His Beautiful Broken Bride — An Allegory
“This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church.” (Eph. 5:32 — ESV) The Bride stood before the mirror. Seeing her brokenness in the reflection brought back a flood of memories — the events that took her right arm, severing it at the shoulder. Though physical pain lingered, […]
My Road to Ebenezer
Never did I imagine that West I-26 would become my Ebenezer; yet, Divine assistance is always only a whisper away, and God is more than able to decipher the guttural groaning of one of His children behind the wheel of her Nissan. I’d driven that same stretch of road the day before. Traveling eastbound, I […]
Both His Mothers’ Love
We met for the first time at a cookout in Greenville, SC. Our toddlers played together while we visited. How were we to know then that this meeting at the home of church friends would initiate a life-changing decision less than one year later? So, when you became pregnant and knew that the circumstances weren’t […]
White Oak — Where I Walk
“The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship.” William Blake I walk a parish called White Oak, which inconspicuously “becomes” after a simple bend off Fines Creek. We have a community center; a church with a bell that rings “Welcome!” three times a week; a cemetery where people remember; and years ago, there was […]
Mary and the Lamb
“Near the cross [where The Lamb hung] stood his mother…” (John 19:25) (The following story, though allegorical in nature, is true — as recounted by my dear mother, Mary. It is fitting for her to have witnessed this, as she is, to me, a person who so beautifully reflects the very nature of Jesus’ mother.) […]
The Gift of Waiting
I’d been waiting — holding on for a quarter of a century. Only recently have I let go. In the early 1990s, I collected everything I could Noah’s Ark-themed. This was a time in my life when I yet believed my broken body would one day — someday — bring forth children. For a variety […]
Walk On
On our recent trip to D.C., Bill bought me a new pair of shoes. Black ones — simple, beautiful. In them, I walked. I walked the spacious grounds of Mount Vernon — strolling in my shoes where George and Martha Washington once walked in theirs. George’s were likely war-weary with dirt, Martha’s dancing in anticipation […]
Glow Brightly
Last night we sat outside, enjoying extended conversation after dinner — Jacob, Bill and me. It was the Golden Hour, and I noticed something. There weren’t any fireflies. Typically they illumine the hillside — a synchronized light show over our pasture and in the trees — but last night, nothing. And then, finally, one firefly […]
Our 28th Anniversary
We were friends before there were cell phones or internet or any form of social media. We wrote love notes and talked on phones attached to the wall with long (and sometimes not-so-long) cords. We socialized at the skating rink and the town basketball court and the drive-in movie theater. And sometimes the media even […]
Mockery Made Melody
Nineteen years ago today I returned home from the hospital without my daughter. Her empty car seat seemed to mock me from Columbia to Greenville, SC — and had I listened to the voice of the enemy for the duration of that trip, I’d have returned home bitter. Instead, I crossed that threshold broken. And […]