ECCLESIASTES 3:12-13 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. After Solomon rants and raves over the meaninglessness of the world as only a man with all the wealth and success in the world can, God soothes his soul enough for him to peek behind the …

MARK 12:31-33 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” 1 JOHN 3:18 18 Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. It’s dark here still–the sun on its way up chasing the moon. The sky is a purple gray, the color of a bruise. The whole world feels bruised. My children and husband are still sleeping while I think about all …

PSALM 143:5-6 I remember the days of long ago;     I meditate on all your works     and consider what your hands have done. 6 I spread out my hands to you;     I thirst for you like a parched land. I wish I could wear phylacteries without being weird. Observant Jews can wear them during prayers. There would be something so comforting about rolling up those passages of scripture and placing them in their boxes and strapping them on to my …

PSALM 115:9-11 All you Israelites, trust in the Lord—     he is their help and shield. 10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord—     he is their help and shield. 11 You who fear him, trust in the Lord—     he is their help and shield. Trust is a delicate thing and precarious, like a magnolia blossom on the edge of a waterfall. It floats and drifts and sends its heady scent up into the mist. It’s beautiful, but …

PSALM 34:17-18 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. PSALM 62:8 Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. I heard a sermon a few weeks ago on worship and a bit of it has stuck with me. I always think of the singing part of …

GENESIS 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day…” It was a Sunday and we were on our way home from church. It’s a good thirty-minute drive through farmland past hay bales and cows and horses to which the kids yell out “cow!” and “horse!” every single time, despite the fact that this is not a rare thing. We …

ACTS 2:42-47 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God …

GENESIS 3:8-13 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the …

EXODUS 3:14 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” I’m still thinking about last week’s topic on aging. If it’s not a specific age that defines us, that leaves us satisfied, then what is it? Because we all have to explain ourselves somehow. We will pencil in a definition if none is forthcoming. If you ask my daughter …

ISAIAH 46:4 3 “Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born. 4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.  GENESIS 25:8 7 Abraham lived a hundred and seventy-five years. 8 Then Abraham breathed his …