I've come across this verse before, but it never ceases to amaze me: "Heal me, Lord, for I have sinned against you." Psalm 41:4. It's as if I punched a doctor in the face and broke her nose and then turned to her and said, "I'm very sorry about your nose. Also, I seem to have ...

I have always thought of myself as "weak" when it came to prayer. I love words so much that reading the Bible and thinking about it comes pretty naturally, but praying has always left me impatient. I guess I just don't usually believe that it actually makes a difference. It ...

I've always been a fan of mysteries. As a kid, I raced through Agatha Christie and Tony Hillerman and Sue Grafton. We even did those jigsaw puzzles where you could solve the mystery by the image the assembled puzzle created. Later in life, I became intrigued by mysteries that ...

I was reminded, in reading Martin Lloyd Williams' new book, Beauty and Brokenness, of the distinction between pity and compassion. Williams completes his book with a meditation upon compassion. It's a buzzword of sorts these days, a word that can make me roll my eyes, even. ...

I have been reading the Gospel of Luke in recent days, and I came across the angel Gabriel's pronouncement to Mary: "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

I tried to imagine myself in her position, and I envisioned a big grin on my face, feeling as if ...

It was one of those days that I could have missed. So easily, I could have missed the first time William put something in a bucket (to this point he's only taken things out). I could have missed Penny's applause, "Good job, William!" I could have missed him running into the ...

Wrinkles. Sun spots. White hair. A stout waist. Flabby arms, arms my sister and I took delight in jiggling. Hers was a body I loved. When I was a child, even into adolescence, even into those years of beginning to worry about my own size and shape, even then, a part of me longed ...

As the name of this blog suggests, I'm interested in "Thin Places." I'm interested in the physical spaces that feel holy, be that a mountaintop, or a cathedral, or an ancient monument. I'm even more interested in the relationships and times in life when we find ourselves in ...

I have been reading through Matthew's Gospel these past few weeks, and I came again to the Beatitudes, those puzzling and poetic words of Jesus that have been quoted through the ages. "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," caught my attention. I don't hunger ...

Love is difficult. Much as I long to love others and be loved in return, now that I have children, I very much understand that love is messy and challenging and there are days when I think I can't do it anymore.

I'm not talking about Hallmark card love, about hearts or kisses ...

I once heard a sermon about becoming friends with God. The point of the sermon was to encourage everyone in attendance to spend some daily time with God, be that in prayer or reading the Bible or something else. And although I was in college at the time, I distinctly remember ...

November 2008

Babies Perfect and Imperfect

http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6367

December 31, 2008

The Good Life

http://www.firstthings.com/onthesquare/?p=1267

Although these posts are scheduled to appear while I'm away, it seems fitting that this final one in the series "God With Us" would appear on New Year's Day. May we all know new life with God in the year ahead... Happy 2010! I've been a Christian for a long time now. And ...