Last Musing Until August The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. —Psalm 23:1-3 NLT It was a hard season for our family, that time when my husband and I thought it was a great idea for him to go for a PhD and then write a dissertation while simultaneously teaching at the United States Military Academy. It’s only by God’s grace that we made it through with our family and marriage still intact. Ray had no rest. Only grinding, endless work that never stopped, never let up, and was never enough. I was […] Read more »

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. —2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV (emphasis mine) The sun streamed down and warmed us as my friend and I toured a new Veteran’s Memorial Cemetery. Most of it was still in the preliminary stages of construction with the promise of things to come. It is an absolutely beautiful spot, just off an old, back country road, situated on rolling knolls in the middle of an evergreen-dotted forest along the rustic Mousam River. Just driving along the winding entrance road and over the stone bridge that crosses the forest-shaded, boulder-studded watershed, visitors are flooded with a sense of relaxed calm and renewal. As we walked […] Read more »

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers. —Psalm 1:1-3 NIV It was another late spring in New England. School was winding down and the kids were antsy. All five of them tumbled into the car and buckled in for the 40-minute carpool ride. “Let’s play blossom tree,” I chimed, using my best sing-song voice. I used this survival […] Read more »

And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. —Deuteronomy 6:6-9 NLT As I write this, two cake layers are cooling on my counter filling the kitchen with the aroma of flour and rich butter and yummy goodness. They’re waiting for a thick spreading of raspberry jam to seal them together and a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar on top […] Read more »