Our Weekly Devotionals are created by our staff and members to inspire reflections and conversation.
Enough is Enough!
Each spring, as my birthday brings me one year closer to Medicare, I become a little more obsessed with my retirement account. I have enough, I tell myself, patting my anxieties on their worried little heads. Trying to get them to go to sleep—or at least to take a nap.
Listening is Often Enough
It was Thursday night at Cherith Brook, and I was seeing patients for Care Beyond the Boulevard. Nurse Jody and I were just starting to talk to a patient who had been punched in the face that morning- maybe a broken nose, definitely a fat lip - when Cathy burst in, asking us to come help her friend.
To Tend a Garden, Vol. 3
Over the past decade, I’ve written twice about my efforts to make and tend a garden. I say “efforts” because as everyone who keeps a garden knows it is an effortful endeavor and at least for me, about a 70/30 proposition of success to failure. Still I decided to try and become a gardener one fall almost 11 years ago, as a way to honor my Mom and truthfully, as an expression of my very fresh grief. What started as a solitary and frustrating practice has turned into something far more communal than I could have imagined.
Sacred Moon Cycles
Years ago, growing from my experiences as a student of Prana Vinyasa Yoga, I adopted the practice of living aligned with the rhythms of nature. Everything has cycles: the days, the months, the seasons, even our lives. When I intentionally flow in harmony, rather than pushing against these seasons, I feel a grounded sense of calm, connection, order, and ease that permeates all aspects of my life.
An Atmosphere of Growth
I appreciate the paradox that the things that make us the happiest, do not necessarily make us feel happy in the moment. I talk about how I like being someone who HAS travelled. For me, planning and executing a trip are stressful. I try to reframe it as exciting, but it does not feel exciting, it feels panic-inducing at times. I am writing this devotional from Heathrow Airport.
Sowing Seeds
I finally finished the flagstone patio last summer. A little too late to plant much, but I got a few things in the ground. In the fall, I transplanted the casualties that had barely survived the three tons of gravel and rock that were dumped in my yard throughout the building process.
Now comes the time to enjoy the work, and also to be surprised every day by the happy accidents that nature continues to bring to me.
Little Sprouts
It’s not difficult to find bad news. But if we refocus our gaze, it’s easy to feel hopeful. Not in an early Covid-lockdown, it’s pretty outside so I’ll go for a walk. And it turns out, I really don’t want to ever see anyone and maybe I’ll buy some land and delete all my streaming apps kind of hope. But real, sustainable, healthy hope.
Easter People
I’m not sure that I’m an Easter person as much as a Good Friday one. Cellos and minor keys tend to suit me more than trumpets and upbeat tunes. Sure, I like longer days and to see everything greening up, more hours to work outside and have driveway chats with neighbors. I like throwing open the windows to flush the house with fresh air. But I don’t mind the cold bite in the May breeze that means I need to have a jacket within reach.
Words
Let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
Ephesians 4:29
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about the power of words. I’m not talking about the obvious words that are so clearly racist, homophobic, hateful, or othering that they are easy to spot and avoid. No, I’m talking about the more subtle words that nevertheless shape our reality every single day, . . .
A Group of Women
The story of Easter has always fascinated me. Most people are in awe of the resurrection, and the mysticism surrounding this terrifying and wonderful event. But for me, I’ve always been fascinated by the fact that the deliverers of the origin story of Christianity were women. Yes! People who, at the time, held little to no power and were often left voiceless and powerless.
Holy Week and Hope
It’s not getting any easier. Life is hard enough without manufactured chaos. It’s difficult enough to be optimistic and calm without being inundated with divisive, hateful, self-serving information from so many directions at once.
Radical Acceptance
John Green has a new book called Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. In his New York Times interview he says, “People should be allowed to be funny. Life is everything: Life is tragic and it’s hilarious and it’s a farce and it’s a drama. It’s everything.”
In the Harry Potter books, Sirius says to Harry, “The world isn’t split into good people and Death Eaters. We’ve all got both light and dark inside of us.”
A Different Thread
I’ve been blessed – and cursed – with a wonderful imagination. Through my imagination, I’ve been able to have a career in a variety of creative roles, imagining everything from cute illustrations that a commercial audience would love to whole new businesses, a home remodel and even the creation of animated TV shows. But a funny thing about imaginations – while sometimes they serve you quite well, they can just as easily take off on their own to create beautiful and impossible flights of fancy – or create nightmares.
Stand Firm and Open your Mouth
My friend is visiting from England. I was her host sister in high school when she spent a year in the US, and she has been family ever since. In this time of darkness, it’s been interesting to hear what’s happening across the pond. With headlines in the US giving us daily whiplash with little coverage about elsewhere in the world, there is some positive news in Europe.
Keep It Light
It started when our first child was in college. Along with the normal things that make the transition a tricky one, she experienced a trauma that cast a shadow over the rest of her time there. Aside from the deeply personal work of confronting the grief and anger of the event, the aftermath carried a huge social impact, creating rifts in friendships and school cohorts. Quick calls and texts contained the reminder to “keep it light”.
Rejoice
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all people. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and pleading with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything is worthy of praise, think about these things…and the God of peace will be with you.
-from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians
I Am Not Okay
The song, “I Am Not Okay” by Jelly Roll, has been playing nonstop in my head since January 20th. One may even call it an anthem for the next four years.
I am not okay. I’ve had to turn off the news and silence social media. I’ve had to cut ties and close doors, both literally and figuratively. Group texts have been muted. Holiday gatherings are smaller. Meanwhile, the conversations among our chosen groups reverberate in a politically and socially homogenous echo chamber.
Today - Joy
So really? JOY?
I admit it. In these times in our nation I am extremely crabby, unhappy, angry and sad about it, it’s effects on too many people, and I feel helpless about it all. A friend recently told me she is dealing with real depression for those and other reasons. And for myself, selfish as it may seem, I am also crabby adjusting to some of the realities of aging. So all together, it may seem weird for me to think of this as a time for joy.
What to do?
A long time ago, we attended Hillside Christian Church. The church was between pastors, so Dr. Mike Graves gave the Easter sermon. As the preaching professor at St. Paul School of Theology, I was expecting something extraordinary, which is was, because I’m writing about it over a decade later.
My Family of Immigrants
I have gotten pretty deeply into researching my family history over the years. While it’s amazingly easy today to uncover facts about my ancestors, there is very little left of the story that threads those facts together into a tangible life story. There’s especially little left of the story of their immigration into the US.