The first time I encountered holiness—and it was an encounter—I had quietly entered the women’s prayer group that met at Calvary Temple Church in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday mornings. My mom would drop me off at a class and allow me to meet her back in the prayer room. I must have been mid-elementary school…
Tag: prayer
“…Scent of Death…”
“Low in the grave He lay, Jesus my Savior, waiting the coming day, Jesus my Lord…” I sang this hymn on Easter as a child and felt the depth of the words. It depicted the last days and events of Holy Week, the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. I felt the blueness of the…
Every Pathway Led to Joy
“Through her masterful grasp of language, Bonnie imparts unique wisdom that can be learned only through trials, victories, and a life lived with steadfast faith.” —Nic Lesmeister, Executive Pastor, Gateway Church Every page of this book carries both joy and struggle. I didn’t write from ideology but from living, learning, and trusting God through it…
Preorder available
I’m delighted to share about my new book, “A Roadmap to Joy: Find Your Way in a World of Discontent.” The book comes from a very tender place in my heart. For years I have wrestled with the tensions that so many of us feel: longing for joy while walking through disappointments, pressure, uncertainty, and…
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…
Choices
Even the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow can’t buy contentment. It is illusive. Culture is abstract yet often dictates our lives in concrete measures. Choice is concrete yet seems abstract as we begin choosing how to live. The secrets of contentment, which transcend the content of our culture, is rooted in…
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…
Shelter
She moves with stealth behind the scenes of autumn, steadily edging toward the razor cold and lacy veil of ice and crystal. Then quietly she falls, winter’s glorious mystique reveals in a day. In layers, it descends and deeper it penetrates, much more than surface. The chill and snow seeps below. But not to spurn. It’s the season of fireside reflections,…
Across the Kitchen Table
I turn 75 tomorrow. I don’t feel old or irrelevant, although my culture may tell me otherwise. Older, more savvy friends and pastoral mentors shared with Wayne and me in our early 40’s that life doesn’t even get really fun and rich until your fifties. That was a bit of experiential advice that I put…
This Will Break Charlie’s Heart
I recently read of Charlie Kirk that, while the nation mourns his death, we must never forget his rhetoric–which did not exemplify the gospel of Jesus or the way of the cross. That Kirk was ultimately a brilliant MAGA apologist and right wing conservative provocateur. A myriad of analysts, opposed to his views, have accused…
Bonnie Saul Wilks 