Winter Moon

I love a full, silvery winter moon against an icy-cold, inky-blue, clear sky. Its  radiance sparkling upon freshly falling snow makes me want to stop–urgently–to  “watch the meadow fill” just like my old friend, Robert Frost… and to gaze upon the  moonlight sparkle-play upon the “downy frost.” There is dancing when the nighttime  skylight shines…

Language

Lofty thoughts, which become ideals and hopefully–actions like forgiveness, freedom,  liberty, holiness, purity, redemption, atonement, justice, retribution, love, kindness, patience, or equality begin as seeds planted in the souls of mankind by the Spirit of God hovering upon the treasure of the universe. As we mature to grapple–chew and swallow these, they break through concrete barriers with rapid force and power like…

Joy’s Dilemma

My treasured keepsakes bulge in pockets of time—rather moments—that are tucked hard against the bones of my heart. They remain as fresh and life-giving as the first-offerings of spring rosesbuds, tight with fragrance and bleeding of crimson that smears across my fingers as I pull them out one petal at a time. The edges are…

Part 2 The Long Mynd

“I sometimes wonder if all pleasures are not substitutes for joy.” CS Lewis On our second evening in Norbury at The Crown B & B, we heard about a Eucharist service that evening at the St Michael’s and All Angels’ church. Just a short walk from the pub, we grew eager to attend the liturgy…

Healing

The river of disappointment and sorrow—the one that catches in your throat and you swallow back, the one that stings your eyes hot with betraying tears—if you release that pain to stream freely, it will push out, out to empty itself into the vast deep of the salty ocean brine that scrubs clean the wound….

The Last Chapters

As a young student of English and literature, it was not permitted to read the last chapter first—not officially—but unofficially. Who wants to spoil the fun of traveling through the intrepid chugging and cascading roller-coaster plot and twists brought to you by perfect words placed in perfect order? The compounding mystery is the journey leading…

Desert Purple

I used to be a very sad person. Prone to depression most of my teenage and young adult years, I actually tried to kill myself at age 24. This is something I am certainly not proud of, but I can boast in the redeeming power of God in my life that turned my “mourning into dancing,”…