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Watering Dirt
“I have to go water my flowerbeds,” I said a few weeks ago. Flowerbeds—not flowers. There were no flowers yet, but “I have to go water my flowerbeds” sounded much better than “I have to go water my dirt.” But you know what you have to do to get flowers and, later, fruit? Water dirt.…
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Competing Spectacles: Treasuring Christ in the Media Age
It’s summer, which means my musical work slows down. I always plan to spend the long, warm days reading, writing, and studying—enjoying refreshment through contemplation and creativity. But then, it happens: the twitching fingers. The urge to check my phone, answer a few emails, and maybe scroll through reels for a minute on Instagram. Or…
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A Sonnet for Finding Delight in Diligence
Do you ever have days when getting through your regular routine feels like a triumph of the human spirit? When leaving the office or studio makes you want to scream like Tim Robbins at the end of The Shawshank Redemption? I am at the end of a busy season filled with choir concerts, church services,…
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Every Careless Word We Generate?
Jesus tells us that, on the judgment day, we will have to give account for every careless word that we speak (Matt. 12:36). I suspect that the words we write will be judged with equal or greater severity, for written words are often more permanent and intentional. If Jesus’s warning against careless words extends to…
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When Two Families Meet
At funerals and weddings, two families meet—perhaps for the first time. Such meetings can be either unspeakably sweet or unbearably awkward. I am not merely referring to parents meeting in-laws, but something more significant: the meeting of earthly and eternal families. When we gather to celebrate a marriage or mourn a death, we are confronted…
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The Ideal Journaling Bible
I love my ESV Study Bible, which includes a wealth of contextual information, cross references, and (my favorite) charts. Throughout 2024 and 2025, I’ve also been enjoying the ESV Chronological Bible, which has given me a better understanding of the scope of Scripture. But as an avid annotator, I have struggled with the reality that…
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Simple Advice for Reading Scripture Aloud
My women’s Bible study focused on Revelation this spring. Revelation, the final book in the Bible, opens with this encouragement: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near” (Revelation 1:3). Students of…
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The Goodness of Gardening Friends
“All my flower beds are filled with this ivy,” I texted two of my friends this afternoon. “Should I pull it or let it be? It’s pretty but seems to be taking over…” I snapped a picture to accompany my text, hoping as I sent it that my friends would reply, “Oh, that’s a rare…
author, blogger, blogging about gardening, Christian friendship, church friends, faith, faith and friendship, faith and gardening, flowers, friends, friendship, fruit of the Spirit, Fruitful Worship, fruitfulness, garden, gardening, gardening and faith, gardening lessons, goodness, honesty, iowa, Iowa life, lawn, learning, midwest living, nature, pulling weeds, spirit-filled singing, weeds, writer, writing, yard work -
Babylon is Being Used
When studying Revelation 16-17 a few weeks ago with my women’s Bible study, I noticed a typo on my study guide. I was dismayed to see that I had asked twice for my study members to analyze the differences between Babylon the prostitute (symbolic of worldliness) and the New Jerusalem and Bride of Christ. Fortunately,…
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Behold, Your Mother
My mom manages to fuse the Proverbs 31 woman’s virtues with Lorelei Gilmore’s hilarity. She’s the best. She taught me to think discerningly, apologize quickly, and—fortunately for readers of this blog—edit rigorously. But my mom lives in Arizona, which put a bit of a damper on Mother’s Day celebrations. Despite being 1,500 miles away from…
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Scrolling Ourselves to Death
On April 10th of this year, a helicopter crashed into the Hudson River, killing everyone on board: a family of five and the pilot. Within minutes, my weather app sent me a notification to alert me of the crash and invited me to “tap to stay informed.” I am not a first responder. I have…
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Reblog: A Meditation for Holy Saturday
I hope you find time to be still today and to reflect on this space between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Perhaps this little poem can foster such contemplative stillness (visit the link below).
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Ryanne Molinari 