Yes, I’ll journey with you to Skull Hill in springtime, the hyacinths dripping of perfume and the lily blazing purity in the flooding sunshine of noonday. I’m frail and naked and ashamed— beaten and exposed to my bone’s marrow, but I will go with you. I’ll fall upon you in the river of crimson that…
New Season
On this day three years ago, we landed on the shores of the island of encouragement, Cyprus. We had finished the Gateway tour in Israel and had just begun our sabbatical to be spent there, Jordan, and back to Israel. In one week, the pandemic closed all flights eastward and was moving west. We waited…
Pause to Peer
I will never tire of hearing, “Look, Marmee, a butterfly!” My grandchildren, Vivie and Emmett, shriek with joy when one flies close or lands nearby. Their curiosity intensifies in the presence of this fanciful winged being, and their wonder sparks! And you know what? You don’t need to be a child to love these illusive…
Wintering Winter
The Tree in Winter The winter, barren branch, firmly rooted, standing stark against a scarlet-stained sky has long been one of my favorite metaphors for life. I have spent close to 50 winters contemplating its beauty and message. In every testing period of my life, its sermon of hope becomes my winter song of making…
Gleam
Millions of pinholes twinkle across a midnight sky, a bubbly mountain river shimmers in sunlight as it flows to the sea, sand glistens through the water at the ocean shore, bright eyes gleam from a distant playground, and a smoldering ember glows red hot to the end. A small thing it is not…to shine, to…
Second Chances
The only thing better than a second chance is a third or fourth chance! New, unpacked opportunities pave the way for dozens of tight, pink buds on an ancient tree called hope, called second chances. That’s what the new year offers. I’m beginning my 73rd “second chance” by starting fresh in the year of our…
Reunion of Consolation
Each Christmas season in recent years, I remember tenderly the passing of my father-in-law and mother-in-law. I pondered the unique gift that came to the family because both Wayne and Carol Wilks died on the same day, December 16, 13 years apart. Only the Creator of the universe could arrange that, for He truly is…
Conversations and Colors
My view of humanity exponentially bursts with hope when I’m with Vive, my first grandchild. Carefully finding and matching colors and shapes, we worked to put a puzzle together. Today it’s the same puzzle for the twentieth time—but always new and fresh to us. As we mused over the jagged pieces, Vivie posed, “How many…
“Let Your Heart be Light…
Each Christmas season, I am captivated in a fresh way by the music. I discover anew the glorious strands filled with melodious notes and chords and allow them to lift me above the mundane and sometimes chaotic dark to soar on wings of hope in realms above. As I grow older, the words become more…
A Reason to Joy
“You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.” Isaiah 55:12 At 4:30 in the autumn dark of early morning on Nov 14th, Wayne and I and our beloved son-in-love stepped…
Bonnie Saul Wilks 