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 […]
“I wish you’d consulted me first.” Anyone who has visited Avonlea through L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables books knows Mrs. Rachel Lynde, the village’s outspoken, know-it-all, kind-hearted busybody—and the first to set off newly-arrived orphan girl Anne’s redheaded temper. I’ve loved the Anne books since I was a girl, and seen bits of myself […]
While studying late one evening at the English Faculty Library during the term I spent studying in Oxford, the toll of church bells began to invade my absorption in the texts. I was used to their pealing from the medieval churches all over this “city of dreaming spires” on Sunday mornings, but not on a […]
Lord— Forgive me for when… I get so focused on all that is going on around me—even good things, things you are doing—that I forget to focus on You, to take time to just be with You and listen to Your voice. And for when I get so focused on our needs, and then on […]
A daffodil bloomed in our patio today. My sister and I bought the little pot of miniature daffodils a few years ago for our mom. In fall and early winter, it sits empty, the bare brown bulbs apparently dead. But each spring, fresh shoots of green spear above the earth. And then open the delicate […]
In a recent discussion on the American Christian Fiction Writers email loop, various writers shared how music intertwined with their writing. Some listen for inspiration but must write to silence, while others have certain music for different stories that helps them get into the setting and characters as they write. I am rather a mixture […]
When supper is over and dishes are done, when summer twilight drifts over the world outside…I take a walk. I’ve only passed a few houses before my stomach relaxes and I take a deep breath. Somehow out here, in the gentle coolness after the muggy heat of the day, in the quietness of a tree-lined […]
Anne Shirley…Jo March…Laura Ingalls…Heidi. The favorite books of my childhood remain inevitably linked to distinct characters, those storybook girls who made the stories live and breathe on the page and in my imagination, whose names even yet stir fond memories of the Alps, the prairies, or a little town called Avonlea. With movies and plays, […]
Quiet rests over our patio this Sunday afternoon. A bird twittered above my head at first, but now I think he has moved to a more distant treetop. The neighbors’ air conditioner hums. Leaves rustle in a faint summer breeze. I came out here to write an entirely different post. But when I sat down […]
