The Lord is my shepherd. Tender and patient, picking me up when I fall and pulling me away from dangerous places. Never leaving or forsaking His silly sheep. I shall not want. I should ponder that one a while. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. Even when […]
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A Way I Cannot See
View of Oxford from a medieval church tower. A little over five years ago, I waved good-bye to my family and stepped onto a plane to study abroad for a semester in Oxford, England. I later wrote that I’d felt a bit like an eaglet thrust from a cliff-top nest, hurtling into space with no […]
Of Laundry and Lyrics
Folding laundry can be enlightening sometimes…at least when I’m listening to Michael Card. Feeling a little overwhelmed by all that needs doing in the next few weeks and unsure where to focus—including what to blog about—I decided tonight to tackle the obvious: a couple of piles of clean clothes and towels. And continue where I’d […]
Anxious for Nothing?
Lately I’ve realized I’m feeling anxious nearly all the time. It’s not like anything horrible has happened. I know families facing crises right now, and ours isn’t one of them. But the daily stresses of winter sickness running through our household, our theater company getting ready for a show, selling one house while getting ready […]
Yesterday, Today, and Forever
Christmas is definitely over at our house—after a joy-and-laughter-filled Epiphany party and play reading Sunday night, our house is looking rather stripped bare. Not only did I finish packing away all the Christmas decorations last night, but we are getting ready to move, and our grandma’s house, where we’ve lived the past eight and a […]
Toward Bethlehem: Simeon
Israel’s strength and consolation Hope of all the earth Thou art Dear desire of every nation Joy of every longing heart Simeon I pause within the temple gates to catch my breath, wheezing slightly. The milling crowd presses about me. Lord, did I hear You aright? Through the shouts of money-changers and bleating of goats […]
Toward Bethlehem: Joseph
Originally posted December 17, 2011 Come, Thou long-expected Jesus Born to set Thy people free From our fears and sins release us Let us find our rest in Thee… Joseph Evening light glints on the soldiers’ helmets as they disappear in a cloud of dust. I stare after them. Lord, if I’d known you meant literally […]
Toward Bethlehem: Abiding in the Fields
Originally posted December 3, 2011 O come, O come Emmanuel And ransom captive Israel That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear… Micah, a young shepherd. Nights fall cold and early now. The sheep crowd near us as we huddle by the fire beneath our robes. When I lie on my […]
Weeping for Her Children
“Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. Then what had been spoken through […]
Toward Bethlehem: Elizabeth
Originally posted December 5, 2011. Let all mortal flesh keep silence and with fear and trembling stand Ponder nothing earthly-minded, for with blessing in His hand Christ our God to earth descendeth Our full homage to demand. This Sabbath was read in synagogue the scroll of Isaiah, the part which begins with the people walking […]