To create is to connect with the Divine. It never fails to amaze me when I consider the endless variety of creation. The infinite shades of blue that make up the earth’s waters. The intricate, minuscule details that adorn a tiny insect’s body. The spectrum of emotions we humans feel and the bodily responses that … Continue reading To Create is Divine
It’s one of the first languages we learn. The language of climbing and chasing, swinging and sliding. Of cartwheeling past fireflies, somersaulting to joy, embracing the slow fade to twilight, the end of the day. Play is how children learn to live in this world and interact with one another. It’s the gateway into science … Continue reading Some Days You Gotta Play
I didn’t tend. I didn’t water, or fertilize, or weatherize. I did prune - once. And yet it blooms. I look at these roses before me, bigger than my hand, and wonder how such beauty can blossom from such human negligence. “I planted the seed,” Paul ruminated, “and Apollos watered, but it is God who … Continue reading Here is your reminder to breathe.
I haven’t been bored since 2005. Yet here I am, swinging in a hammock, waiting for the Covid brain fog to dissipate. Sure, there’s plenty of work to do, but I find I can’t concentrate for long. So, I take breaks. I lay in the sun. I listen to the birds. I count the leaves … Continue reading The Blessedness of Boredom
I've often heard it said that all of Jesus' friends abandoned him on that Good Friday, his time of greatest need. But it needs to be said that not all of his friends disappeared into the darkness of the moment. A few were there, at the foot of the cross. They were the women, the … Continue reading Love at the Foot of the Cross
I woke this morning before dawn and went outside into the chilly almost-spring air. As I watched the sky fade from black to that early morning blue, stars twinkling out one by one, all at once I was struck by the unusual quiet of the moment. Birds were chirping, my wind chime was singing a … Continue reading A Moment of Clarity in the Midst of Crisis
A Reflection on Luke 24 They said it was an “idle tale”. The women rushed into the house with wide eyes and fierce conviction, proclaiming that Jesus’ tomb was empty, that angels greeted them, that Jesus is risen. And the men brushed aside the women’s word like you’d brush away a delicate butterfly. An "idle … Continue reading Before Peter Spoke, Women Preached
I snap at my husband in a moment of frustration because the house is in utter chaos: the dog just peed on the carpet and when I let him outside he escaped through the gate that my husband left open, so I had to chase the dog in the cold rain barefoot. When I get … Continue reading More Than A Feeling
Home is where the heart is, so the saying goes. And that is true, though maybe not true enough. Because home is not just the place where your heart longs to be. Home is where your heart is whole - wholly loved, wholly known. I was having a particularly exhausting day, after an especially challenging … Continue reading Homecoming
Dear Readers, Today's post comes from my husband, Kevin Johnson. Kevin is not just the love of my life, he's also a wonderful father to our girls. One of the things I admire so much about his parenting is his intentionality. He seizes every moment available to teach, to love, to bond, to fight for … Continue reading The Fight For Fatherhood
Rev. Laura Johnson 