Have you ever given birth? Remember the stage of labor called “transition”?
Transition: “A period during childbirth that precedes the expulsive phase of labor, characterized by strong uterine contractions and nearly complete cervical dilation.”
Ouch!
I’m 57, soon to turn 58. It may be physically impossible, but here I am, in the throes of transition. No, I’m […]
Buffeted by ocean tumult
Crucified on timeless beach
Buried by storm and sand
Risen whole
Exposed by tide
Bleached by sun
Carried home as talisman
Lesson in adversity
Delicate
as baby’s breath
Brittle
as old woman’s bone
Weightless
as Christ’s presence
Powerful
as confessed weakness
Flawless flower
etched on orb
Hollow center
cradles dove
Strength in weakness
Christ in me
His grace
sufficient
Whenever I’m at my lowest, my most frustrated; when I feel close to defeat or despair, God gives me a gift. I’ve come to count on it. This particular day was no different. Losing the struggle to bring some clarification in my mind and my words to the theme of an article I was working […]
In my Lenten reflections this morning, I came upon this strange passage from the book of Numbers:
“The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord […]
In my prayer group last week, we spent time in Lectio Divina on Isaiah 43:1-7. The verses that spoke to my life circumstances were these: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the […]
For my Advent devotionals, I am reading Wendy Wright’s The Vigil: Keeping Watch in the Season of Christ’s Coming. I like the way she intertwines her personal story with a deep study of the Scriptures. She writes, “Promise is at the heart of the season of Coming. Opening our hearts to the radical nature of […]
“Faithfulness opens the door to the spiritual insight that it is not the amount of darkness in the world or in us that is crucial. In the end, it is how we stand in that darkness that really matters. Moreover, sometimes it is paradoxically during faithfulness in the darkness, not in the light, that we […]
I’m jolted from sleep when the heat-seeking-body-missile of my 24-year-old son lands next to me on the bed. I pry open sleep-encrusted eyes to encounter Joel’s face, two inches from my own. He grins, giving me an up-close view of his smile crinkles, just like his dad’s; little fans on either side of his […]
We ran into a host of orange barrels
coming home from our third son’s birth.
Our daily route,
parenthood-by-the-book,
ended.
No detour sign in sight.
No big, black arrows
pointing the way
forward.
We drove in circles
before pulling into a gas station
to ask for directions
Funny, how gas station attendants,
even ones with Ph.D.’s,
don’t know the names of
side streets leading back
to well-traveled roads.
We got lost.
Really lost.
But […]
Yesterday our hot tub, which is located on the deck in back of the house, burst into flames. I heard a loud crackling over the soundtrack of Finding Neverland, which I was watching on DVD. I wasn’t supposed to be home lying on the couch. I’d cancelled two appointments that morning because I […]