Saturday night, my husband and I attended the opening of a new art gallery show. We were there as guests of the owner, because one of my husband’s creations is part of the show. Reporters and others were also in attendance to ask the artists questions about their work.

This made my husband anxious because he doesn’t see himself as an artist. In fact, to him, this whole gallery experience is just a weird anomaly in his life, a bizarre unexpected happening. If asked by reporters why he made his creation, he felt reticent to tell the truth: “I was bored, got a crazy idea, and just decided to see if I could do it.” To him, that’s not how artists think or speak. Don’t they have loftier ideas of why they create and what they’re creating?

That same night, one of the reporters was asking me about the origin of my husband’s work, and I told him the plain truth. This intrigued the reporter to no end. I think my simple unadorned answers were shocking to him, because they were at odds with his previously conceived notions of what...

Continue Reading

Learning to wait on God has not been easy for me. I think I’m in good company. I hear it’s not easy for a lot of people. My normal routine was to look at the options, draw a quick conclusion and then go for it. Gradually - and I really mean gradually - I’ve been coming to see the pitfalls of my preference to judge and act quickly.

I love that God knows that this is hard for me. I love that He creatively shows me the benefits of waiting on His directives to act. A recent chain of events that began in April culminated in a delightful email that had me laughing out loud...

Continue Reading

This afternoon I turned my attention to a huge writing assignment that I need to work on and the mere scope of the project wore a hole in my excitement to engage. As I assess my emotional condition in the waning afternoon hours, I am feeling overwhelmed.

I sense the need to regroup – to understand how I can face this big obstacle without wanting to give up. I don’t know about you, but overwhelming situations often tempt me to stay in bed and hide under the covers, or in the case of work, to procrastinate until the pressure of a deadline becomes so intense that it forces me to confront and mentally conquer the project at hand. ...

Continue Reading

There are a lot of churches in Venice. Truth be told, there was so much art – frescos, paintings, sculpture, reliefs – it got to be a little tiresome after a while (feel free to disagree, your milage may vary, void where prohibited). But like it or not, you can’t deny that it takes a significant amount of money to build churches that grand and with that much artistic work in them.

That much religion and pricey artwork together in the same space got me thinking about Jesus’ words: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You...

Continue Reading

I've lived for the better part of the past 20 years with a circumstance that caused me deep heartache. Due to the time this issue has existed in my life there are many prayers that have been prayed, tears that have been shed and deep wordless groans my soul has uttered. There have been moments when hope would make an appearance in my heart, but just as quickly it would be gone. How I longed to have a heart that believed and fully trusted with ease. There are things I know I have trusted God for but frankly, in this circumstance, it has been primarily with my will I clung to Mark 10:17 "With man it is impossible, but not with God....

Continue Reading