Did you buy a ticket for this?

With each stop, people got on but no one seemed to be getting off. The crowded train continued rapidly from stop to stop. One by one, people squeezed on to the train barely making eye contact with one another. The passengers all headed in the same...

Is it supposed to be so confusing?

If you've ever picked up a Bible, read a few passages, and quietly set it back down feeling confused or frustrated… you're not alone. Scripture can feel hard to understand. Some stories are complex. Some passages challenge our modern thinking. And sometimes we’re left wondering, "What...

What’s written on your heart?

My daughter had a difficult test coming up and spent several evenings studying. Remembering details and dates across a large amount of information was challenging. As I encouraged her to break it down into smaller pieces, I suggested she write out the hardest facts. Taking pen to...

What Are You Wearing Today?

Old egg cartons, an empty box, and a teal trash can clutter the floor of my kitchen. My son sits in the midst of the pile of trash imagining the transformation possibilities. In less than an hour, he converts the pile of waste into a...

Feeling drained? Try this instead…

Dashing across the parking lot, I ran into the building and slid into the room just as things were starting. Having risen early after a week of busy days and late nights, I had arrived at a local children's mission to volunteer for the day. If I'm honest, I...

Who brightens your day?

Feet trudging through the snowy slush, I made my way to the mailbox across the street. Newly married, living twelve hours from home with new jobs, my husband and I were also enduring the hardest winter in New England in thirty years.  I was surrounded by...

Hope in the Hard

"The Lord is my Shepherd, I lack nothing," my husband quoted Psalm 23 as he dragged his tired body off the mattress. Up in the middle of the night for the third time to care for our sick son, he whispered as he trudged across the...

When the Fun-Meter is Empty

“I used to be fun." I remember saying this to a friend years ago. Caught in the everyday tasks of caring for young children, I felt bogged down by responsibility and incapable of having - or spreading - joy. Feeling like I was drowning in laundry,...

Do You Need Permission Today?

"I know you're juggling a lot, but Rosemary, it's okay to let some of the balls drop." My hands trembled and my eyes began to water as my friend of twenty-plus years continued. "Take care of the glass balls, like your kids, spouse, and work, but let...