Most of us hold on to things that work. A good shampoo, a nice, sudsy dish soap, a comfy pair of jeans, a routine. Faith isn’t much different. As long as it moves mountains, we’re happy to keep it. But when it doesn’t–like a bad shampoo, we tend to stop buying it. Is faith really […]
Standing Firm When Faith Doesn’t Move the Mountain Read More »
If your worth depends on affirmation as much as I’ve allowed mine to, then unless you actually get it as often as you think you need it, you probably wonder as much as I do what value the journey of your life holds. The few voices that do affirm you’ve offered them something, while immensely
Value the Journey That Is Your Life Read More »
Unanswered yet. If any of your prayers fit that description, you might relate when I say I have a love-hate relationship with this hymn. Each verse breathes hope into your soul. And then two words deflate it. They’re not intended to, but when sometime, somewhere is a horizon you can’t see any better now than
“This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” Shakespeare got it right. But I’m not sure he got it all. Not all in this one phrase we like to quote, anyway. To be true to yourself,
Know Thyself: The Journey of Self-Examination Read More »
Why do so many things have to get worse before they get better? Or to get better? Instead of “No pain, no gain,” can’t we live by the mantra John Bytheway jokingly suggests? “No pain? Good!” Life would certainly be easier. When you feel broken, there’s not much you wouldn’t give for easier. For a
Healing Brokenness With a Kindergarten Art Lesson Read More »
Surrender is a verb. Noah Webster’s first definition of it is “to yield to the power of another; to give or deliver up possession upon compulsion or demand.” Maybe that’s why it so often feels more like being shackled to an adjective. SURRENDER, adj. 1. A state of powerlessness. And maybe that’s why it’s so
Words are powerful. Spoken or thought, they influence our quality of life. Negative words for the worse, positive words for the better–as long as they stand on truth. In my experience, many positive words ignore truth. Brush it under the rug in the name of optimism. And depress more than encourage because you know that
Thinking Truth in the Face of Persuasive Lies Read More »
Overgrown. Choked with weeds. Brittle and brown. Mostly dead. That was the secret garden Mary Lennox discovered, and I find my hope for the future often bears a gloomy resemblance. But under all its decay, that garden was wick–that’s Yorkshire for “alive”. And in that, too, my hope for the future runs parallel. Reading has
When Hope for the Future Becomes a Secret Garden Read More »
I stand all amazed at the love of Jesus. No one who’s given him their heart can help it. Ask me why, though, and my answer might not be the same as yours. We stand amazed in different ways because he saves us in different ways. All to the same end–to bring us back to
“I Stand All Amazed” Read More »
We’re told in Proverbs to train up a child in the way he should go. Very often, they’re trained up instead in the way we go, which, unfortunately, isn’t always the same thing. If you could watch yourself like they–or anyone else–does, would you see anything you’d be proud to have them emulate? I don’t
Watch Yourself for the Sake of Who Else Does Read More »
