Divide and Conquer is a Game Every Child Knows How to Play
The smallest children must rely on adults to supply all their needs, but soon, they learn how to get their own way. They want something they’ve been told they can’t have, and the wheels start turning. If Mom is decisive and consistent, she can withstand these forays. But, if she is the least bit equivocal, they […]
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 […]
Letting Love Show
Using our bodies may be the most sacred of all things we do on earth. It’s the one thing we are given that is meant to be used wholly for our time here on our earth – our LIFE-time. The greatest testimony of all, beyond the life of our Lord, is our own life as […]
Six Perfect Words: I Just Love to Watch You Play
“I just love to watch you play.” (okay technically seven) These are the six simple words I would like to tell my kids after every game, every performance, and every event. It’s the one thing I want them to know, and it’s been this way since…well, forever. I remember my delight at watching them find […]
Who is Watching the Sheep?
No one can blame the hired hands. They’re contractors. We’ve paid them to come and watch the sheep, to teach them to frolic and play and to keep an eye out for wolves. But we really can’t expect the hired hands who have charge of so many sheep to pay special attention to OURs, even […]
Helicopter Parenting: It’s Biblical!
“… the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him. “What is it you want?” (Jesus) asked. She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.” (Matthew 20:20-21) Oh my goodness, we’ve […]
Burqa Baby
The woman sitting near me is a mother. I know because she is carrying a child with beautiful dark eyes. The eyes are all I can see. Tiny hands wrap around mother’s waist. Tiny toes spread as far as they can, brushing against each other in their suspension. This gaze somehow haunts me. Burqa baby’s […]
Learning to walk, all life long
When do we outgrow our smallness? I mean the sun and the moon and the stars and the planets and the grains of sand and the…well, the earth and everything about it dwarfs us. A constant reminder of our unimportance in the scheme of things. When do we see ourselves big? grown? fully mature? like God […]
What will you be when you grow up?
“So, Jesus, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Joseph asked. “Christ,” Jesus answered, finishing the last of the bread on his plate. “I told you, dear.” *** What does that mean, growing up into Christ? as a daily practice? as a foregone conclusion? as a ‘calling,’ a compulsion, a drawing out. […]
21 straight makes a perfect game – in softball
Author’s note: On the 8th of September our church began the Complaint Free For 21 Days Challenge. Several of my posts have referenced this effort. This post is an update of my latest attempts. If you’d like to know more about taking the challenge, check us out here or go to the website to get a band or […]