I Can’t Always Get What I Want

But yes, I need what I get. As a graduate student, I spent a year on a Polynesian island doing research. Twenty years later, after discussing my adventures and misadventures with dozens and dozens of people, one thing is clear: However your imagination conjures my island experience, it wasn’t quite like that. One of the features of small-island […]


Hope, Hunger, and Friendly Sharks

  What Hope Can Do “A friendly shark and an ocean to keep him in.” That’s what grandson Cadence was hoping to receive as a birthday gift  when he was about to turn three.  It’s a wish born of privilege, isn’t it? Thanks be to God, all the things my grandkids hope for are birthed in […]


Esmeralda, and How She May Save (Or Wreck) My Marriage

  What’s A Tool Worth?  I get perverse pleasure from arguing with the GPS system that’s built right in to our new car. Maybe I need a support group. Or an intervention. I really don’t know. Here’s the thing. When Esmeralda and I argue (yes, I’ve named her. Is that weird?), eventually, I get my way. Sure, […]


Weekend Reflection: No Lines

The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. 2 For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers. Psalm 24:1-2 (NASB) It’s the weekend. Around here we remove our shoes and tour the stillness. Start with Sandra Heska King’s Still Saturday.  Then drop by Deidra Riggs’ Sunday Community. You’ll […]


Bug-Collecting and a Mother’s Heart: Lessons in Compassion

What Hearts Remember I read this amazing story the other day, I say to my mother-in-law. She and I sit in Denny’s, lingering over the last bites of our pecan-banana pancakes. Really?  Yeah. It was a blog post. Your kids caught bugs when they were small, didn’t they? And they brought them home in jars? She nods, […]