It is possible to grow and even thrive where we get tossed. After all, God knows where we are.
As Spring Unfurls
California typically rushes through spring in its frantic dash to summer. Bulbs bloom in February and are gone. Trees bloom and leaf at the same time. If you want to see wildflowers, you better not blink.This year, however, is very different. For the first time in many years, a cool wet spring is unfurling slowly.Buds form and pause, teasing us with what is to come. Wildflowers paint the landscape with wide brushstrokes of yellow, orange, purple. Bulbs – some of them …
Breaking Up With Our Stuff
Something about the start of a new year makes me want to clean closets and go through boxes. I want to get rid of the accumulation, par down, and simplify. Each year, I get rid of a little more as my priorities evolve. Not long ago, my husband and I emptied a tall file cabinet in the garage. We hadn’t examined the contents in years. Old work …
All Things Are Possible: Blank pages, empty pots.
One of my favorite gifts this Christmas was a new planner. I just love calendars in January. Empty pages of potential lay before me. In the early days of the year, all things are possible. I realized today that January gardening feels much the same. There was a break in the rain and mild temperatures, so I decided last Sunday was the day for my neglected garden. Late summer’s growth, once lush and inviting, was now drooping and half-dead. Hydrangea …
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Apologies, Dear Ones — Living Intentionally
Apologies dear friends, acquaintances, neighbors, lost pets, vendors, insurance companies, politicians, and things that I needed to remember in 2019. I have deleted your emails. My email inbox has for a long time been a file cabinet that never gets sorted. I hang onto letters from friends and prayer requests and photos. Those all seem worthy of saving. I have saved receipts. Possibly important. Regrettably, I also hang onto articles I wanted to refer to someday and then forget. I hang onto blog posts that seem full of wisdom. I hang onto the community garden newsletter and the city newsletter and …
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Banana Slugs and Bacon
We recently went on our first camping trip since COVID hit. We had forgotten how to do almost everything. Where does this tent pole go? What did we once pack for dinner? How much ice goes in the ice chest? Thank goodness I keep lists! Once we got there and figured out which end was up, however, the days were filled with small moments brimming with grace. Conversations with longtime friends who we have seen infrequently since they …
My Ancestors Owned Slaves
Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. Proverbs 3:13-14 My ancestors owned slaves. It is an uncomfortable truth that has nothing to do with my lived experience. Yet it is my heritage, unknown to me for most of my life. I want to believe these forebearers were kind masters. That they treated their few slaves as workers rather than property. Even so, there is no getting around the fact that they were the masters. These God-fearing Christians somehow thought it was ok, even necessary, to own other people. When they died, they included these enslaved people …
Essential Hope
Even if you didn’t comprehend the language, the anger was unmistakable. The man being interviewed had just lost his home, his neighborhood to Russian bombs. His face was contorted with pain and the desire for justice. The faces that have filled newscasts and news pages in recent weeks are all you need to see. Their expressions tell the story of Ukraine at war. Anger and grief are well represented. Maybe more prevalent, however, are blank expressions. They may signify confusion or …
Love That Sustains
Love that affirms is much more than hearts and flowers.
An Unexpected Yam
We have a yam that never made it onto a holiday table, but it has done much to nourish me. And it has done so without extra calories!The forgotten yam was in my pantry when I noticed it had begun to sprout. Normally, a sprouting tuber would go directly into the compost bin. This one was leafing out nicely, though, and I remembered how pretty yam vines can be. So I placed it on my windowsill, thinking that at some point I would plant it. It has been there ever since.It continues growing without any help from me. In its own …
