In Gennesaret

I’ve written before about my jigsaw puzzle addiction. I spent all of Christmas break and a bit more than a month after doing the same puzzle over and over. It’s a ballerina in an attitude (that’s a bent-leg arabesque, not a bad mood). The thing about this puzzle is that once you’ve got the ballerina in place, the background is all the same color. And there’s a lot of it. So, I spent a lot of time looking closely at the shapes – some of which were very different and unique, which always adds pleasure to the puzzle. But a week ago, I decided it was time to move on and pulled out a different puzzle. This one is a huge maze on a solid background that flows from one shade of green through all the rainbow colors to another shade of green on the other end. Another one from my childhood. Another one I enjoy. But I made the most interesting discovery! Remember those oddly-shaped pieces in my ballerina puzzle? I found those same shapes here. Exactly the same shapes. And they seem to belong...

As I relax on my living room loveseat in the evenings, the background behind the book in my lap and my feet propped up on the arm of the sofa is sometimes a bit distracting. It’s lovely. At least, it’s lovely to me. There’s a big metal clock on the wall – just the circle outlines with Roman numerals in their places. It’s simple, but beautiful. In front of it is a scraggly little artificial tree that I’ve had for years and that is much the worse for wear, but it still adds a touch of "nature" to the spot. In this corner sits my family piano – a simple old instrument that could use a tuning. On the back of this, I have an ivory piece of faux pottery with a bunch of flowers in it. Fake flowers. With fake greenery. (My black thumb keeps me from attempting any live vegetation in the house.) But the colors are rich, and I love them. There are simple picture frames on each side of the flowerpot – a senior photo of each daughter and a black and white picture of my family when I w...

“Behold, I am making all things new!” So says our Lord in the book of Revelation. I originally concluded that last sentence with the phrase “at the end of time”. But the truth is, that moment will not by any means be the end of time. But all things will be new. That’s the promise. Everything we broke at the beginning will be restored. I was on the launch team for a book coming out this month by one of my favorite authors, Jordan Raynor. ( The Sacredness of Secular Work – it’s fantastic, people. Highly recommended by yours truly.) He talks a lot about what he calls the Abridged Gospel: that the church has taken the entire Good News story and narrowed it down to simply Jesus saving us from hell. And Lord knows, that is good news, friends. News that needs to be celebrated and spread! But we have often treated that as the end of the story . . . and it’s so not. Many people confess that they can’t get excited about heaven because it sounds boring. Sitting in a worship service s...

I made a rare trip to Costco yesterday. And it led to all sorts of self-examination. It was a rare trip because now that it’s just me in my little house, I don’t have much need to buy in bulk. I mean, I could , just to be thrifty. And thrifty I definitely am – as the progeny of parents who were children during the Depression, I think I come by it naturally. But I mainly keep the membership now because of my love affair with two Kirkland brand items: the granola bar and the chocolate chip. Is that weird? Store brand is supposed to be low quality, yes? And that's probably the case with the granola bars. I think my affinity for them is just a matter of familiarity; they’re what my taste buds are used to now. But the chocolate chips?? I mean, y’all . . . I don’t know what it is about that four-pound bag of goodness. I wonder sometimes if there are drugs in them. They are so stinkin’ delicious . They’re labeled semi-sweet, but they taste like darker chocolate, my favorite. They’...