Tag: love
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“Who Are You?”
We had a few friends over for tapas last weekend. All of them knew some of the others, but nobody knew all, which always makes it interesting. Even though they came from different backgrounds and walks of life they were all eager to get to know each other, as I knew they would be. I…
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25 Years and I Still Do
25 years ago, I married my best friend. I am 45 years old and I have spent 29 of them with this amazing man. All our kids are now older than I was when I met Thomas. Come on! Just saying it out loud sounds so weird and at the same time, so wonderfully right.…
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How Do I Know that God is Real?
I have a dear friend who recently found her way back to the Father. Now she was confused and angry. “I don’t know what to do about this whole faith issue. Whenever I hear people in church talk about how they encounter God, I think to myself, “That is not my experience! I’ve never met…
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In the Aftermath of Hatred
Suddenly, there was a chilling gust from the past. The pointed hoods and pitchforks were replaced by baseball caps and dark sunglasses. Racism somehow got domesticated. Explicable. Understandable. The white nationalist march and subsequent murder of a young woman made us all scream with horror and indignation. I wonder if we would have been equally…
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Splinters, Beams, and the Christian Woodchopping Industry
In a recent conversation, someone asked me to condemn someone I didn’t know for a specific sin committed by that person. I agreed that what had happened was not biblical, but went on to saying that I truly felt sorry for that someone and that it was not up to me to judge him or…
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Maintenance of the Heart
Adrian was helping his dad with some outdoors maintenance. I heard the hissing noise of muffled teenage complaints, followed by Thomas’ calm voice, “But you haven’t secured the ladder! By shifting its position, you make sure that it won’t slip or fall.” More grumpy hissing. As I passed by, I commented, “It’s OK, Adrian. But…
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Stopping for the One
We had been playing with the kids in the village and painted the finger nails of dozens of girls and a few boys. There’s a lot of love that goes into the eye contact, the smiles, the holding of hands, and finally, the applying of nail polish. No language needed. Just being present in the…
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Family in Mozambique
This is the first summer in a few years that we’re not going to Mozambique. Although we get to spend time with family and friends, we miss it terribly because we’ve made family and friends in Mozambique as well. In the Kingdom of God family is not only about genes and bloodlines, but community, dedication…
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Friendship, Shared Misery and Enduring Love
Our friendship stretched over many years although we hadn’t seen each other lately. We were happy to have them visiting once again. Over a meal, we all shared and listened, and little by little we caught up with the latest developments and the well-being of one another. He was in pain and struggled to deal…
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Fears, flavors and non-toxic relationships
”Yikes!” I screamed. ”There’s a tiny green larva crawling over me!” I shouted, squirmed, and squatted, all actions indicated to move my husband, AKA my knight in shining armor, into action. Not happening. He glanced at me before stating, “At least you know that you’re not toxic.” Say what? “He nodded thoughtfully: “Yeah, it would…