Some cook, I sew and write: creativity brings joy

Today I mused on mirrors. My mind reverted to a time when I went around the house looking for a mirror that showed me more of a full length view, and I found nothing.  I realized both my husband and I had put on weight but couldn't see it.  My children had to scramble onto the bathroom counter to see themselves, and that felt all wrong. After packing my children into our minivan, we set off for a very important errand at Walmart. To buy a full length mirror. Upon our arrival home, we paraded around the house looking for the perfect place to see ourselves. We settled on a small entry hall full of doors from all 3 bedrooms, bathroom, front and laundry rooms and hung our noble (and very inexpensive) full-length mirror on the linen closet door.  My children promptly posed in front of it, pulled faces at themselves and each other in it, and finally sat down to play in front of it. At one point, our dog Sassy passed by stopped in astonishment at the other dog staring at her in ...

  I want to share a story about how I receive answers to prayer. To provide a "spoiler": I have never had an angelic visitation or a lightning-bolt response to life's big questions. However, I have received answers. Many years ago, I began to struggle with Isaac’s role in scripture. Is he merely a placeholder in the Abrahamic lineage? A passive figure? I found no answers. In the story of the near-sacrifice, I realized Isaac was not a small boy; he was surely strong enough to resist his aging father. He must have voluntarily succumbed. Because no servant was present, Isaac had to be willing—meaning he had to have his own testimony of God's will. I suspect Sarah also knew; Abraham likely wouldn't have dared return home had she not received her own divine reassurance. Abraham was tested to the absolute limits of his faith, perhaps drawing hope from the memory of his own rescue from an altar in his youth. I had heard many comparisons between Isaac and Christ, and Abra...