One of the videos I show to moms preparing for their babies is “Eye Contact Means Love.” Though an infant cannot understand or form speech, eyes speak a language without words. Mom walks into the room, baby swivels her head and focuses on her mother’s face and specifically seeks her eyes. Connecting through eye-contact bonds …
As I sit on the porch before my day takes off, a Carolina wren flits from the potted avocado tree to the rim of the bird bath. Her tail, always cocked at a perky angle, strikes my funny bone. She hops this way and that until she’s comfortable with her surroundings before dipping into the …
Searching for a lost list, I unexpectedly landed in a completely different world. I found my writings after Mother died of cancer in 2010. Their raw emotion, untidied by literary rules, transported me to bloody battles with me as the enemy on both sides. Mothers’ Day falls this coming weekend. That journal resurfacing now seems …
Do you have a nickname? Some nicknames follow given names, like Suzy from Suzanne, but I’m talking about pet names given by people who love us. My mother bestowed two nicknames on me. One is too embarrassing to share, the other doesn’t make me blush, but I keep it close also. This second nickname made …
I shuffle papers until motion out the windows draws my attention. Our new dog, Diggity, races alone around the yard like a rodeo dog. He scoops up a toy mid-gallop and tosses it in the air, then circles around at top speed to nab it again and carry it to an imaginary finish line, …
Ash Wednesday came and went yesterday. Some may wonder why I haven’t written anything about Lent this year. I feel like I’ve been in a season of Lent since this time last year. Racial tensions, politics and even the mask issue revealed many opportunities for recognizing and repenting of sin. The pandemic also mandated giving up …
“What is wrong with you today?” My young son yanked toys from his siblings, argued about games and groused all day. After hours of struggling to control the situations, I pulled him aside and sat at eye to eye with him. “You have not been very nice to your brothers. What is going on?” Instead …
“Are you ready for the holidays?” My doctor asked by way of greeting. “Mostly, I guess.” He quickly followed up, almost cutting me off. “All the activity for one day, and then it’s over. After just one day, it’s all over.” I kick myself for not speaking what popped in my head, It’s not over …
The long awaited Friday arrived for my first backpacking trip. The responsibility for our parents had passed into God’s hands. My gimp foot was repaired, and I built endurance by walking more each week. I borrowed or bought equipment, and Mike squinted over maps, adding miles and noting water sources. He reserved shelters. We …
I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus…. Let us keep living by that same standard to …
What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—what we have …
You’ll never believe what lay on my doorstep this morning. I might have stepped on her if not for the contrasting yellows and greens that she wore. It was Tina Turtle. Tina Turtle visits once or twice a year. She bushwhacks through the grass and bushes with lumbering steps. Last year she stretched her neck …