God Goes Green

Some of my Kinders could really care less about saving paper or going green. They toss used papers and scraps right into the trash without a second thought.

Other students, however, are crazy about recycling. No matter how small the shreds of paper are, they eagerly deposit them into our recycling box.

The Thunderstorms Bring Spring

The earth trembles and the sky shatters. The thunder falls with a crack so packed with power it is felt in walls and floors and ground. The lightening splits and careens with the electricity of life and the speed to illuminate the world.

The rolling tremors wake the trees. Starting in their very roots, shaking the heavy sleepers. Groggy and chilled and wanting to stay tucked in their moss blankets until summer, they finally stir and put out buds.

The Old and New Covenants: Kindergarten Style

We have three rules in Kindergarten, and the day would run so marvelously smoothly if they were simply obeyed at all times. I imagine God feels the same way. He urges us to follow his laws for our lives, knowing it is better for us if we do. 

But the Kinders, like the rest of us humans, have a hard time obeying. It's not that we are ignorant, or even openly defiant, yet we struggle so deeply with obeying to the fullest extent, obeying from the heart.

Easter: When Murderers Go Free

There once was a group who rose up against the governing authorities in rebellion. There were many men involved in this uprising, trying to get control of their own little nation again. They murdered during this insurrection, killing heedlessly.

It didn't go so well for them- their uprising fell. And the survivors were imprisoned. One of these men was notorious among the prisoners, and probably not someone you would want back in society just yet.

His name was Barabbas.

The Crazy Things You Do For Love

There was this couple once who'd gone through some rough patches. (And, let's be honest, she was the problem.) They'd had their ups and downs, their break-ups and make-ups, but it didn't make sense for them to stay together anymore. Probably the wisest thing would have been for him to break up with her and forget her.

But he wouldn't.

He loved her, was kinda blinded by his love, and determined to stay with her. Even when she dumped him.

She became his self-proclaimed enemy.

Side Effects

When I came-to, I was on the floor in the atrium at church surrounded by people. As my hearing slowly faded in, I heard a kid ask, "Did you die?" No, kid; I fainted.

Worship

The sun. The quiet whispers of the sun, the sky that lightens in anticipation, before it is quite ready to rise. Harsh and searing, penetrating sun glasses and not high enough in the sky, yet, for the visor. Distant, but intentional; yellow and cool and preparing for spring. Glorious and valiant as it sets, trying to get the last word in over the night by scattering rays into the clouds.

Air, oddly warm, begging for deep breaths, filling one's lungs
to the point of satisfaction. Snow, melted by the sun, that smells something like rain.

Talk Talk Talk

I used to think adults were joking around when they couldn't remember, on demand, how old they were. That is, until my church's women's retreat this weekend.