polished, expectant cups. Some with them behind their backs, waiting to see if the […]
Lord, hear our prayer
You have given us a world of beauty, and we have spoilt it. A world to feed us, and yet many go hungry. A world of riches, and we are unwilling to share. A world to care for, and we think only of ourselves. Forgive us, gracious God, for those times your heart is saddened […]
Is life erasable or indelible?
If I could write the words of life in pencil and not pen, erase that bit, re-draft that part, try out that ending, then… Penciled in, not permanent, what a better life I’d live. Take some chances, try stuff out, Oh what I wouldn’t give. Wait, that pencil is right here, it’s sharpened in my […]
When election day became judgment day, we lost our way… but there is a way
God, will you? That’s what I wanted to ask God on election night. Will you side with my candidate? Will you keep the other one from winning? Because I KNOW I am right and they are wrong. Just asking, God, not trying to talk you into anything …. God said “No.” Well, not in so […]
One little thing stands in your way
Really, again? When Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” what Peter really wanted to know was not how long he ought to keep forgiving, but how soon he could stop forgiving!* Jesus, of course, knowing what Peter is up to, […]
It’s a Wonder We Ever Forgive
Why are we not more grateful? That’s the million dollar question, or actually the $140 million question (adjusted for inflation) posed to us in the parable of the Unforgiving Servant, who, once he’s been forgiven his huge debt, refuses to extend the same kindness to his own debtor. Why does this central message of the New Testament not evoke […]
What Lily Knows
Buddy the bad and Lily the Good start out the day that way. Bud scampers off to find something to chew Lil stays put where I tell her to stay. “It’s way too quiet,” I say to Lil, Which means for sure that Bud’s up to no good. A flop of Lil’s tail tells me […]