For my friend, Frances, on her first birthday with Jesus Left alone with your memory— the fading image, the distant voice are not the wounds I thought they’d be for we are not so very far apart— Heaven has you, and I have Heaven in my heart.
I think we can all agree that 2020 hasn’t turned out to be the year we thought it would be. Who would have dreamed at the beginning of the year that so much would change? Even though I had heard of Covid-19 back in January, I never imagined how much it would affect our country. … Continue reading Coronavirus, Uncertainty, and Hope
The clench of pain, the darkness pressing; the future robbed, all longing wasted; the music quenched, the pleasure hollow; the loves in vain, the friendships fading; all losses sealed, the grief unbroken; all hope unknown, all roads unsteady; a failing breath, and death forever— if Jesus had not risen. .
All the hopes of wise men and of shepherds, all the dreams of captives in the night, all the longing of the generations— nailed upon a cross and crucified. All the years of watching and of praying, all the light of prophecies foretold, all the groaning of the earth, awaiting— wasted, poured out on the … Continue reading Song of Easter
Do you feel the shock of sorrow? The Foundation taken, the walls collapsing ‘round you. How deep does the shame go, burrowing far beneath the ground? I built in a bad place. The Rock you thought you found was sand, and now you know. But which of You is true? We often feel forsaken— waiting … Continue reading The Day before the Resurrection
Look up, all tribes of earth— Your King has come to save. Look up, oh ransacked souls, to the God who freely gave. Look up from broken trust to One with steadfast Word. Look up from tyranny to a kind and gracious Lord. Look up from dark despair to everlasting Light. Look up from stains … Continue reading Look and Live
Good people know their place and would never touch me, much less look me in the eye, probably for fear of contamination. They speak mostly of me—not to me— and then, of course, only from a holy distance. I am a sinner. In averting their eyes, they never see me— never see my awkward hands, … Continue reading Friend of Sinners
Little hopes grow like weeds— looking pretty in the grass. Must we weed them out? Pull them up today, and they’ll be back tomorrow, anyway, whimsical as ever. Of course, they may die some time, but so will the flowers. I’ve a mind to let them stay— a yard full of color in a dull … Continue reading Little Hopes
It was getting toward the end of the day when of the little girls in my class came over to me, sad. She was missing her mommy. I scooped her up and held her, knowing the feeling. (I have always been very emotionally attached to my mom, and I still get really sad sometimes when … Continue reading It’s Going to be Okay
