Support. I'm thinking of Isaac Watts' paraphrase of Psalm 23: "When I walk through the shades of death Thy presence is my stay. One word of Thy supporting breath Drives all my fears away." A week ago, Nabeel Qureshi, Christian apologist and author of Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus and No God but One, announced that his doctors have…
Five Minute Friday: future
I walked down the aisle to "O God Beyond All Praising," a magnificent poem by Michael Perry, set to Holtst's magnificent "Jupiter" theme. The second verse says: Then hear, O gracious Savior, accept the love we bring, That we, who know your favor, may serve you as our King. And whether our tomorrows be filled with good…
five minute friday (on saturday): mom
He's crawling now -- all over the floor and under the furniture, examining the minute crumbs, the carpet fibers, and whatever else he can find. I pursue him with voice and hands: don't touch the power cords, don't crinkle the book pages: no, and no again. And he crawls to me, pulls himself up into…
Five Minute Friday: create
"There will be time to murder and create, And time for all the works and days of hands That lift and drop a question on your plate." I write lying on my back on an ironing board leaned agains the couch, head down, feet up -- thanks SpinningBabies -- in hopes of encouraging a stubbornly…
Five Minute Friday: easy
All night long it was the sound of the rain from the eaves, and still this morning it falls, steady and deliberate, on the million leaves that have supplanted the pollen of two weeks ago, on the birds feeding out back, onto puddles where it bubbles and disappears. And this is easy, to sit and…
Five Minute Friday: morning
And though the last lights off the black West went Oh, morning, on the brown brink eastward, springs -- "Oh, morning." Gerard Manley Hopkins got it: morning is always on the way, circling our globe, coming back for us when we've watched all the light drain away and felt there was none left. "Weeping may…
Five Minute Friday: season
What do you do with Christmas, on a chilly Friday morning, when the sun gathers itself into a point on a car windshield and shoots through the coffee shop window into your eyes to dazzle and delight? What do you do with it, listening to carols and washing cups in your kitchen with windows…
hope: small and glad, day 28
One difference between being small and being large -- in terms of soul-perspectives on oneself, not in terms of physical size -- is that the small one can feel gratitude where the large one feels entitlement. The small one hopes, knowing that she deserves nothing. And yet she hopes confidently: not because she is worthy, but because…
(silk and) purple: small and glad, day 8
Once upon a time I was twelve years old and my family attended a homeschooling conference in preparation for which I had to memorize Proverbs 31:10-31 in the King James Version. I don’t remember learning too much at the conference, but I’ve always been grateful to have memorized that passage in the rich old English:…
Five Minute Friday: dream
In two short weeks, this ring has become a habit, something I expect to see on my hand. But still, I turn the stone this way and that in the light and am amazed at all the change it means. We've crammed so much already into two weeks: so many decisions and plans, so many…
Between Blue Rocks 