god
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The Editorial Meeting in My Head
I have recently come to the realization that I have an entire editorial department at my disposal. Unfortunately, the entire staff lives in my head. There are no scheduled meetings. Nobody takes minutes. There are frequent tea breaks, although calling them “breaks” is questionable since the meeting never actually stops. And absolutely no one respects…
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I Have A Few
“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” (Psalm 37:4) I have always thought Psalm 37:4 was one of those wonderfully dangerous verses to pull out all by itself. “He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Well now let’s see… I just happen to have…
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The Price of Roadside Attractions
Years ago, my husband and I were traveling to visit the Chickasaw Nation in southern Oklahoma when something alongside the freeway caught our attention. Neither of us could figure out what it was at first, which naturally made us stare even harder. As we got closer, the strange little creature finally came into view. It…
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Good Enough for What?
There is an old saying, “When all else fails, read the instructions.” We laugh because there is enough truth in it to make us uncomfortable. Human beings have an astonishing confidence in their ability to figure things out as they go. Sometimes that confidence costs nothing more than a little time and frustration. In other…
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Before the Knot Tightens
Scripture Focus: “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” (James 3:16) I came across a thought recently that stopped me for a moment: If pride and selfishness were laid aside, five minutes would remove most difficulties. Five minutes. At first that sounds almost too simple. Some disagreements have been…
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Leave the Spatula Alone
“But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:4) There is a very specific moment in pancake making when wisdom and impatience part company. The pancake has been in the pan for what feels like a perfectly respectable amount of time. The glossy batter around the…
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For Best Results, Follow Instructions
There may be no sentence in the English language more consistently ignored than the instructions that come with something we are absolutely certain we can figure out ourselves. Instructions, after all, are apparently written for other people. People who lack intuition. People who cannot look at seventeen pieces of hardware, three boards, two brackets, twelve…
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The Stones Behind Us
“Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth.” (1 Chronicles 16:12) This verse reminds me of rock cairns—those small stacks of stones that hikers, and sometimes even park rangers, leave along a difficult or unclear trail to mark the way. Each one says, in effect, Someone has…
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The Art of Noticing
I came across the phrase “the art of noticing” recently while reading a post by one of my favorite blogger friends, and that phrase stuck with me throughout the day. (Thanks, Barb!) Noticing. It’s such a gentle word. There is something warm about it. To notice someone is to pause long enough to really see…
