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Advent Altar1 (1 of 1)

Preparing your Heart and Home for Christmas {An Advent Devotional}

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It really is the most wonderful time of the year! After a national chorus of gratitude, we slip into the magical days of Christmas. When the music we play is delightful. And the spirits of people are more cheerful. When our thoughts are turning toward others. And hope seems a little closer to reach. The world may think it’s mere tradition that infuses these days with joy. But we know better. No matter how hard it is to find baby Jesus in the stores we frequent. No matter how much the American consumer culture tries to dominate. When God’s people […]

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How to Harvest Love

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To harvest is to gather. To recognize what is ripe and to collect and enjoy the fruits of a season. And then we feast. We let the sweet and savory crops satisfy us. And we give thanks for what’s been given. Oh that we would be a people who do this with love! That we would recognize this fruit of the Spirit that has grown and ripened in the season we’re living right now. That we would collect our experiences and memories of the love given and received. Of the seeds planted with grace, and the witness of love growing […]

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Sanded Through

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I’m recreating a piece of furniture I purchased on Craigslist for $20. It’s a classic colonial dark pine buffet and hutch, something similar to what my mother had in our dining room in the 1980s. As I sand by hand every inch and crevice, exposing new surface and leaving some old, I consider how even our furniture can reflect a little bit of who we are. We are a people continually being made new. By the very hands of our Creator who makes us more like him. By the experiences that round out our edges. By the people who enhance […]

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Heart Exposed

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I have had to overcome a grumbling heart during our kitchen remodel. I simply do not do well in situations where my house is a disaster, my routine isn’t possible and my normal tasks of feeding and washing are made difficult. These days have taken me back to Uganda when the power would go out. Or water was scarce and I was forced into a place of discomfort and inconvenience. Mark and I would react very different to these times. Mark would do what was needed to push through the moment. He would except the challenge and put in the […]

Spirit-filled beauty: Creative Spaces

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When we color and design our world and spaces, we are reflecting a core characteristic of who God is and what he does. It’s the first revelation we know of him. He’s a creator. He created the material world we live in. He formed his people in flesh. And from this creation story, we witness a God who cares about the physical nature. Who makes all things beautiful. Not the shallow kind of beauty that exists to disguise a broken reality. Not the false kind of beauty sought after by those seeking perfection. The beauty God brings to his creation […]

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my favorite things this spring

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Enough with the dying and resurrection already!! This girl is moving on to the superficial…truth be told, I lug my deep thoughts around with me nearly everywhere I go. They’re part of my heart. And the cross? It comes too. Because Uganda changed the way I see it. And now this new interpretation of the cross changes the way I see everything else. But…today I’m noticing some things around my house I really like right now. Nobody asked. But I thought I’d share anyway. ‘Cause I would want to know what your favorite things are. Like your favorite recipe right […]

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When Life Happens Sooner Than We Expect

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Celebrate! Like butterflies bursting through their cocoons, our feet emerge from boots to feel the earth beneath our toes. And green stems push through the soil. Trees are budding, birds are chirping, flowers blooming. It’s Spring…in March! For those of us who live in cold weather states, this is an unexpected gift. Grace, really.  Something to shout about. Do we feel a little cheated on winter? Maybe, but we’re already over it. There’s always next year for snow covered grounds, children on sleds, and hot cocoa in our hands. We gladly receive all this life at a time when we […]

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Our Maine Environment

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After weeks of sickness and pushing through the darkness to find the light, we finally receive our reward.  Two friends who share a birthday. Just two days apart…and ten years. We dropped off 7 children to spend the weekend with Aunts and Grandparents. Met at the airport with handsome husbands in the lead and only one darling baby to keep us from forgetting who we really are – parents. We depart for Maine, and the lovely Kismet Inn. From the dead, bleak, cold of winter we enter into Shadi’s home. A home of life, color and warmth (which had very […]