Devotionals

I did not know the woman who knocked on the parsonage door one morning, but her face looked like a tragedy mask carved in granite. “I’ve come,” she said, “because I need to take back four words I said.” “Let’s have a cup of coffee, and you tell can me about it.” Her...

I didn’t want to join a handbell choir. I just wanted to see how good I’d be at it if I tried it. After all, I’d taken piano lessons for sixteen years, and I could “sight-read” a piece of music of moderate difficulty. So when a handbell choir came to our church, and...

Years ago I spent several days with my aging father and mother in Tennessee on their little farm. At breakfast, Daddy said, “Libby, come, take a ride with me. One of the cows didn’t come to the barn last night. I’m afraid she’s dropped her calf and is in trouble.” My...

So, how can I reconcile the wonderful and terrible things that happened this week? (“So?” you ask. “Is that a proper way to open a conversation?” Maybe so. My grandchildren always answer a question with “So— ,” as if they’re continuing a conversation already begun,...

“Celebrities separate parenthood and marriage,” our newspaper announced last week (as if we hadn’t already noticed!) It isn’t just celebrities who reject marriage while bringing children into the world. It’s a trend on every level of our society. And, oh, what a...

Our daughter Margi loved school most of the time. Music class was wonderful. Art class, too. She’d always loved books, so she enjoyed English. And recess was fun. But one night, sitting at the kitchen table trying to do her math homework on fractions, she was near...

The man sitting next to me on the plane saw me studying my Bible and asked with irritation. “Don’t you know that the Bible is full of mistakes?” We were on a Saturday afternoon flight from Pittsburg to Atlanta. I was coming home from a women’s conference, he from a...

The dictionary says, “A snipe hunt is a practical joke in which the victim is left in a remote spot holding a bag for a fictitious snipe to run into.” The entry adds, “It can be a wonderful bonding experience for a father and child.” Uh? Really? It was summer family...

Recently I read in a “Dear Abby” column a letter that ran something like this: “Christian friends keep telling us we’ve been blessed by God because we both have wonderful jobs, our children are healthy, and we own a beautiful home. But they’re not blessings from God....

Our little home on small Shannon Lake seems like paradise to me. My neighbors are caring. The house is warm and easy to care for, but roomy and pleasant when the great-grandchildren visit. And God’s presence is here. My little dachshund Schatzi (her name means...