Most times, a crisis is a lot like a sprint. Adrenaline runs high, energy kicks in, and brain, heart, and body work together to accomplish what might seem impossible. The covid pandemic feels more like a marathon. For healthcare workers, adrenaline, energy, and physical and mental resources have long been exhausted. What's different (and perhaps …
Valuing life
I woke up in the wee hours of morning to a little girl in fuzzy gray footed pajamas clutching at my arm. "I'm scared," she said in a small voice. Bleary with sleep, I sighed and briefly contemplated sending her back to her crib. But before I could send her back, my heart took charge …
On Thanksgiving morning
I woke up early on Thanksgiving morning before my alarm went off. Anxiety twisted in the pit of my stomach as I lay in darkness, curled warm under a mound of heavy blankets. This Thanksgiving I would not be gathering at the family table to feast on roast turkey and tell stories and pass the …
Overcoming
A highlight of my week is Wednesday evenings, when about half a dozen of us ladies slip into a church basement and study the Bible together. We are an odd assortment, but we love each other. Sometimes we laugh over zany high school memories and other times we cry over present struggles. I'm the oldest …
Do not harden your heart
2020 is the year the world got sick and the wackos came out of the woodwork. Or so it seems.I have never seen such strong polarization among the world as I know it. People's emotions are on edge, the verbal sparring always threatening to overwhelm anyone wanting to engage in simple conversation. Feelings are hurt, …
I’m back
I'm sitting in our local coffee shop, sipping a creamy latte out of a blue ceramic cup and forking down the most delicious crepes. "Overwhelming" is a mild word to state what life has been for me this summer. Navigating a pandemic, finalizing an adoption, mothering five children, working part-time, starting a ranch, and facing …
Father, in the heavens
A few months ago I stumbled across a snippet of advice that became transformational in an unexpected way. When the deluge of information about COVID-19 first hit, including the instruction for frequent hand-washing, someone on Facebook suggested praying the Lord's Prayer while washing our hands. The idea stuck with me since I work as a …
Seeking the Stream
If you ask me how Covid-19 has affected me personally, I feel a gaping numbness inside. I may be a nurse and one of "those" essential workers, but the time-consuming job of covering up from head to toe like a masked robber and ramming a swab far into the nether regions of a patient's head …
The gentleness of wisdom
"I feel like seventy-five percent of my relationships are stressful right now," I admitted to Will as I watched his skilled fingers smooth wood filler into the nail holes of the cabinet he was making for me.While Will's hands shaped the cabinet-wood, he listened to me in his gentle and wise way. He didn't try …
Participating with God during the COVID-19 pandemic
The internet is an overwhelming place right now. Yesterday Will and I discussed it as I dropped sweet corn seeds into a newly-tilled patch of earth in our front yard. "It's like walking into a room where 30 people are all screaming at you," Will said. The current coronavirus pandemic has made many people nearly …
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