There was a season not long ago when the mention of Christmas brought the same snarl to my heart as a child opening a shaker of glitter in my kitchen would. Why? Just why? "Festival of Consumption," I grumbled inwardly while outwardly going through the motions expected of the mother of small children. Then I… Continue reading On Advent, 10 foot tall Bumbles and blinging all the way
JOY JOURNAL BLOG
Revisiting my mother’s Jesus
My mom's been gone more than three years now. That's long enough for me to have winnowed through most of her possessions, but not all. There's still some papers. I somehow have the cemetery lot deeds for literally everyone in the family -- as if the land where they are buried might be repossessed at… Continue reading Revisiting my mother’s Jesus
A pocketful of wry
"Lucy Locket lost her pocket..." Mother Goose I found a pair of painters pants tucked way back in a closet. What they lack in style and grace they make up with their pockets. There's room for this and room for that, but now they're sun-like setting. All the things they've come to store will surely… Continue reading A pocketful of wry
My neighbor’s hive
“The keeping of bees is like the direction of sunbeams.”― Henry David Thoreau I've never been sure who tends them. I suppose that someone does even though I'd like to imagine them coming and going from a hollowed-out tree on the hillside above our home. Wild honeybees are largely a thing of the past. Not… Continue reading My neighbor’s hive
On bears in the woods and a Psalms 37 & 91 world
“The Chinese use two brush strokes to write the word 'crisis.' One brush stroke stands for danger; the other for opportunity. In a crisis, be aware of the danger--but recognize the opportunity.”― John F. Kennedy "Did you hear that?" my husband asked. I did. A "phuff, phuff, phuff" that sounded like a dog panting --… Continue reading On bears in the woods and a Psalms 37 & 91 world
Nora Edinger -- JOY Journal 