Small Stories of a Big God
The Best Hiding Place
You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance. Psalm 32:7 It was the last place to look and the best place to hide. Growing up in the 60’s, where no place was too dirty, creepy or dangerous to explore or hide in,...
Five Hard Lessons for the Christian (or Read the Fine Print)
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few...
Happy New Day
The rooster crowed into the darkness around me. I squinted at my phone - 2:30 am. I could hear the music outside still playing, hints of western pop...
The Legend of Mrs. Santa
“There she goes! There she goes!” my father yelled as he pointed up towards the roof. It was freezing out, we had no coats on but it didn’t matter. A grown man and three or four kids had just spilled out onto the lawn on a Christmas Eve, and stood squinting up into...
Flying With Beethoven
The dust spun and danced in the late afternoon sun, then settled for just a short time upon the black Steinway grand piano. I waited on one of the many hard chairs that lined Mrs. Adams living room with my sheet music on my lap, until she waved me towards the kitchen...
The Advocate
The door swings open, and I follow the young Victim Services Advocate into the parole hearing room. She's young and pregnant with her first baby, a girl she said, after she realized it was okay to talk about everyday things with me. She had to keep me separate, in a...
Set Apart – Not All Set
Jesus People 1970’s "Quench not the Spirit." 1 Thessalonians 5:19 Sanctification: 1. to set apart to a sacred purpose: Consecrate 2:to free from sin: Purify This word popped into my mind as I made my way through the woods this morning, lifting my concerns...
Climb Up
**Dear friends, This post was accidentally published last night as I have been going through old posts and doing some editing. It is about seven years old. Oops! But just maybe it is meant to minister to someone out there – that’s my prayer. Thanks for your...
And A Lot of Patience
If you are really a Cape Codder, you will never admit that the weather is good – at least without adding a disclaimer like, "What a beautiful day! But tomorrow it's supposed to rain/snow/hail..." True to my 40 years of being what is called a "wash-a-shore" on this...
Just An Ordinary Superhero
Steve Rogers. Britt Reid. Tony Stark. Do any of these names ring a bell? Okay...how about Peter Parker? Bruce Wayne. Here we go – Clark Kent! Yep...you got it. Superheroes, in their not-so-super everyday selves. I haven't given this much thought since the days of...
Unfriending Facebook in Three Not-So-Easy Steps
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 Four clicks and done. The directions to delete a Facebook account seemed simple enough. But alas - by the third click, the plan was unraveling. Why? the...
Feeling Young Again
*** I am so pleased to once again, share a post with you from my son and favorite guest blogger, Miles Macleod. It is a beautiful and insightful take on Matthew 18:3. You can follow his family blog on macleodsonthemove.weebly.com. Enjoy! So it's been...
The Way to Wellness
The pain awakened me. My feet were throbbing, and the ache reached up to the back of my knees. I lay still trying to figure this out, then realized as I readjusted my body that my back, neck and head hurt too. I remembered swimming in Nantucket Sound a few days...
Color-Coded Chaos
Will finished his cigarette and took one last look around his yard, his house then grabbed his cooler and shoved it into the back of his black pickup and rode off. I could see him through my sunroom window where I pray every morning, through the thin layer of cedar...
The Top Ten Things Mama Taught Me
Manners. I hated learning them and I was the only girl north of Baltimore who knew how to curtsy. I was banished from many meals, red with shame for "smacking my lips” or slipping an elbow onto the table. It was often absurd and out of touch, but included in that...
Just a Dog (Not a Dog Spelled Backwards)
Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God's work from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11 NLT Georgia is a dog. Georgia is my new dog. She's as sweet as a...
Love Lessons From Jail
"First Corinthians 13..." I'm opening a small Bible that I brought to give to one of the inmates. "Where is that?" Jessica asks. "It's right here." I push the Bible towards her, keeping my finger on the page. Kara glares at her from across the table. It's her Bible...
The Last Escape
My eyes snapped open as I heard the soft creak of the stairs, the gentle whoosh of the front door, then a few minutes later, an engine turn over. As it idled for a minute, my husband rolled over next to me. "Why does she do that?" he asked in a half-asleep...
Fox Hunters and Heart Keepers
Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” Song of Solomon 2:15 ESV "It's my fault," my husband admitted as we scooped the garbage into a new bag. "I should've put a lid on it." He says it's squirrels...
And Be Thankful
Grateful. The rain falls straight and dense, hammering the gutters and bulkhead doors in a staccato rhythm. Stay in. It's November, it's the day before Thanksgiving and two days before Black Friday. Traffic is thick and edgy. My husband and I just celebrated 20 years...
Finished and Famous Already
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21 NIV Yesterday was a big day, according to my granddaughter Olive. Two events made it so: Number One, she lost another tooth. Number Two, her Ama (me) became "famous."...
Go Again
Hello friends! I am delighted to post a guest blog from one of my favorite people on earth – my son, Miles Macleod. This is a beautiful, timely message that really resonated with some of the deep stirrings that God is bringing to the surface in my own life. I know you...
Temporarily A Monster
Confession: I was going to just put a big Temporarily Out of Business sign on this blog. I am in the final steps of completing a book I have been working on forever, and my focus has shifted. The book calls me constantly– when I’m cooking, driving, working, even...
A Father’s Perfect Love
*** Dear friends- in the beautiful but sometimes perplexing spirit of Father’s Day, I am reposting this from 2017. I pray it will bless and minister to someone! Pawwwwwt Chestah!! I can still hear the conductor holler over the clack and rattle of the train and...
Waiting with the Robins
March did not start with a roar this year; it came in more like a wet dog than a lion. I was born in March, so I’ve always been a defender of the month that most New Englanders despise. It is, after all, a gloomy, raw, merciless month. Wind, rain, sometimes snow and...