This piece was written for the July issue of the Lee Creek Baptist Church newsletter, Grace & Peace. With each year that I spend in the garden, I am more willing to prune fat, full, leafy plants. It’s one thing to pinch off dead and yellowed leaves when the seedlings are young in spring. It’s … Continue reading Freedom That Bears Fruit
This piece was written for the May issue of the Lee Creek Baptist Church newsletter, Grace & Peace. A few years ago, I heard the story of a woman who went into the hospital, only for no one from her church to come visit her. No one checked in. No one sent a card. Instead … Continue reading The Card Lady
The other day, I visited with a friend on the phone for an hour while I folded laundry and she fed lunch to her kiddos. There was a lot of background noise. There were pauses to shush a child or to keep them from pulling a chair down on themselves. As I folded napkins and … Continue reading Pick Up the Broom
This piece was written for the April issue of the Lee Creek Baptist Church newsletter. Across from the church where I grew up, there was a cemetery on the corner. I remember passing it one Easter Sunday on our way to service--on one of those sharp, spring mornings when the light is strong. The tombstones … Continue reading My Flesh Will Dwell in Hope
This piece was written for the Lee Creek Baptist Church newsletter, Grace & Peace. On the week that my grandma was passing away last summer, there were members from my family’s church who stocked their fridge with meals---crockpot soups and breakfast casseroles. My sweet grandma had come home on hospice, and we knew it would … Continue reading Hands & Feet Hospitality
This piece was written for the February issue of our church newsletter, Grace & Peace. Each year, I get a little better at remembering to plant bulbs. I wait until the garden has fallen asleep and the late chrysanthemums have stopped blooming, those first few frosts biting at their heads and turning them gray. One … Continue reading Bear Fruit With Patience
One December, a few weeks before Christmas, I went down to the square of my hometown to pass out flyers for a Christmas event at my church. I grew up several miles outside of town, so I didn’t frequent the block very often, except for the parade on Memorial Day every year. All the shops … Continue reading O Little Town
This piece was written for the December issue of our church's newsletter, Grace & Peace. One day a few years ago, I found myself sitting on the first floor of a doctor’s building, talking to a lady named Darlene. It was a few weeks before Christmas, and rain was blowing against the big windows, wet … Continue reading In the Waiting Room
Dear Maggie,* Once when I was a teenager, I went to a big concert by a Christian band-–the kind of concert where you feel the drums beat under your ribcage. The event was themed around one of the band’s new songs, which dealt with the worth of a young woman who doesn’t see herself as … Continue reading On Goldenrod & Body Image
This sample devotion is from my new series, Wisdom for Writers: Devotions from the Book of James. Key Scripture: “James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:Greetings.”James 1:1 How would you start a letter to someone you barely knew? What’s the first thing you’d say about … Continue reading How To Start a Letter
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