I don’t know what sparked my mischievous mind the first time, but there was only one answer when my grandmother asked if I’d put mud on the head of her garden saint. The damp potting soil fit the curvature of my chubby hand, and it sat delightfully atop the head of the stone saint, armsContinue reading “Garden Saints”
Category Archives: Devils Lake Journal
Playground Philosophy
Vacation Bible School is not for the faint of heart, and I am very thankful for the army of people who helped do two in my community last week. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time supervising the playground. It led me to contemplate the deep differences between poetic justice and karma, evenContinue reading “Playground Philosophy”
Jesus is Enough
Or, When Drowning Makes You Thirsty… For the woman at the well, carrying much more of a burden than her water jar. For the hypocritical Pharisees who didn’t really want answers to their questions. For Mary and Martha, drowning in grief. For Thomas, doubting the intangible, fearful of what the tangible might mean. For theContinue reading “Jesus is Enough”
Cure for Unbelief
A four year old who is dear to my heart visited this week, and when I announced that it was time to clean up all of our toys, she had as many excuses as Moses when He was called by God to return to Egypt. “I am so tired,” she tried. “My hands are tooContinue reading “Cure for Unbelief”
A Beautiful Thing
I once spoke at a women’s event where a man, who was helping prepare food, thought it enormously funny that I was both a lady speaker and a Southern Baptist. He joked that he would turn his chair around every time I opened my mouth, as famously happened at the Southern Baptist Convention when AnneContinue reading “A Beautiful Thing”
Sure
This is not going to be an article about homeschooling, or the passage of time, or how quickly children grow up, but my oldest child graduated from high school last weekend. The day was beautiful, and my take-away has been thankfulness that I can know what I’m sure of. Launching a child into this coldContinue reading “Sure”
Impoverished
There are many kinds of poverty. Several weeks ago, an eleven year old boy told me that when he was younger, there had been no food in the house. He had seen puppies nursing and had realized that they were receiving sustenance. He was so hungry that he had fed alongside those puppies from theContinue reading “Impoverished”
The Shining Wire
For a snare to work, an animal’s gut instinct must drive it to kill itself. Struggling against the snare is precisely what strangles it. Snares are ugly things. Anyone who has seen an animal in a snare doesn’t want to talk about it. The Psalmist recognized a snare’s connection to sin, as did the Prophets.Continue reading “The Shining Wire”
No Recipe Needed
I’ve made copious amounts of chocolate chip cookies during my lifetime. I’m not talking about hundreds, friends. It’s definitely in the thousands. I’ve made chocolate chip cookies so often that I no longer need the recipe. The way I see it, a chocolate chip cookie is appropriate to every possible social scenario. Neighborhood children needingContinue reading “No Recipe Needed”
Glorify God in Your Body
It’s a predictable pattern. A young teen does not feel safe in her home. Alcohol changes people she loves into monsters who cannot be trusted. This week, her little sister came to ask me to pray for her. “Sister cuts her legs and arms,” the little one said. Harm begets harm. When the Apostle PaulContinue reading “Glorify God in Your Body”
Sarah Dixon Young 