Self-Realization
Who am I? What defines my self? My family or friendships? My activities, like writing or painting? My thoughts, feelings, or body? Do psychological tests reveal my real self and give me clear life directions? Or will externals like economics, circumstances like Covid-19 or realities like aging define me? How do I find my true identity […]
Fog
My weather app says the sun is shining. Surely it is—somewhere—but around me it’s thickening fog. Dense clouds are dripping down a heavy wash of gray. The woods to the north are barely visible. Such impenetrable fogs trigger memories for me—always the same three.
Dense fog triggers memories for me—always the same three. The first, from 1962, is a comfortable one, full of family love, adventure and teamwork.
The Christian Vote
Note: Please READ this and pass it on—especially the Charles Finney quotation and comments at the end
Words to Abide in
This morning, I reached for my Bible and opened to John 14. I stopped reading at John 15:7, where Jesus says, “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.”
I wanted that. I wanted it enough to stop and ask, “What must I do to get it?”
Cross Cultural Divides
The women in Jane Austin’s books fascinate me. Especially when they are blinded by their own faulty judgments and opinions. I identify with those who eventually see their mistakes and change their minds—and hearts.
A Morning Prayer
Note: Back in September, the morning I wrote this, a dear friend read it and said, “I love it. Publish it.” It was the last post my friend was well enough to read. Lord, I’m full of self and sleep—and want another ten minutes in bed. I need You to wake me up to Your loving power. […]
Teapots
Last Thursday I counted my teapots. I have fourteen of them. I don’t collect them; they come to me. The occasion for counting up was a new addition to the inventory . . .It was one of the noisiest look-at-me teapots I’ve ever seen in my life. It called out, “Embrace my imperfections.”
Essays in Ephesians #16
. . . in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. Ephesians 2: 21-22 Israel had known God’s glory— through centuries of sporadic yet repeated divine-human interaction through their kings […]
Essays in Ephesians #15
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, Ephesians 2: 19-20 So then, you are— not a stranger to God, but a friend, a […]
Essays in Ephesians #14
. . . [Jesus] reconciles us, both Jew and Gentile, to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility between us. And he came and preached the good news of peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access by […]
A Dream
I liked to watch Maggie, the golden sunlight glinting off her hair, her skin glowing like the day, and her tiny features all abloom with the innocence of childhood. This particular day, she sat in her sandbox sifting sand, her chubby legs soaking up warmth from the sand below and sun above. Her baby-plump fingers […]
Essays in Ephesians #13
Have you ever actually experienced your own twenty-first century version of this verse? Have you ever far off from God and His promises and then, by faith in Jesus Christ, come near to Him and learned that His promises are true?
