"We need not get frantic. God is at the helm. And when our little day is done we lie down quietly in peace, for all is well." (Thomas Kelly) {SCOpenGraph title=For all is well ...} {SCOpenGraph description=We are tempted to live frantic, worried lives. We do not need to do this. God is at the […]

Eugene Peterson loves the psalms. He has helped me to love them, too. And to use them as my guide for prayer. How? I start at the beginning. Starting with Psalm 1 I read a psalm each day when I sit down to think, pray, and journal. I don't care if the psalm fits with […]

Reading my way through Eugene Peterson's most recent-and possibly final-book, As Kingfishers Catch Fire. His thoughts on prayer are worth repeating and pondering: "Prayer is first of all a means of listening. Prayer is an act of attention.  We are not used to this. We suppose we are in charge of prayer. We aren't. God […]

All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don't tiptoe. (Shane Claiborne, b. 1975) {SCOpenGraph title=Just don't tiptoe...} {SCOpenGraph description=All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely.} {SCOpenGraph article:author=https://www.facebook.com/alice.shirey.5} […]

Stay awake today. There is no such thing as an ordinary moment. Despite our labeling of parts of our day as boring, repetitive or meaningless, every single moment is God-saturated. So wake up. And stay awake. When you turn toward a task you consider boring, say - washing some pots and pans - remember the […]

When my kiddos were little they had a piano teacher who was originally from Poland. Communist Poland. She was intense. WAY too intense to be teaching my children how to play the piano. For awhile, I didn't realize this was a bad fit. We had never had a piano teacher before and I just kind […]