Mothering Prayer
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moreWhy We Honor You This Mother’s Day: Because You Really Mother Thousands
On Friday, May 11 th, 2012Because there’s something about the sound of opening up a bag of seeds in spring. Something about holding a promise right there in the palm of your hand. And the Farmer’s whole tilled field, she’s laid right open, expectant and waiting. The Farmer’s got his Wranglers on and he’s got his hands into those seeds all like pearls and the man’s ...
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moreBecause this is the Truth about the real “Mother’s Day Card Mothers”
On Wednesday, May 09 th, 2012I became a mother on the eve of Mother’s Day. And when they placed that vernix-covered, wrinkled babe into my 21-year old arms that muggy Saturday evening in May, no wave of relief, or ecstasy washed over me. Being the first to caress another human being’s cheek, I only felt raw, unadulterated, strangling terror. If I could have ran? I would have. ...
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moreThe Habit of a Mother Who Changes The World
On Tuesday, May 08 th, 2012Houses may be bought, built, or borrowed. But homes can only be made. And only with bits of ourselves. The kids and I sit together close in a house with dishes on the counter and read about painters and artists and look at a flock of ducks, preened and nestled, a painting, oil on canvas. The children press in close for a better look at the open book, at Alexander Koester...
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moreHow Everyone Can Be An Optimist
On Wednesday, May 02 nd, 2012My Grandma Barbara Ruth, she ever only saw a cup one way. Didn’t matter if the tea’d been poured out or if the sky’d tipped over or the tap was still running loud. Every cup she ever held or tipped back or drank from, they were all right empty as far as she was concerned. She’d been dying of old age since she was 42. Every picnic was bound to get rained ...
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morewhat to really hold onto in the glorious mess {Free Printable Mother Art}
On Tuesday, April 17 th, 2012Today, a gift — a guest post from a heart-sister, whose breakfast table I’ve sat at and whose tribe of wide-eyed boys I’ve read stories aloud to and who has laughed hard with me over peanut butter frosted brownies and we have bowed together and prayed even harder. Dear Mother, This morning seems like all the others. My little rock house creaks in the season c...
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moreFiguring Out the Cross-Centered Life
On Wednesday, April 04 th, 2012{This is part of a series this week on preparing hearts for Easter. Part 1 of A Holy Week can be found here Part 2 of a Holy Week: A Family Activity for Passion Week can be found here} On the road to Calvary… two years ago this week… Life only emerges from black depths. And she’s a farmer’s daughter and she knows how new shoots come out of the dark earth and sh...
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moreWhen You’re Feeling Unseen & Unappreciated {Words for Lent}
On Wednesday, March 21 st, 2012It’s hard to know what that is — when it’s a spotlight that heats up a prophet’s fervor. When ardency kindles with a microphone and holiness is this blazing performance for audience and applause. But what is that, that zealous ember in the dark, when a...
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moreThe Importance of Being the Prodigal Parent
On Thursday, March 15 th, 2012I don’t know who said you couldn’t, but they were dead wrong. You could be death wish over a toilet, a flagrant sinner over a credit card, a Pharisee over a pulpit, and it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter a hill of beans. And it’s a hill I’d die on, because that’s exactly why a Carpenter really did: Whoever you are, wherever you’...
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moreWhat to Do When You feel like a Loser…
On Wednesday, March 14 th, 2012It’s half way through Lent and forget that sign of of dust they brush on the center of your forehead. I’m bowed over the sink after a teenage daughter’s slammed out the backdoor. Slammed out of my ugly diatribe. And I’m thinking I need something more direct, right there on the middle of brow. Like the “L” sign. The one the Farmer frowns deep ...
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moreA Prayer for Your Home
On Thursday, February 16 th, 2012Bless this nest, Lord, of fragile things, encircling the breakable and broken in grace, in the ever warmth of Your wing, in the sheltering shadow of Your face, us the clinging ones, You our clutch of hope, singing to us the song of home. Resource: Bless Our Nest
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moreThe Perfect Valentine’s Day Gift for a Mother
On Tuesday, February 14 th, 2012When he asked me what I wanted for Valentine’s Day? I’d grinned and said all I wanted was a clean house. I mean, National Geographics wave across the study like a sea. Boys erupt here, lego this lava everywhere. There are dolls, two girl in this blast of boys, and their stream of scissors, and papers, and...
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moreBest Advice for Hard Times
On Friday, February 10 th, 2012It’s what I sang over dishes. Sang on the days when I felt too weary to take another step, clean up another mess, change another diaper. It’s what I sing when the enemy attacks with lies, when I feel alone and scared, when I fear the future and whispers in the shadows. It’s what my mother-in-law, a Dutch farmer’s wife and mother of nine...
