Bible at Home

Slowly paddling a canoe through a bed of water lilies is a sweet experience. Seeing the morning or late afternoon sun on the blossoms and flat leaves works in the imagination toward a quiet , precious beauty. You know that for centuries, probably millennia, such a beauty has touched the minds of countless others, and…

Catherine had been an army nurse during World War II when I met her late in her life. She had been present in Paris immediately following the liberation. She told of wearing her uniform in the city, and people stopping her to give her flowers or food gifts , thanking her and hugging her .…

On Monday all the stress and tension of weeks and weeks of dry heat was relieved in a night and a day of rain that brought almost eight inches of water to our rein gauge in a steady downpour. The temperature plummeted. It was as if the growing things sighed a sigh of release and…

“Shema”, meaning “hear”, is the Hebrew word used by the Jewish faith to designate one of the most famous passages of scripture: “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God , the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deuteronomy 6:2-5)…

In one episode of theSherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett, the great detective managed to find and rescue the kidnapped young son of a wealthy nobleman. The nobleman had been overbearing and almost rude to Holmes until Holmes had said to him, “Your Lordship, I’m not unaware of your need for privacy in this ,…

Unfettered Blessing One day this week as Jack and I drove home from a shopping trip, we saw in the sky a strong rainbow that seemed to reach the earth, and a fainter second one next to it. We hadn’t had any much needed rain, and it didn’t start to rain, but the bow was…

“The word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.” (Deuteronomy 30:14) These are the words of Moses as he prpares the Hebrew people to enter an entirely new life in the Promised Land. He continues to outline the blessings that await their obedience, and…

Marriage When I was about four or five years old I believed that my mother was the most beautiful woman in the world It was easy to believe, as our father told us four girls and one boy, that this was the case. Whenever Dad heard us stalking about someone being “pretty”, we heard, “Your…

One of the most difficult trials to face I life is the opposition and disapproval of good people, especially those we esteem and even love. “It is not an enemy who taunts me—then I could bear it; it is not an adversary. . . but it is you, my companion, my familiar friend. We used…

Sleeping between freshly washed and ironed sheets is a pleasure, and so on Fridays I wash and iron them and call it “laundry day”, even though it’s usually only the sheets that I wash on that day. Since I was a child, Fridays have always been “laundry day,” and when I asked my mother “Why?”…