Today is the Day for a Miracle
Today is the day for a miracle … Today the calendar says spring, but when has the calendar ever told us anything true? As I write, darkness has dropped, the wind is howling, and the hanging porch lights are twisting like terrified animals on their chains. The sound of this wild March wind does not make me feel cozy. It...
These Farmhouse Bookshelves
I tend not to read the books everyone else is reading. At least, I don't read them while they are being talked about. Years after the fact, I might grab an "Oprah's Pick" or a "Now a Major Motion Picture" paperback at the thrift store. Usually, I discover that everyone else was on to something good. Still, this contrary streak persists. I may...
From Where I Stand Between Winter and Spring
I spent most of Saturday outside. It looked nothing like spring, but I could feel it. By afternoon we had taken off our jackets and were warming ourselves with shovels and gardening gloves. The firstborn and I cleared away some of the invasive (but gorgeous) vine that blankets the edge of our property. Do you remember, I asked her, what the...
These Farmhouse Bookshelves
We don't read poetry any longer, do we? Oh, a bit here and there, and some of us more than others, but we're much more likely to end our days with reality television than The Oxford Book of English Verse, aren't we? I often wonder why this is. Is it because we are so accustomed to the easy and comfortable we avoid using our spare time for...
This is How to Listen, This is How to Hear
There were years when a little flag would start waving in my head any time I heard someone say God told me to do this or God told me to do that. A red flag. It sounded too much like crazy-talk. I'd never heard God's voice, so what makes you sure? What makes you special? // // Now I am that crazy person. I'm the one setting eyes to roll with my...
These Farmhouse Bookshelves
I think this is the first Friday evening when I have not been excited to sit down and give you another peak at my bookshelves. The reason? I'm in the middle of a new book, and I would really rather be reading. My internet connection was out all day, and I was secretly thrilled. It meant I felt a little less guilty propping the baby in her...