God’s sovereignty—what does it really mean?   It’s nice to think about God’s sovereignty when I consider the amazing way He works things out—how, in his sovereignty, He allowed me to be born into a Christian family. With His sovereign hand, He protected me from life-threatening or debilitating harm when a can exploded onto my knee as a little girl. He led me to a church that would teach me how to walk in an intimate relationship with Him. Sovereignty. It’s a good word.   But God’s sovereignty suddenly doesn’t seem like a good thing when I consider the unexpected ways that life hasn’t turned...

When I come home to my green yard freckled with dandelions, plentiful after the weekend’s mow   when I come home to the smell of fresh spring air, faint with grass, drifting in through the window I left open all day   when I come home to the dappled sunlight, hazy and light-footed, stepping in through the blinds across the bedspread   when I come home with my hot cup from the tea shop kicking off my new shoes and sitting cross-legged on the bed   when I see the yellow floral curtains framing the large old window when I hear fragments of bird songs, like twinkling stars, between the...

Our spirits sang on the water, and the water sang with us.   It was the water that identified our voices. On a hotter-than-usual August day, in the middle of a dryer-than-usual summer, it summoned us, including the self-conscious, the sanitary and the serious, to live from the very centers of our hearts.   We secretly hoped our canoes would capsize.   * * *   What is it about floating around in willow leaf-shaped boats on a river no more than a deeper and wider creek that’s so exhilarating and exciting? That day we were pictures in magazines, characters in a make-believe movie. We...

This afternoon I held a tiny brown-skinned baby in my arms, his soft face scrunched with the intensity of sleep. His shining black hair, like loosely curled threads of silk, barely covered his head. As I cradled him in my lap, his sweet-spirited grandmother, who was in town all the way from Tanzania, Africa, brought steaming cups of African spiced tea into the living room. She sat beside me, and I passed the precious infant to her so I could sample black tea blended with the foreign spices.   It was as wonderful and refreshing as the African culture of hospitality that I was experiencing for the...