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A fast flowing river reminds me of snowmelt in the Rockies, my bachelor’s degree in geography, and storms. Unfortunately, we have seen the power of water and overflowing rivers this last week in Texas. Fast flowing rivers are strong and can carry a lot of debris. Sticks, branches, and boulders are tossed and turned and carried downstream. Eventually this debris is deposited at the mouth of the river as sediment. Here the silt becomes fertile ground where plants and trees can be grown. We can learn a lot about prayer from this physical phenomenon. Fast flowing rivers are a reminder of the benefit of bringingRead More →

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What thought comes to mind when you see a palm tree? When I lived in England, palm trees conjured up the hope of exotic locations and summer vacations. They meant the guarantee of soaking in constant sunshine, instead of being soaked by the relentless rain of a so-called English summer. A palm branch reminds me of Easter, Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, and the victory he has over death. Today though, a palm tree reminds me of my daughter and to pray for her. In July she moved thousands of miles from home to Santa Monica in California to start her first job.Read More →

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The moon conjures up so many images: space travel, cheese, and, this week in particular, a solar eclipse. We experienced a near total eclipse in Colorado on Monday. Bright daylight turned dim even though the sky stayed a brilliant blue. High temperatures dropped significantly. The sun became an orange sliver through the special glasses.     The moon is also a reminder of children. For me, it is my children. In elementary school they learned the phases of the moon in detail. For weeks on end at home we had to record the waxing and waning. It fascinated them to see it at night—a crescentRead More →

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The New York skyline is peppered with wooden water towers on top of buildings. They remind me of my long time friend, Jeremy.   I hadn’t taken much notice of the water towers before. I thought them a relic of the past. Yet, Jeremy made them stand out. I met Jeremy when my college friend, Judith, started dating him and eventually married him. Judith and Jeremy came to New York a couple of years ago for a vacation. We lived in Massachusetts at the time. So, my husband and I drove down from Boston to spend some time with them. Jeremy was fascinated by theRead More →

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  I look out of the window of my New York apartment and I see skyscrapers.   The Freedom Tower stands tall and strong. Depending on the time of day, the light reflects off its sides and makes it appear two-tone in color.     The Tower is also an indicator of the day’s weather. If I can clearly see it’s detailed design and antenna on the top, I know it’s going to be a fine day. If the top half of the Tower is hidden in mist, I expect humidity. If I can’t see the tower at all—it’s raining.     The Freedom Tower isRead More →

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I met my friend in London. She walked into the design studio of the Independent Magazine where I worked. I thought she was just a loud American. Funny thing is, now I’ve lived in the USA, and she has been in the UK, she sounds so English to me. We became firm friends and discovered we both had a love for boats, in particular boats with sails. So, we bought a sailboat together—a Laser Fun. And it was fun, too, although a little bit tippy. Neither of us liked getting wet. Most weekends in the summer we would drive to the reservoir where we kept ourRead More →

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The mountains of Colorado remind me of simple pleasures, the beauty of God’s creation and, most of all, enjoyable moments with my husband and three children. Nothing grand, just activities that help us forget about the day-to-day stresses of life. Conversations as we hike (Although, we don’t talk for long because every breath is valuable when you’re scrambling up rocks at altitude!) Attempting to build a fire without matches. Satisfaction in collecting a few twigs as tinder. Excitement in realizing we could make fire using the lens of my husband’s glasses. Directing the sunlight through the lens until it made a bright pinpoint on aRead More →

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You know when you’ve learned some new information, or something you hadn’t seen before is pointed out to you, suddenly you start noticing it everywhere? It’s strange isn’t it? There is a name for this phenomenon. It is called the Baader-Meinhof effect or frequency illusion. Those things have been there all the time but only now they catch your attention. I want to take this concept and use it for our prayer. Over the next few weeks we are going to focus on some objects, not just to discover how many you notice as you go about your day, but to use them as PrayerRead More →