There's a time to plant and a time to pluck up what is planted, and in March, I do a little of both. Winter is on its last leg, and I’ve been repairing, repotting, replanting, and rethinking the best ways to keep deer out of the garden this year. I realize there was a lot … Continue reading A Time to Plant
A True Story from Home Marilee and her sisters cooked up a storm in Aunt Emma’s kitchen— checkerboard cakes, popsicles made from fresh cow cream, and Aunt Emma’s squirrel dumplings. They’d haul vegetables in from the garden, eating the asparagus on their way back to the farmhouse. Marilee’s family lived in a Missouri suburb but … Continue reading Aunt Emma’s Kitchen
A True Story from Home I remember Frank as an old man, always kneeling in some corner to measure or drill, always doing it quietly with trembly hands. I remember staring at the nub where I’d heard he’d lost a finger to a chop saw, and wondering if it was still lying in his shop … Continue reading The Man Who Built the Lord’s House
Hey, Mom. Thanks for being here, and for reading these things I write every Sunday. But really, thanks for all the times when you aren't here in front of this screen because you're too busy working in the real spaces around you, planning our meals and wiping down the highchairs after the kids have gone (and also … Continue reading Hey, Mom
This winter, I’ve been reading God’s Word when I sit in my house, and when I walk by the way, and when I lie down, and when I rise (Deut. 6:7). I decided in January to take up the whole Story of Scripture and try reading from Creation to the last "Amen" in just two … Continue reading Sourdough and the Psalms
The first thing folks notice when they step through our front door are the big, oak cabinets that span the far wall of our dining room. And when they sit to share a meal with us, and we pull out dishes—maybe even a pie— from those cupboards, they notice we call them “Frank’s Cabinets.” I … Continue reading The Man Who Built the Lord’s House
The swing set oak is forty years old — taller than our maples, cedars, even its pin oak siblings. Mr. Adams planted it when our neighborhood was still his field and my mom was a kid who ran through it. Planting a tree is always an act of faith, but it’s also a selfless thing … Continue reading By Faith, Plant Sequoias
This article was written for AnchoredPassion.com. I grew up between two brothers and down the street from three more boys, so I learned right away you’d never score a touchdown if you didn’t know how to juke. I was fast, but so were they, and without a quick stop, pump, and twist, I’d never make … Continue reading Play (Or Plod) To Win
“Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while,” said Jesus to his disciples, “for many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat” (Mark 6:31). Wyndham Mountain Vista isn’t a desolate place. We pulled in too late to book our favorite condo overlooking the fog that huddles … Continue reading “Come Away and Rest Awhile”
I was standing at the window this time last year, staring at the blank ground. My imagination had to stretch and bend to arrange irises, daffodils, zucchinis, cucumbers, and lettuce in their proper beds and boxes. I was sick with spring fever, and all I could do was write about it. But this winter, I’ve … Continue reading Seedtime
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