It is possible to set aside a sabbath of sorts in which we focus on baking and breaking bread, listening to birds sing and breathing deeply.
Tag: COVID-19
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 …
Feeling Fall
Anyone who knows me, knows I love fall. I can’t wait for pumpkins, falling leaves, crisp mornings and crunchy apples, mulled cider, roasted pumpkin seeds, and the silly fun of Halloween. In the waning days of August, I made an impulse buy of a ceramic Jack-a-lantern luminary and a masked hedgehog (named Nutmeg) whose legs dangle over the edge of the mantel. I will try to restrain myself and not display these until October. It will be challenging. As I was helping our …
Getting Back to the Future
I got my second vaccination the other day. I underestimated how exciting that would be. It is gradually dawning on me that it will soon be safer to see people and do things. Of course, caution is still advised until more people get vaccinated and the rates of infection drop. Nonetheless, it is thrilling. Headlines speak of when we can get back to normal. But what will normal really look like after a year in …
Simply Grateful
For our boast is this, the testimony of our conscience, that we behaved in the world with simplicity and godly sincerity, not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God... 2 Corinthians 1:12 It is a new year, and the call has gone out to simplify our lives. It seems every other email I have received lately was an article on six ways to simplify my life or 10 great products that would do the simplifying for me. Many …
Don’t Go Into the Cellar! Fear and our faith
I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Psalms 34:4 When I was little, my mom had a rattlesnake rattle in her top dresser drawer. It was kept in a gold ring box -- a token from her teenage years living in New Mexico. She and a group of friends were on the sand dunes near her home. She stepped off a rock and was confronted by an enormous rattlesnake coiled and ready. A boyfriend saved her and presented her with the rattle as a memento. …
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Peace and the Potato
Who knew that growing potatoes in flower pots could be so satisfying? This is something that I discovered during my pandemic gardening adventures. It was such an odd summer. Now summer is ending, but not the odd. Many of us have tried things that we would never attempt in the Before Times - pandemic projects like baking sourdough bread, sewing masks, and painting. Home improvement stores have experienced a surge in sales as …
One Brick at a Time: Rebuilding and Renewal
Part of Nehemiah's wall in Jerusalem Many things have fallen apart during this strange time of COVID-19. For some, it is a sense of well-being and safety. For others, it is mental health. Long months of isolation have worn down our defenses against anxiety and depression. We are feeling increasingly hopeless.Some people have seen their …
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Shoes of Peace
All too often, we believe peace is impossible in our community, in our homes and our marriages. Impossible in the light of scary test results and uncertain futures. Our default setting is defeat.
Can’t Cancel Spring
A pandemic can suspend our plans but it can't cancel Spring!
SMALL MOMENTS FULL OF GRACE 