They wheeled me down the hospital corridors the evening after my c-section to the bay area where our newborn son was being prepared for transfer to the Children’s Hospital across town. I had seen him for a second after delivery, held above the sheet that blocked our view of my internal organs, red and angryContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 10: The Valley of the Shadow”
Category Archives: advent
Advent Day 9: Who Is This God?
I have a lot of friends who are not real interested in God. I totally get it. God has been portrayed to them as an angry tyrant, a wrathful, pissy bully who snubs some and blesses others, condemns men, women and children to death, condones murder, establishes rules no one can follow and judges thoseContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 9: Who Is This God?”
Advent Day 8: Armed with Strength
It is God who arms me with strength and keeps my way secure. Psalm 18:32 Outside the doctor’s office after we learned of our first miscarriage, our first heavy loss as a couple, Brandon held me close. Weather is unmoved by emotions; the cloudless sky shone bright and blue above, the asphalt radiating with summerContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 8: Armed with Strength”
Advent Day 7: Psalm 46
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city ofContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 7: Psalm 46”
Advent Day 6: Do Not Be Afraid
The day of my mom’s biopsy, after hearing what the doctor thought they found, I handed over my valet ticket and filled the waiting time with Google statistics and life expectancies. I felt my face hollow out and droop. I thanked the driver, ever forgetful about the tip, and drove, sobs and a faucet ofContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 6: Do Not Be Afraid”
Advent Day 5: The Earth Is Filled
I try to find one thing of marvel every morning on my way to work. Once you start this habit it isn’t easy to break; the earth brims over with beauty, from the early crisp air frosting blades of grass to fallen leaves on water, even the man-made architecture mirrors the majesty of my surroundingsContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 5: The Earth Is Filled”
Advent Day 4: Ghosts of Christmases Past
As the colored lights twinkled on the tree, the gifts were exchanged with Grandpa’s perfect scripted “Santa” on the labels to each of his seven children and their spouses and their children. Each of us cousins sat in our Christmas best, holiday dressed, lined up on the davenport with a pile of unopened presents inContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 4: Ghosts of Christmases Past”
Advent Day 3: Find Bright
I’ve been writing these advent posts knowing my mom will be in treatments for a cancer that is near impossible to cure and a hard one to fight throughout this advent season. There is a child who cries loudly across the hall from my mom’s room where she waits for her next dose and theContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 3: Find Bright”
Advent Day 2: The Advocate
We recently got a new puppy, Isabelle (Izzy for short), a schnauzer/westie mix that weighs just over six pounds right now, a white, wiry haired, wriggling little girl who is the size of a cat with the tendencies of a canine. When I open the utility room door in the morning, she cannons outContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 2: The Advocate”
Advent Day 1: God With Us
Today begins the first of a series of advent posts that consider the coming of Emmanuel, God with us, and what that means to those of us who came over 2,000 years after the Son of God was born in Bethlehem. In one of my favorite Hollywood prayers, Ricky Bobby begins his family meal, “DearContinueContinue reading “Advent Day 1: God With Us”
Sarah Marie Wells 