Seeing Rainbows

It is rainy here. Dreary. You know what my daughter would say to the grayish cloudiness that surrounds me right now, “We might see a rainbow soon!” Isn’t there something interesting about the way girls are nuts for rainbows? Were you? I know there was a space of time – I’d say somewhere between 2nd and 4th grades – when every picture I drew with my Crayola markers 8-pack included...

Your Reputation, Miss, Precedes You

This is a scene from the BBC movie North and South (I read the novel by Elizabeth Gaskell this semester and loved it!)  These were the days when a woman was rarely associated with property or career the way women are known today. The most a woman could hope for was the satisfaction of a good reputation. Her reputation, in fact, was under constant scrutiny. The slightest indiscretion could cost her the chance at a...

Another Corn Analogy

Sometimes I wish I lived by the ocean. If I lived by the ocean, I think my analogies would be about the ocean. I live in Missouri. I practically live in a cornfield – as in, in the middle of summer our community is surrounded on every side by corn (sometimes soybeans). My pastors use a lot of corn analogies. This week the Sunday School lesson was on one of my favorite parables about the seed falling on...

Dads Matter

Tragic news this week from Nashville that the youngest daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman, Maria, was killed in an accident at their home. News like this sends me into a tail spin of emotions (we lost an infant daughter 5 years ago and the randomness still haunts me), but I have one focus today: dads matter. Steven Curtis Chapman is almost as well known for his reputation as a great dad as he is for his prolific...

What Living with Girls Teaches Me About Being a Woman

This will be a new Tag on my blog. I say on my About page that “figuring this out is as much about them as it is about me.” What I’m trying to figure out is how to be the most beautiful believer I can be. I want to defy the box that most people put around a “Christian woman” at the same time that I want to support those who live there. I want to discover the feminine role that is...