Story
One can bear anything if one can put it in a story. - Isak Dinesen
-
The Edge
(This is not a post about U2. Sorry Jane.) I think I live on some precarious edge. Like – right next to a cliff. (You know, like the little old man in Up who wanted to plop his home right down beside the ravine, the waterfall, the danger?) I live there. Or at least, I have been camping there for far too long. And the view is alright, I guess, but the effort and the stress of living right on that edge is wearing me down. And another thing. Because I live so close to that edge I find it really hard to maintain stability. To find a firm footing.…
-
And Also . . . About Commonplace
I just wrote about Chambers and his classic little book My Utmost For His Highest. And the quote I included said, “Some people do a certain thing and the way in which they do it hallows that thing for ever afterwards. It may be the most commonplace thing, but after we have seen them do it, it becomes different.” As soon as I read that, certain people flashed in my mind. Certain people and the way that those people do commonplace things that become different after they do them. (And trust me, when I call something commonplace, I am NOT suggesting it is unimportant. On the contrary. As you know.)…
-
Truth Never Changes
Rearranging is fun. When I rearrange I always seem to find some old treasure. Recently it was a book. Oswald Chambers My Utmost For His Highest. One of those classics that you just keep going back to because it always seems to be relevant. (Even though its original publication date was 1935.) The pages of my copy are crumpled, like I spilled something on it. Dozens of corners are turned down. Magic marker, pen, pencil are scrawled on nearly every page. It’s so old my maiden name is written on the cover in bubbly high school penmanship. (It was a gift from my church when I graduated. From high…
-
Purpose
I like to be happy. I don’t like tears. Or trouble. Or heartache. Or sin. Or putting away laundry. I don’t care for difficult circumstances. Hardship. Strain. Damaged relationships. Dirty houses. Dust. I like peace. Tidiness. Sleeping in. Harmony. Recently at my Bible study our group was talking about the sin of unthankfulness. And how we can be so ungrateful for what we have, for what we have been spared. For where we were born. For grace. All of it. Which started a side conversation about being thankful in all circumstances. Seeing the good that God can work from the bad. Embracing the situation for the shaping powers it possesses,…
-
Rainy Day, Inside and Out
What a gray day. Sleep-deprived from the instant I heard the alarm. (Derek Webb’s “Mockingbird” is a lot less lovely at 6:30 a.m.) Kevin wasn’t feeling well. The rain was steady and the clouds blocked the sun from showing even a hint of itself. I should have stayed in bed. Or at least stayed home. But the fridge was empty. And had been for two days. No, I don’t just mean that we were out of milk – which we were. I mean – we needed groceries. As in, I saw Riley packing her lunch last night and she was cutting open some old MREs from my brother the Marine…
-
Long, Strange Trip
Destination: London, Ohio. The birthplace of one Kevin J. Keigley Detours: Three. One – To wrap up former business details. Two – To surprise a wonderful friend. Three – To avoid a rock slide on the interstate. Number of Donatos Pizzas Ordered During Our Three Days in Ohio: 4 Hours Spent in a Packed Suburban With Six Children: About 30 Number of Times Mosely shouted “My bum itches”: Approximately 42 Favorite New Menu Item at a Restaurant: Panera Bread’s Macaroni & Cheese New Skill Acquired by Bergen, Taught to Him by His Older Cousins: An intense football tackle Number of Rented Books on Tape: 2 Number of Books on Tape…
-
Is This A Test?
We try to learn a few verses together as a family. I write them on the chalkboard wall near the dinner table and we read them out loud together before each meal. This week I wrote out James 1:19-20 – “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” And let’s just be honest. When I picked this little nugget of a verse I was targeting a handful of sometimes short tempered, angry-word-shouting siblings. I was trying to preach when I should have been quiet. And so maybe this day just serves…
-
11:00 a.m.
The alarm on my watch beeps every day at 11:00 a.m. When Kevin was in Israel we both sat our alarms to the same hour so we could remember to pray for one another and our family at the same exact time, despite the physical distance between us. Once Kevin returned, I just left the alarm setting as it was. (Not just because I don’t know how to change it either.) It has been a good daily reminder to pray for my husband. In the past when I have prayed for my husband, or any loved one in my life really, my prayers were pretty selfish. Yes, I would pray…
-
I Knew Her When
A gifted student. A kind junior high girl (more a rarity than it should be). A godly young lady. Our favorite Virginia babysitter. A great soccer player. A dedicated worker. A faithful finisher of assignments. A considerate friend. A joyful spirit. A reliable actress on the high school stage. Jamie Newton. What a good kid. That’s what we used to think. And now we can say . . . What a great grown-up. It was so much fun for our family to load up the Suburban this weekend and drive a little bit into the North Carolina hills to meet Jamie and her equally cool husband of four months, Cole,…
-
Are You Sure?
I find myself always asking, (repetitively, yes) How can I best serve God? (Right now. In this life. In the present.) And the answer seems to always be given (repetitively, yes) softly in my mind, boldly in my life. By serving the people living at this house. No, no, no. Can’t I do something glamorous?Something big?Exciting?Cool?Highly visible?Dramatic? God,Don’t you need a writer for a really popular magazine?Do you need me to work at a theatre like Flat Rock Playhouse?Do you want me to sell all of my possessions and travel across the country with my family in an RV for you?Do you want me to sequester myself away in some…
-
Brought To You By . . .
As I said in the last post, it’s no small task for both Kevin and I to leave the state of South Carolina sans children. But leave it we did, if only for an overnight journey to Atlanta for that U2 concert I was raving about recently. And our adventure was brought to us by some wonderful people we like to call Emma and Sally. Or Aunt E and Oma. Or “Aunt Eeeee-muh” if you are two. How do you get to claim the title of sainthood anyway? Do you have to be Catholic? Or dead? Well, if those are the two primary requirements then I guess Emma and Sally…
-
(I love this picture of the four of us. It makes us look as if we are just extras in Jody’s life. And that’s funny to me.) I guess I owe a big fat thank you to my older brother Danny. Thanks, man. Back in the day (the “day” being the years he spent driving Douglas and I back and forth to school in the silver hatchback Tercel covered in skateboarding stickers), Danny introduced me to what is arguably one of the greatest rock bands ever formed. A little Irish group named U2. This was early on. As in, I still own several U2 cassette tapes. (Remember those?) Fast forward…
-
What It Isn’t
I love my husband. I really do. But with each year and each turn and each milestone of marriage God is teaching me brand new things about love. What it is. And what it isn’t. And I have so many more lessons to learn. A number of books and wise counsel have taught me along this path, leading me to where I am now. Books like Love & Respect and Sacred Marriage. But no book teaches me more than God’s word. It strips away popular theory and is more relevant than any book claiming itself as the most relevant marriage help book on the market. Today our pastor was referencing…
