Christian living – Page 3 – Sarah Dixon Young

Cleansed or Consumed?

Many men work hard for spiritual cleansing. Some stoke the fire. Some bring large stones to place in the fire. Once the stones are hot, still other men remove them from the fire and pour water over them to create a great storehouse of steam. They bathe in the steam they have created, hoping theirContinue reading “Cleansed or Consumed?”

Seed Potential

A seed almost gets lost in the palm of my hand. It is so small, but its potential and purpose are great. If the seed never germinates, it will never fulfil the purpose for which it was created. It will always stay the small, seemingly insignifcant piece of organic matter. However, if the seed isContinue reading “Seed Potential”

When Empty Gets Full

The time I encountered a bear while hiking, empty space mattered. I froze, calculating the distance between the bear and me, the space I judged I could throw a peanut butter cracker, and the speed at which bears can cross empty space. When the good samaritans who rescued me drove me further down the mountainContinue reading “When Empty Gets Full”

Steamed Clean

Last week, a young man in a black hoodie steam cleaned all the chairs at church. I’m embarrassed to tell you how filthy the chairs were. Five years of spaghetti dinners and Vacation Bible Schools accumulated in real time. The cleaner’s hoodie reads, “Left it in the Waters.” His sister gave it to him whenContinue reading “Steamed Clean”

Sour, Like Milk

The kids and I celebrated the end of our school year with a trip to the local dairy. The folks there transform delicious, creamy milk into many flavors of gelato and cheese. Milk, when it is good, is very good, and when it is bad, it is, well, sour. When milk goes sour at ourContinue reading “Sour, Like Milk”

It’s the Little Things

Overcoming Evil One Note at a Time

A friend came to tune our piano. It was a lengthy process, as our piano has not been tuned for the entire time we’ve owned it. Each key had to be tuned to the tone it was designed to play, in addition to being tuned to its fellow keys. The tuner worked meticulously with aContinue reading “Overcoming Evil One Note at a Time”

Kindness Came Looking

Prodigals break our hearts. One day, they grin toothlessly at the camera as they hold up the cake celebrating their 10th birthday, and it seems like the next when they peer at you confusedly with blue lips and skin as their body tries to process the poison of fentanyl. When you care about the prodigal,Continue reading “Kindness Came Looking”

Your Gentleness has made me Great

The snow has melted enough this week to be able to see the seesaw in our neighborhood playground. Soon, children will be back at play, laughing as they go up, crying when they pinch their heels or hit their chins on the way down. Yet, they all persist in loving the seesaw. It’s funny toContinue reading “Your Gentleness has made me Great”

All my Strength

“You just need to be strong.” In a Bible study with incarcerated women, I often heard this exhortation from one to another. It was a vague admonishment to resist emotion and put up a block wall to seal out the tragic, terrible things they had seen. It didn’t work. Each day’s physical strength drops likeContinue reading “All my Strength”