Four Favorite Hospitality Hacks
So did you know you can banish pet hair from your clothes or furniture with the swipe of a dryer …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Prefer the Before, or the After?
Do you like before-and-after transformations as much as I do? There’s something compelling about makeovers. It’s astonishing to see what …
Praying the Blues
Do you have some things you wish you could say to God if only you had the words? “The Psalms …
No Such Thing as an Ordinary Tuesday
It’s been six months since The Big Move, and I’m doing so much better, y’all! You wonderful people who read …
How to do this January Thing
It’s only taken me a half-dozen decades, but for the first time I did not get January’d this year. The …
When Joy Eludes You at Christmas
Which Christmas hymn has been published more than any other? You’ve probably sung the famous words penned by Isaac Watts …
‘Tis the Last (Maybe?) Season to be Mary
You’ve seen those inspirational memes too. “It’s always too early to quit.” “Winners are not people …
You’ve Got the Turkey…How About the Blessing?
Thanksgiving 2018 is just 48 hours away. If you’re hosting dinner this year you probably have your menu planned by …
All The Light We Could Not See
Rain has been falling steady here in the Smokies. The earth, saturated, seems to sag a bit under the weight. …
Is the Cure for What Ails You in Your Own Backyard?
I’m a child of modern medicine. You, too? We’ve grown up with pharmaceutical solutions to almost every health problem out …
5 Mistakes Flatlanders Make
Have you ever made rookie mistakes after you’ve moved to a new region of the country or maybe even just …
What Might You Be Longing for Today?
That’s not a rhetorical question. I truly want to know. Might you be longing for a loved one to get …
Moving On After Moving In: The Post My Readers Wrote
So friends, just exactly how do you move on once you’ve moved in? Ten weeks have already passed since my …
Relocating When You Want to Take Everyone But Yourself: Reflections from Lot’s Wife
Why does dismantling a home feel like dismantling a life? I know now why Lot’s wife turned into a pillar …
On Loving, and Leaving, and Letting Go
“How lucky we were to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard.” A .A. Milne So it’s official. The …
What’s Your “How We Met” Story?
My beloved mom turned 93 this week. It was hard losing my dad 10 years ago, but we have been …
Share our Joy? Nothing Could be Finer
In a world gone so heavy, with heads slung low in sorrowful sympathy, could it be that sometimes we need …
When Those You Love are Facing Their Last Christmas
Do you know them, too? Beloved friends, kin of all kinds, who are facing their last even as most of us …
Lessons from Libby: What I’ve Learned About Compassion from a Four-Year-Old
Remember that old saying, “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy?” As our former neighbor Steve used to say, fuhgeddaboudit. …
When It’s Too Good to be True…It Just Might Be Anyway
The unexpected knock at the door. The friendly woman motioning to the candy dish on her table at the trade …
The Difference Between Having Character….and Being One
While searching for some old documents the other day, I came across a yellowed envelope containing my report cards from …
When You’re Just Not Good Enough…And That’s OK
You were up for a job promotion, and it went to someone else. That audition for the role in the …
Your Magnificent Chooser
After more than forty years of life together, Mike and I have often joked that he functions as the gas, …
You Know What They Say About Millennials, Don’t You? They Just Might be Wrong
“I’ve seen you somewhere before…” It happens to all of us. That familiar face, but out of place. Mike and …
When You’re Trying to Figure Out Where to Stand When it Comes to the Refugee Crisis
Originally posted on Tuesdays with Maggie:
With Christmas just past, I’ve been thinking about that family a lot. THAT family…you know the…
Christmas at the White House
POTUS and FLOTUS we’re not, but guess what? Everyone (as long as you can pass a security check) is welcome to …
The Best Retirement Party on the Planet
If the collective weight of grief could collapse a church, we’d be calling the insurance company already. Shirley, how can …
When a Detour Takes You Where You Were Meant to Go
You know those times when you have to brake suddenly and take another exit? When you were heading to Chicago …
Seven Layer Cake
We never wrote that book. And now she has taken the stories with her. When the man we shared – …
When You’re Trying to Figure Out Where to Stand When it Comes to the Refugee Crisis
With Christmas just past, I’ve been thinking about that family a lot. THAT family…you know the ones. The impoverished teenage …
What I’m Into – December Edition
I’m into bliss beyond measure – a new grandchild is due in June. Our children are coming home the week …
What I’m Into ~November Edition
Planting trees is a spiritual activity, it seems to me. Active faith that the thing will grow, fervent hope that …
What I’m Into – October Edition
For the past 30 years or more, the month of October has been Retreat Season for me. Tops on my …
Three Ways to Decorate on Purpose
This girl adores the domestic alchemy of turning a house into a home. Call it what you will – …
Letting Them Go (2)
I can’t believe she saved it all these years. The yellow post-it note caught my eye as we sifted through …
Breakfast Hacks for the Office
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Preach it, sister, I hear you. Except when you’re trying to …
The Friendliest Place on Earth
There couldn’t be a more perfect way to spend a Friday evening. A week ago tonight, Mike and I plopped …
Letting Go
It never gets easier. Losing a member of your family never does. The bond has nothing to do with biology. …
When You Really Need to Know “God’s Got It”
Two months have passed since my beloved’s first surgery, elective. Second, emergent. Third, pneumonia that scared me to tears in the woman …
Guest Post: Smushed in the Middle of the Sandwich Generation?
Have you ever felt stretched between competing needs in your family? Smushed like the filling spread too thin between two slices …
Fabulous Fall Retreat Weekend
Originally posted on Women's News and Events at First Baptist, Wheaton:
Under the leadership of Natalie Lederhouse, the women of FBC had a wonderful weekend retreat event.…
Hunger Pains
It took me three years to figure it out. The answer, that is, to the two most frequent questions friends …
The Fawn, Reprised
After I related the story of Libby and the fawn, the small moment shared in last week’s post, my coworker …
Well, Hello There!
Cyber broom, anyone? Digital dust mop, maybe? This tiny space of real estate on the web has lain fallow for …
Take this with a grain of salt
I sat in a Salt Cave on Sunday. No, not the kind that is springing up in day spas around …
Regrets, I’ve Got a Few
You’d hate the song, too, if it had happened to you. It was 1978, and I was working Saturdays as …
Handling the Heat – Part 3
It’s Election Day in the US of A, and by the time you read this we may well know who …
Handling the Heat, Part 2 – Prison on Our Backs
Are you one of those people who‘s completely impervious to how others regard you? Tell me how you manage it …
Bad Luck Bridesmaid
I have a hot tip for you today. If you’re planning on getting married anytime in the future, do not …
Guest Post: “We Are All Theologians”
I was out of town this past Tuesday so once again I missed posting a “Tuesdays” reflection, but this week I …
Almost Heaven
Friends, thanks for reminding me when weeks have passed without a “Tuesdays with Maggie” post. I love connecting with you this …
Amish Hospitality 2.0
If you want to study biblical principles for “welcoming the stranger” first-hand, there are few better places to do it …
The Holiness of Community
“I’m so glad we are related in more ways than one,” our daughter Amber remarked this past Sunday morning. We were …
Stories of God at Work: New “Miracles for Jen”!
Yesterday I wrote about my young friend Jennifer Barrick, whose body and brain were battered five years ago when her …
Miracle for Jen
It’s been over a month since I’ve done one of my Tuesday posts. My soul is just beginning to …
The Blogpost I Was Scared to Write
It’s the start of a new year, right? Time for inspiration, revelation or at least a resolution or two. Dieting? …
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Freebie Friday: RUN TO OVERCOME by NYC Marathon Champ Meb Keflezighi
So what do Eritrean-born Meb Keflezighi and Winfield, IL residents Dick and Marge Foster have in common? A love for …
New Freebie Friday Giveaway: The Narnia Code by Michael Ward
I first became acquainted with C.S.Lewis’s classic Chronicles of Narnia as a college student when I took a modern mythology …
New Freebie Friday giveaway: 30 Ways to Embrace Life
Don’t you love this cover? The dresses the women are wearing might be vintage 1950’s, but the book’s contents are for those of …
