My twins’ favourite gameis to grab a Bible each and rundelighted round the room shouting,”Bible! Bible!” as thoughtreasure has been found.Their Bibles are ragged and worn from rough handling;binding broken, the Word opens up,unbound, into the mess of life.
Tag Archives: parenting
Acedia
“… how we perform these often dispiriting duties, from the changing of a baby’s diaper to the bathing of an aged parent, reveals what kind of God we worship.” Kathleen Norris, Acedia & Me Weary, yet itching for greater things,Longing to change the world whilemy own heart lies stony and stagnant,I turnfrom the trifles ofContinue reading “Acedia”
Morning
Advent 21: Neither slumber nor sleep
In a creaking house for family feasting, I satas summer light streamed through leadlight doors andcracks in curtains,fairy lights twinkling on pine tree whileI rocked my youngest, disrupted bythe change of place, his olderbrother’s noise and the stubborn light,and tried to make a darkness conduciveto an eight-month child’s much-needed sleep,and fancied the Fatherkeeping vigil byContinue reading “Advent 21: Neither slumber nor sleep”
Advent 1: Pine
Early evening, cool of day, we walk in the garden to find evergreen branches to weave a wreath of hope. My son is distracted. Not tall enough to reach with me, he stands to watch but soon decides instead to help pile the compost heap with grass. Evergreen and humus: these symbols arrest as IContinue reading “Advent 1: Pine”
Daily Reset
“…dirt [is] matter out of place.” (Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger) When the day’s settling is done, I seek order in domestic chaos, restoring categories I never previously held: that these trains belong together and those trucks do not; while this bus driver does not fit that car, nor does that book belong in theContinue reading “Daily Reset”
This Mess
I stubbed my toe on a London bus;it stood in the doorway, just under us. And by the door a bright Tonka trucklay just where an unsuspecting limb got stuck. And in the night a train might strayfar from its tracks into my way; and you, dear you, might show up rightwhen I would ratherContinue reading “This Mess”
Botany for Children
The touseled children have their own way with trees, their own classification… (Chris Wallace-Crabbe, “Timber”) Some are named for likeness to familiar things: the lemon tree in Nanna’s garden becomes a prototype for all other trees in all other gardens. And some are named by analogy or comparison: big tree, little tree, special tree; andContinue reading “Botany for Children”
My own garden I have neglected
Gather your spiritual bouquet… (Francis de Sales) Plenteous winter rain left the backyard a grassy forest where mallow and clover ran riot and kikuyu spread its runners wide. The rhizomatic tangle, lush and unbeatable, enfolded in itself a toddler’s trucks, a sandpit shovel, a bouncy ball, a peg, and I, bent on order yet atContinue reading “My own garden I have neglected”
The Consolations of Writing 