My children and I went strawberry picking today.
The field was damp and muddy, but the air was cool and delicious between rainstorms.
“Is this one okay to pick?” my youngest son asked, holding up a red strawberry that was white on one side.
Category: Everyday Faith
Finding balance in the busy summer months
I’m a work-aholic.
It runs in my family, but it also just comes with the territory of being a mother.
There are always dishes to do, clothes to clean, mouths to feed, carpets to vacuum. Not to mention children to police, homework to help with, activities to run to.
The list never stops, so neither do I.
And my children notice.
Be still and know that He is God
God gave me an unexpected forced retreat last month, a literal message to “slow down.”
I was on my way to an indoor water park, traveling a few cars behind my children’s school bus in order to help chaperone at the park.
It was the day of a spring snow storm, and I hit an icy patch and started sliding off the road.
Still time to get out of our ruts this Lent
Every day as a means of spurring family discussion around the supper table, my husband and I ask each of our children to talk about his or her “rose” and “thorn” of the day.
Recently this was a conversation I had with my six-year-old son:
“What was your thorn of the day?”
“My bottom got wet when I went down the slide at recess.”
Focusing on the present this Lent
“Mom, can I get a Minecraft Lego set for my birthday?”
My son’s eyes were wide with hope and anticipation and all seriousness. But, smiling, I had to hide a laugh and shake my head.
His birthday was six months away.
Heeding God’s call in a time of darkness
One winter four years ago, I hit bottom. I was a mother of four little ones close in age, and years of exhaustion and isolation were beating me.
With the constant care of my children controlling all of my thoughts and actions, I was becoming a shell, a shadow of my former self, and I needed help.
Importance of hospitality, community especially today
Just before the New Year, our house looked similar to many other homes.
Christmas lights decorated the tree in our living room. Children were busy with new toys and games. Cookies and other goodies often made their way into little searching hands and mouths.
Clinging tight to Jesus when we feel lost
Admittedly, I’m a dinosaur when it comes to technology.
Give me a keyboard and Microsoft Word and I can function, but “technologically savvy” I am definitely not.
I am also not good with directions, which is why my husband gave me a Global Positioning System (GPS) many years ago, to help me get to where I needed to be.
A matter of perspective: Passing on faith through subtleties of our actions
In a classroom recently, I told the following true story to a few young children.
“A long time ago, my husband and I were roasting marshmallows over a campfire with some friends,” I said, my eyes wide as I told the story.
“Our friend’s marshmallow caught on fire, and instead of blowing it out, he waved his stick back and forth quickly, trying to put the fire out,” I said, waving my hands dramatically to illustrate our friend’s actions. “But the burning marshmallow flew off the stick and landed as a mound of flaming goo onto my husband’s leg!”
Cleaning out our spiritual junk rooms
“So, what’s in this room?” a friend asked once, when she was visiting us long ago.
She opened the door to our very cluttered “junk room,” saw the teetering piles of mail, unfinished projects, and general chaos, and laughed.