pep talk for the hard road

“your life is short, your duties many, your assistance great, and your reward sure; therefore faint not, hold on and hold up, in ways of well-doing,   and heaven shall make amends for all.”   --Thomas Brooks   [photo credit here]

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on sparrows and other wild things

  i keep trying to remember what we were discussing that day, all those many years back, she and i sitting there wrapped in our pre-baby bodies and  spouting the sorts of grand ideas you have about marriage before you actually walk the aisle.   before the...

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our hats off to you …

photo credit here  looking for  a new spring chapeau?   check out the new hats we’ve added to our inventory in the Banebow Store!   it’s a fabulous way to look good while supporting  a great cause.   all proceeds from sales in the Banebow store...

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tiny predators

forget forest fires or tornadic winds. the ash tree's greatest threat? a tiny beetle   “The truth that many people never understand, until it is too late, is that  the more you try to avoid suffering the more you suffer because smaller and more insignificant...

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out of the ashes

today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of the season of Lent, when Christians round the world will try to purge their appetites of hard candy sweets and learn to crave, again, the bread of life.   it’s a day for giving things up.   but those ashes, they ...

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chasing after rest

yesterday i took a nap.   it was a spiritual experience.   slumping toward the end of a task-driven week, i found myself irritable and unable to focus – not unlike my 3 year-old, whose afternoon nap is often the deciding factor between a pleasant family...

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celebrating her …

“I only deepen the wound of a hurting world when I neglect to give thanks.” Ann Voskamp from One Thousand Gifts   she is joy personified.   she welcomes, breathless with excitement, each new moment of the day.   she  feasts on kisses, is free with her...

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a bird’s eye view

photo credit here   there are places we can’t go – with our friends.   try as we may, empathic as we may be, there are footprints that can only be tread by the soul wearing the soles.   last week, on a day of blinding sun and spring breeze, a day when i...

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to know the tender

it’s the first day of school, or it’s a team-building exercise at work, or it’s some cheesy church function, and it’s time to get to know one another.  and the slip of paper before you asks:   if you were an animal, what animal would you be? [i’ll give you a...

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love is not lost …

  “What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” --Helen Keller  

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