Small Stories of a Big God
Temporarily A Monster
Confession: I was going to just put a big Temporarily Out of Business sign on this blog. I am in the final steps of completing a book I have been working on forever, and my focus has shifted. The book calls me constantly– when I’m cooking, driving, working, even...
The Real Valentine (it’s not at CVS)
Like most Hallmark holidays, Valentine’s Day, a day that supposedly promotes love, has a high probability of doing the opposite. Ok maybe not promoting “hate” – how about just plain old anxiety/depression? I’ve noticed a trend in health care over the last few years....
How to Break Up a Monster Party
Sometimes I wish I could forget. Memories that haunt like ghoulish apparitions, or some so painful they still take my breath away – are all unwanted guests. Sometimes they hide in closets, other times they party all night, but they remain. God has mercifully removed a...
Old Nurses Never Die; They Just Have Surgery
Robin. I had penned the letters over silk tape and stuck it to a locker 7 years ago. I caught the corner and pulled it off, closed the empty locker door and headed out, taking one last look at the small break room. The room is tucked away, off a hallway used by...
A Time to Every Purpose
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. 1Timothy 6:6-7(ESV) The huge disco ball slowly spun, raining colors across the walls while a song thumped out a 70’s disco beat. My...
Good Courage
“Treasure” the neatly penned label read. I scanned the pile of boxes stacked against my desk. Something made me label this one box, besides the occasional urge to organize my life. When I sit at my desk, I can reach all the things I love; pictures of husband, kids,...
The Day God Came Into My Kitchen
I plugged in the iron and flipped the small cabinet open in the kitchen, releasing the ironing board. It was one of my favorite things about that house in Yarmouth. It was the first house I ever owned, bought with a small down-payment of borrowed dollars from hopeful...
Confessions of a Dead Rebel (and a Happy Sheep)
"Our Father who art in heaven, Harold be thy name…" No, not Harold. It took my sister several years to realize God was not named Harold. Harold was our uncle. And why was the guy in the robe named Father? I thought our Father was Dad… My first memory of church was a...
The Cross in the Way
I’ve been thinking about dying a lot lately. Not my physical death, which I have little control over, but the spiritual one. We love words like Resurrection and Regeneration but Jesus talks about the death part a lot and we just kind of nod and change the subject....
A Father’s Perfect Love
Pawwwwwt Chestah!! I can still hear the conductor holler over the clack and rattle of the train and the steady kachuk kachuk kachuk of the wheels on the rails. Port Chester, Rye, Harrison. Back then, in the 60’s, it wasn’t an odd thing for a little girl to ride the...
Skipping Back to Jesus (Lessons From an ADHD Nurse)
“The school wants you to skip a grade,” my mother said, like you would say, The dentist wants to drill your teeth. I checked her expression, my 7-year-old face turning slightly towards her voice. She was downcast. Tired. It had been a year of multiple trips to the...
Vermont Odyssey
I slapped the new magnet to my fridge. It wasn’t easy finding a Vermont magnet with cows on it. My husband and I just returned from our anniversary trip up north, choosing Vermont this time. It's well-known to C.B. but it's been a good 40 years since I tripped and...
Don’t Be Cliche`
Dear friends, Not only am I proud to be Spencer's mom, but Miles and Jake's mom too. I have been bugging my son Miles for a blog for four years. Finally, he sent a copy of a baccalaureate graduation speech he gave for his high school students. The last third of this...
Surrender
Dear friends, Please forgive my blogging vacation. I am finally writing a book and making reasonable progress, so I have approached a few of my favorite writer friends to be my guests. This one is from my favorite writer/friend and my precious big brother, Bob. He...
Small Gifts
I heard the bells ringing as I crossed the parking lot,and there, in front of the Salvation Army stand, was a middle-aged man in jeans and sneakers, wearing a Santa cap with white cotton balls across his brow, chin and upper lip. His face was obscured, so I’m not sure...
The Jesus Tree: A Backyard Metaphor
This blog turns four years old this month and I wonder: Have I run out of meaningful things to say? Am I repeating myself? I told a friend I had writer’s block the other day, and she said I should write about having writer’s block. And I replied: “I already have.” (A...
A Mother’s Day KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)
A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment. —Anna Jarvis Anna Jarvis. You probably...
Waiting with the Robins
March did not start with a roar this year; it came in more like a wet dog than a lion. I was born in March, so I’ve always been a defender of the month that most New Englanders despise. It is, after all, a gloomy, raw, merciless month. Wind, rain, sometimes snow and...
Turkeys That Fly and Other Miracles
Turkeys don’t fly. Or so we thought. My husband and I were taking a walk to town when we passed a young man on a bike. “I might be crazy but I think I just saw some turkeys taking off from a roof over there!” He was breathless, and looked back over his shoulder at us...
Where Does It Hurt?
“Where does it hurt?” My hip, I told the doctor, placing my hand on my right leg. She paused, then said, “Let me look in your mouth.” I smiled at the paper towel taped over my doctor’s nose and mouth and the roll of tape tied to the top of her head. Health care really...
The Chalkboard
I can’t remember now where I bought the board – a simple chalkboard that you would use in a restaurant to write Today’s Specials on. Just a blackboard with a plain wood frame. But I do remember the first scripture I wrote on it: The joy of the Lord is your...
Waiting on Empty
Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receive the early and latter rain. James 5:7 ESV The dog was a disaster. My husband told me to wait, but I...
The Next Step
Sunday morning. I swung the back door open, the door Rosie always used, but this time she circled the car three times, stopping at the door for a few seconds then looking up at me, and walking away. I knew what it meant. But the last time she circled she took a small...
The Story of Stella
The cat died. I keep looking for her as I step outside or pull into the driveway at night and then I have to remind myself: she’s gone. I saw it coming six months ago when she stopped grooming herself and her plush soft fur turned into matted dreads with leaves and...
Trials and Treasure
I told my husband I would not complain anymore. I didn’t mean forever. I might’ve meant that day or evening. No, I think I said too much about it – about gratitude and rejoicing and how I needed to regain some things. Darn. Now I’m stuck. Ooops, I just complained. Now...