The state department of transportation in my area utilizes electronic message boards to convey what it considers to be useful information or helpful reminders. Sometimes it is indeed useful – missing person alerts, detours and delays, traffic issues, and weather alerts – and sometimes the messages fall into the realm of punny safety tips. Recently…
Author: Hannah
The Barrenness of a Busy Life
“Beware the barrenness of a busy life” – Socrates. This quote came through my email recently, courtesy of a CPA firm management consultant whose blog I’ve been following for a few years. The timing struck me as perhaps a bit ironic – or possibly God’s timing as I’m currently the busiest I have been for…
Expectations
“I decided to walk out to the edge of the sea and head north to look for seals, knowing that if I did that, and whether I saw seals or not, all kinds of other things would cross my path. I knew that, because they always do. “ – Jim Crumley, The Nature of Autumn,…
Psalm 107
As I read through the Bible, particularly the Psalms, familiar chapters and passages feel almost like friends. There’s always something new that I hadn’t seen before, no matter how many times I’ve read it. Every time I read Psalm 107 though, I’m struck by the beautiful picture of the Lord’s goodness, providence, and faithfulness. What…
Progress
“Slow progress is still progress.” “Your direction is more important than your speed.” “Slow progress is better than no progress.” These are just a few of the quotes I’ve heard most recently that relate to keeping perspective when it comes to growth. I’m not going to rain on that parade; I’m just going to add…
Bleak and Barren
January might possibly be the bleakest month of all the year. It certainly is often a let-down after the chaos and busyness of December. As I referenced in an earlier post, “Secular Christmas, with its enthusiastic sparkles, dumps us into the cold gray of January. Christian joy is much weightier, more durable”.* It’s not just…
Recent Reads, Volume XX
A brief summary of what I’m currently reading or have recently finished, why I read it, and whether I’d recommend it. Although really, it’d have to be truly terrible for me to bother writing about a book I wouldn’t recommend…… The Hiding Place (Corrie ten Boom) – The Hiding Place is the classic story of…
Brought Near
“Bow down and worship, righteous seer: / The Lord our God is here / Approachable, Who bids us all draw near.” – Christina Rossetti, Epiphany* It “just so happened” that I was reading Ezekiel, Hebrews, and portions of Leviticus and Deuteronomy at the same time shortly before the end of the year. That convergence of…
Sorest Need
“To comprehend a nectar / Requires sorest need”. Thus ends the first stanza of Emily Dickinson’s “first” poem, in quotes because it’s simply the one most often printed first in anthologies.* I recently came across such an anthology as I sorted through a box of books waiting for my attention after our move, and promptly…
Four Things I’ve Been Loving Lately
This book: The Weary World Rejoices, edited by Melissa Kruger and published by The Gospel Coalition. Yes, it’s for Advent, and I do realize that season is over until next winter, but I’m going to talk about it now because it’s never too early to start planning ahead. It brought a depth of meaning to…