The Peace of Advent

I have found, when I allow myself to be known and find that friend who is willing to enter into the darkness with me, my own strength is renewed. Impartation is a beautiful side-effect of intimacy. It is something that cannot take place over Zoom or FaceTime. Impartation is the Holy Spirit filling the physical space between us as our eyes meet and our hands touch over shared bread and wine, acting as a conduit passing from person to person. Strength chasing away weakness. Hope dispelling grief. Light pushing back the darkness. It is what happened when baby John leapt in his mother's womb and Mary heard words that no other person had been able to say to her up until that moment..."Blessed are you among women..."

On this first day of December…

In the quiet I can almost hear the angel interrupting the world. Do you not know? Have you not heard? He is coming, he has come, he is here. And I feel him now, that deep and abiding peace he brings. Though so much demands my attention, in this moment my frantic heart slows and I settle in to the big comfy chair as I read of the God who intervened. Out of that long-dead stump that had been cut down and left to rot, a shoot of life grew and grows. A shoot that will be an arrow piercing the heart of the accuser, pushing back against hell’s darkness to bring at last the light of salvation.

The Hope of Advent

I wrote this poem in 2018, imagining the moment when Mary, the mother of Christ, arrived and baby John leapt for joy in his mother's belly. I wrote it long before anyone had ever heard of Covid-19. The world was already in pain, though, grieving death and injustice on the streets and in the courts...

Kitten Love

We knew Rosa was pregnant, and estimated she would deliver around the end of October based on when we first noticed her growing belly. We were a little off 🙂 On the morning of October 13, I stepped out of my back door to feed the animals and stumbled upon this sweet scene. To my…

The Hope of Autumn

Time feels like someone put their foot on the accelerator and just keeps pressing down, speeding things up, causing the scenery to blur. I feel my age, not so much physically but in how the world feels foreign. Aliens and strangers, the Bible tells me. We are all aliens and strangers.

Morning Mist

I ventured out for a walk early this morning, just before the sun peeked over the horizon. When I opened the front door, it was still almost completely dark and the fog greeted me, quite literally, by glowing in the lights flanking the front porch and clinging to my face. I could see the droplets…

Back to Work

As the sun rose this morning, I finished my early workout, then slogged through the saturated grass to feed the animals. Dolly was first to the gate, as usual. She is large and in charge, always the first to the trough as she bleats commands to the others who follow. Kenny, her twin, has grown…

Respite and Reset

Just yesterday, my family and I arrived home from three days in Perdido Key, Fl. We spent long hours relaxing, enjoying the sights and sounds, and sleeping in the middle of the afternoon. After the chaotic past two years, it was such a relief to entrust our home and animals into the capable hands of…

Hope

I had already fed the animals, picked off the morning's offering of tomatoes and okra, and sat down with a cup of coffee before I looked at the date. September 1. Though it is not the official beginning of Autumn (which is September 22), the march toward cooler temperatures, golden leaves and all things Crock…

Summer’s End: An Update

It feels like forever since I've written anything here. Summer flew by and we are all settled in to a new year of homeschooling with busy days of reading, writing, and all the math. My kids have split into three different tutorials, creating a logistical nightmare for me while cocooning them in perfect environments for…