Kidding

Robin decided to bang on our neighbors' door today because she wanted to see their dog.  Fortunately, 13-year old John was home and he was up for taking Coco out on a leash.  While Robin repeated the pattern of going in for a quick pet and then retreating uncertainly, John and I had a few minutes to chat.  Kinda nice how kids can connect you to others you'd not otherwise be around.  It makes me think there's a bit of kid in the Spirit.

Rain's Coming

Weather.com helped, but as the day wore on I could feel for myself that rain is coming.  The morning's clear warmth slowly gave way to breezy darkness as clouds gathered over the plateau.  Tonight we will fall asleep to a quiet only punctuated by the stirring hum of our heater (its initial cold blast sending our heads under the covers).  Tomorrow, God willing, we will rise to the insistent, comforting drum of rain.

Swinging Hammock

The only thing better than slowly swinging on a hammock in the late afternoon surrounded by bare beech trees is doing so with my 15-month old daughter, who pads her way over on dry crackled leaves and raises her arms: "Up please!"

Pine Wind

A Lenten series on naming grace:


A gust of wind that rolls my weight to the balls of my feet -- cold but bearable -- as surrounding pine trees take up an orchestral whoosh.  The collective wind-hum brings back memories of family camping trips, early mornings eating oatmeal beside crackling campfire.

Destination: Mailbox

A Lenten series on naming grace:


Forty five degrees, clear, orange sun setting behind leafless trees:
we're off to the mailbox, walking
she and I in different directions.

Robin's found the gentle grassed slope back up to our house and I
turn and watch her
bell-shaped by a coat, bow-legged trudging away from me

This is parenting
and gratitude.

Come and See and Grace

A Lenten series on naming grace:


I'm co-coordinating Sewanee's Come and See weekend for prospective students and today was the event's kickoff.  It's a big and complex production: the type of coordination job that would have stressed me out big time in the past.  But in looking back at this day I realize that God has been working carefully and patiently on my control freakishness, and freeing from a lot of anxiety as a result!  All is working fine without me, thanks to some good planning but especially a good number of trustworthy, hardworking people.  Learning to trust others is a most welcome grace.

A Lenten Discipline: Naming Grace

This Lent I'll be trying to post something every day on where I see grace in my life and in the lives and world around me:

Ash Wednesday recalls Genesis 3:19, particularly "you are dust, and to dust you shall return."  Robin played in the dirt this morning, which inevitably involved putting some in her mouth, and her scrunched-up frown summed up that taste experience for her.  Humans long for ground, our birthplace and ultimate home, primally even as we try desperately to keep it at bay.  Death awaits: thankfully creating the space now for life in-breathed by God.