Tagged: kindness

  O Lord, you have searched me and known me. Psalm 139:1 Jesus sees me fully. The woman sitting on the floor in the train station is hungry. Or is she a swindler? Her dogs look fat and happy even as she intones her blessings on passersby and asks for euros to fill their water bowl. Maybe she is going without so they can survive. The boy who struggles up the stairs with two suitcases is in a panic, his glasses askew and face crinkled as the train whistles its warning. Where are his parents? Behind her perfect hair and makeup, the girl on the corner with the silver high heels is scared. The man sitting beside me on the bus is humming a chant.… Read More

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night. Psalm 92:1-2 Who knew upside-down cake could be made just about anywhere in the world? The old Wycliffe cookbook on my shelf is ragged and worn. The cover long gone, its pages are stained with olive oil, gritty bits of sugar, and smears of chocolate pudding from the homemade edible finger-paint days. Created for people living in places where convenience cooking is non existent, this little wonder made our lives warm and delicious with the barest ingredients. Upside-down cake was a favorite and could be made in the largest pans to feed the biggest… Read More

Among other things, mercy is a womb.  A mother’s womb is meant to be a safe place, a sanctuary where new life can begin. An unhurried space, a quiet shelter. A protected refuge where growth happens at exactly the right pace. A nourishing haven, marked by rhythms of rest and movement, development and health. And at the right time, from this wonderful place, birth happens and the world is changed. In Hebrew, this place is called rāham (also transliterated as rachem or rechem). Rāhem is a homonym, the same word for both womb and mercy. How interesting that one word means both womb and mercy. Womb is well understood in the English language. Mercy, on the other hand, can be a somewhat opaque concept declared… Read More

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Philippians 1:27 We all glanced around, wondering who would go first in front of the dairy case. I needed cream cheese. After a woman finished her selection, I moved forward to grab mine. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed an elderly gentleman patiently leaning on his cart across the aisle.  Did I step in front of him? Oh, no, I didn’t mean to! Quickly I closed the cooler door and turned to apologize, expecting him to be impatient and irritated with me. After all, most everyone in the grocery store seemed to be buzzing around like angry bees ready to sting, intent on defending their space and getting their stuff,… Read More

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters! Let every person be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger (James 1:19, NET). “You never know what someone else is going through” sounds like a mother’s well-worn admonition to her children. I know I say it often to mine, and the words ring true if we stop a moment to think about it. In our fast-paced, busy culture, we race past one another, forming immediate judgments without pausing to truly understand one another. Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes. Things aren’t always as they seem. Don’t judge a book by its cover. The English language is brimming with idioms which caution against hasty judgment. Yet, again and again, we trample… Read More