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Tuesday 24th July 2012
When You Have to be Willing to Fall
She didn’t care if she won. She really only wanted to make it through without falling apart. She was calculating failure there in the calf barn before she even stepped into the show ring. She tried not to let her voice shake when she asked me the question: “How many people will be ...
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Sunday 8th July 2012
How a Person Can Praise God When Things Fall Apart…
We wake to gray clouds piled on the morning horizon. Before I put a single toe on the carpet, I pray for a holy wringing of that gray sky. We need rain. But only a few sprinkles fall; the cracked farmfields groan. Under the covers, I groan, too. My stomach knots. And the clouds... Read More
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Monday 28th May 2012
What the Real Superheroes are Wearing
Not all of the superheroes wear capes and masks. I know. Because I’ve watched them when they show up at cemeteries on Memorial Day, standing over top of the graves of old friends. Some of them have gray hair. And dentures. They are wearing polyester pants, button-up white shirts and ...
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Tuesday 24th April 2012
God-Bumps: Dirty Fingernails
This is the place where I perpetually discover who I am. Right here, standing in the upturned dirt. Soon, this palette of browns will give way to new green, sprouting under the steady and constant glow of the sun. Just now, I can feel its warmth on my back. It’s here, where ...
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Sunday 19th February 2012
On My Honor, I Will Try
I spread the cookie-order forms flat on the kitchen table, smooth the wrinkles and do some quick figuring. I’m no math whiz, but I know improbability when I see it. I exhale one long breath, lay down my pen and look over the rims of my glasses at the two-person sales force across the table. ...
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Tuesday 18th October 2011
Real Stories, Real People
The girls are nestled into each another — two bodies holding one book called “Friends.” They were born sisters, but are growing into something else entirely. As they grow older, they need me less and less, it seems. They lean on each other more and more. Just yesterday, I ...
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Tuesday 4th October 2011
Gladys
Aunt Gladys seemed more ready for Heaven than anyone I ever knew, but even when her body begged to go, she demanded more time on Earth. She told us that she was determined to outlive her four siblings. She saw herself as a sort of caretaker, I guess. So, she would will that heart of hers to ...
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Wednesday 17th August 2011
Our State Fair is a Great State Fair
Rodgers and Hammerstein had it right. The Iowa State Fair really is the best state fair. It’s the best one in our state! (I’m posting today from the city, with photos from the iPhone. We’ve been in Des Moines, stomping grapes and selling our family’s soynuts and seeing ...
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Friday 17th June 2011
How Endings Can Be Beautiful
We watch the sun melt across a sherbert sky. This is the art of God, who paints in a hundred shades of orange and pink and red on the edge of the day. Sunsets are God’s built-in reminders that even endings can be beautiful. They also remind us that we are Easter people, the children of ...
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Friday 10th June 2011
For Daddy, Because She Needs You
The girls are well-scrubbed, and lotion-scented. But you, Daddy? You smell like the barn. They want to be near you anyway. And you let them. *** (I’ve penned this letter to the Daddy of my girls. I’m sharing the rest of it today over at Imperfect Prose, the blogging home of gifted ...
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For the High Calling: “I had over-yessed myself.”