“How do you feel?” My husband’s voice asked through the anesthesia. My hand moved heavily to the spot where a baby had grown. “Empty,” I whispered. He scooped my tear before it hit the pillow and then wiped his own. It was a hard loss the day the ultrasound recorded no heart beat, made worse […]
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It wasn’t unusual to hear our house creak, but the distinct soft footsteps on the staircase made my scalp tingle. I stood quietly inside my bedroom on the second floor, then creeped to the door and carefully put my hand to the knob. I held my breath and listened. Was it just the house settling, […]
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My husband wakes up every morning and makes a decision. “What class clothing is this day?” What he does during the day determines what he wears. When he used to go into an office, the decision was simple. First class clothes came out of the closet. Now the projects he’s planned for the day require […]
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“Are we there yet?” little voices once asked from the back seat. Years slipped by, like miles passing underneath. Complaints changed, the questions grew more sophisticated, and the voices more mature. Yet, spoken or implied, my children measured distance by “are we almost there yet?” Life’s value is often judged less by roads covered than […]
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Lined up side by side, ready to take off, my grandson’s restraining arm shoots out across his little brother’s stomach. “Go!” Big brother shouts. They take off across our grass. It’s a dubious race, one that counts on a certain seven-year-old against a five-year-old sibling pecking order. The course, established by the elder begins and […]
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If Humpty Dumpty and I sat down for a heart to heart, I think we’d find we have a lot in common. The first and most obvious is the state of our brokenness. The thing about the king’s horses and men unable to put us together again… yup. But I’m not so sure how Old […]
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“You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” (Psalm 89:9, ESV) There are storms and then there are STORMS. The amount of inner turbulence bothered me over such a small incident. As a Christ follower, I chided myself, I shouldn’t be reacting as if swept under salty water and […]
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It’s a routine day at Grandpa and Grandma’s. A brightly colored skyscraper of towering Duplo blocks decorates the middle of the living room. Grandpa has taken time off from his Foot-a-eat-asourous duties, which explains the six cartoon-charactered socks and six empty shoes scattered about. A row of cars line an imaginary road transitioning the doorway […]
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A bit of a ruckus in Aisle Four grabs my attention. Stacks of bright notebooks and bins of colored pens separate me from a young father trying desperately to check off the teacher’s list in his hand. A little girl circles about his knees. Little fingers fly over items faster than he can stop them. […]
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“Call me Mara,” Naomi said. Tragedy chiseled her face and spilled from her lips. Pleasant, the meaning of her name no longer fit. Mara suited her, for it meant “bitter.” “I went out full and came back empty,” Naomi told them. I know many Mara’s. Women and men whose lives turned out so very […]
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