Category: patience
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Finding Patience: Lessons from the Early Morning
Just before sunrise, I stepped off the back porch, coffee cup in hand, and looked for the glow in the Eastern sky. It was a beautiful mix of purplish pink! I also noticed something in the leafless pear tree just across the fence–birds, silhouetted by the coming sunrise. Two cardinals, and two sparrows were perched…
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Building a Life Brick by Brick
My father was a teacher who spent his summers doing odd jobs. One of these involved working as a small-scale brick layer–think barbeque pits, or outdoor flower planters and, as a teenager, I often spent my summers as dad’s helper. First, he laid the bricks one at a time, making sure they were true to…
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A Little Way Through Small Days
Fellow blogger, Deb Farris, had me nodding my head recently with her post, The Little Way Through: One Writer’s Morning. She’d gone out to the front porch swing, accompanied by her loyal Goldendoodle, to reflect and write. But her anticipated time of deep work was repeatedly interrupted by lawn mowers and leaf blowers and workers…
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Hurry Up or Wait?
It happened over two decades ago, but it feels like yesterday. I knew it was time to leave the church where I’d served for three and a half years. But I didn’t have an exit strategy. “No problem,” I thought. “I’ll just put out some feelers while I decide what to do.” A week later…
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You’ll Get to Play Them All
Yesterday was an exciting day in my elementary music classroom. At least I think so. The children got to play four different instruments: hand drums, rhythm sticks, tambourines, and triangles! We hadn’t played the triangle before, so I demonstrated the proper technique. Of course, my students were anxious to try out this new instrument, but…
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Right Now, It’s Like This, Part 2
Recently I shared, Right Now, It’s Like This, about our long wait for a new roof after a hail storm. The roofers finally arrived that morning and began to work. They were here all that day and the next, and the roof was two-thirds finished. But the following morning they did not show up. I…
