This summer at my church, I taught a five-week series on Significant Women from the Bible. If I’d had one more week, I would have loved to teach about the woman in Mark 12. Jesus made her a teaching lesson for his disciples. Not a long lecture, not many details, not even her name—just an observation that escaped everyone—except Jesus. “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched … 
From the front seat of the minivan, I couldn’t see the video, but I heard clearly a familiar song from my childhood. My granddaughters in the backseat were watching The Sound of Music. Our voices escalated louder-and-louder till we reached the crescendo: “Climb every mountain Ford every stream Follow every rainbow Till you find your dream.” The movie ended with those words, and in the moments that followed I began to think about the … 
I’ve been meditating on wisdom over the last few weeks—seeking, searching, and waiting in stillness before the Lord. Choices, decisions, and multiple paths—I ne-e-e-e-d wisdom. I don’t trust my own instincts. I’ve made too many mistakes relying on my own intuition. Wisdom calls out to me in Proverbs 8: “Choose my instruction instead of silver, knowledge rather than choice gold, for wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with … 
Happy Valentines Day! May you be smothered in hearts, flowers and chocolate! Love songs streaming on Pandora take me back to yesteryear. Lionel Richie and Diana Ross sing their duet “Endless Love.” It sounds so dreamy. But can we admit a little bit of skepticism on this day, when hype exceeds reality, and for many, loneliness replaces romance? Broken relationships are not the exception—they’re the norm. Love is fragile and fleeting. Life’s most … 
The summer went by too quickly. I didn’t get a vacation—“w-a-a-a-a”. Sluggish and weary, I don’t feel mentally geared up for a busy fall. I run to the Psalms—the book that understands. Why do I love the Psalms? When I flip over to those pages I find my melancholy self there. In the mix of praise and lament I see me. I linger and listen and learn. Eventually I find my way … |