One Quiet Life

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. "Pooh?" he whispered. "Yes, Piglet?" "Nothing," said Piglet, taking Pooh's hand. "I just wanted to be sure of you.”   ~A.A. Milne I've known him exactly half of my life. Soon, life with him will overtake life without him. Truth be told, it's hard to remember when he wasn't here. Those years are dim images dusty with cobwebs and time. The older I become, the further they fade away. Today marks 21 years of cleaving to each other, of adhering firmly and closely or loyally and unwaveringly ( source ).  Our marriage is marked by God's indelible grace and His unending goodness. As I contemplate these decades together, I'm thankful for: ~laughing together ~crying together ~worshipping together ~loving together ~grieving together ~working together ~traveling together ~cooking together ~eating together ~walking together ~parenting together ~growing older together ~praying toge

It's been a long while since I've written a Thankful Thursday post. I'm hoping this will spark my blogging creativity and that I'll start posting with some sort of regularity again. This month, I've been especially thankful for: ~fresh strawberries, picked from a local patch ~celebrating my dad's birthday ~Mother's Day with some of my favorite people, on a baseball diamond in one of my favorite places ~some particularly good books, among them Made for More: An Invitation to Live in God's Image and True Beauty . More to come on both. ~my pastor and his wife ~days of sunshine after what seemed like a constant deluge of rain ~the unconditional love of my husband and my daughter ~the gospel Blessings all mine, with 10,000 beside!

I strive to lead a quiet life.  I've set a few more guidelines that I don't always follow. I continually struggle with spending too much time looking at a screen - be it computer or phone. When I have a few minutes on my hands, I instinctively reach out to the social media world. Sometimes I fear I have as little control over my impulses as Pavlov's dog.  All my best intentions are no match for the lure of tweets and status updates. The more I wrestle, the harder it becomes to turn away. This knowledge of my sin - this coming face to face with its ugliness - is making the idea of living my life as a public display less appealing. Even the wrestling is part of my sanctification. I'm seeing that the time I've devoted to social media has impacted my life in ways I hadn't recognized before. I've been nicked by this double-edged sword. My online friendships have been a source of exhortation and blessing, yet my attention to them has contributed to my aloof