A Blurred Reflection

Tag: Holy Spirit

  • A Suspicious Red-Tailed Hawk

    The first golden sunrays had just stretched their fingers over the mountains and begun to play with the leaves of the wild cherry tree above me, when, from the low, delicate branches of that tree, a raucous cry startled me out of my stupor. It was the aggressive screech of a wild red-tailed hawk, shattering…

  • If my hike had a soundtrack…

    The air was the perfect flavor of pine and clean wind as I sauntered along the smooth, shaded path past Lake Hebron that warm-but-not-too-warm day. The loons cried their short-lived daytime conversation and a bandana’d youth sat contemplatively underneath a fir tree, watching the reflection of clouds sweep across the slightly rippled water. His iPod played…

  • He Gave Me a New Name

    I stood on top of Fort Fredrick two days ago, and while ants bit my legs and the sea breeze whipped my hair, Jesus and I had a conversation about love. You gotta understand, I’m not so good at loving. Really though. I know you don’t believe me, but it’s true. I’m just learning now…

  • Love Ambush

    I’ve been a crab for twenty-four hours. It all started when someone asked me a question, and I responded defensively and then the father of lies jumped in with all of his hogwash and made a mess of everything. “You’re not worth fighting for.” he said, “You are selfish at the core, and think of…

  • My Best Addiction

    Now that you all know I’m addicted to gummy bears….. (and oh happy day, I got a whole 1-lb bag of them for my birthday) I gotta tell ya’ll about my FAVORITE addiction. The one I plug into when I get upset at my boss. Or when I’m preparing to teach. Or when I’m bored by…

  • The Time When I Started a Church

    Driving along a cold, forsaken road one dark night, my radio croaking out a mournful song,  I saw a church. A church that had a lighted cross by the highway, and warm, welcoming lights on inside, as if it was open to strangers and a crackling fire was burning in the hearth. “How strange!” I…

  • Who are you AFTER?

    She plugged her ears most of the time. She had a definite scowl on her turned-down face, and the bent of her shoulders screamed defiance. She was the camper who did not like the teacher’s modesty discussion one bit. I was the camp counselor, and as I watched the body language of my other campers…

  • With Whom We Deal

    “The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbors glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken. It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the…

  • My Lantern Ignited a Tree

    And then it was 2013. As the first few minutes of the fresh, new year ticked their celebratory circuits around the clock, my friends and I released a cloud of paper lanterns into the night air. They floated solemnly at first, and then with a gust of hasty impatience shot straight up until they were only fairy specks against the obsidian…

  • When a roadblock becomes [a hug from heaven]

                I never liked Cinderella. And yet, on that mind-boggling day, I could almost say that I felt like her. Except that my coachman was a long-haired redneck with a Copenhagen ring. And my pumpkin-coach was a tow truck. And instead of leaving the ball too late, I nearly missed arriving at all. And (thank…