• Home
  • My Story
  • Bookish
  • Christian Teaching
  • Thoughts
  • Food For Thought
  • Kim Chronicles
Lilies from Heaven

Walking on Water

3/17/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
I am re-reading Walking on Water by Madeline L’Engle for inspiration. I have read a number of her books over the years but this one goes down as the all-time favorite. Did you know that she wrote over 50 books of fiction, poetry, autobiography, and non-fiction? I loved A Wrinkle in Time, The Genesis Trilogy, and The Rock that is Higher. She was an amazing writer, and I believe Walking on Water is one of her best. 

Here are some highlights from the book that have stayed with me for years. 
First, let’s start with stories. “A friend of mine, a fine storyteller, remarked to me, ‘Jesus was not a theologian. He was God who told stories.’ Yes, God told stories. St. Matthew says, ‘And he spoke many things unto them in parables …and without a parable spoke he not unto them.’ When the powers of this world denigrate and deny the value of story, life loses much of its meaning, and for many people in the world today, life has lost its meaning, one reason why every other hospital bed is for someone with a mental, not a physical illness.” (P. 56)

This quote struck me in the midst of the COVID chaos. I know many of us are feeling less than quite whole at the moment. Mentally, I am reading more stories and watching more dramas. I need stories. Any dip into a story is healing for the mind, and our minds definitely need something with all the isolation that has gone on.

Another quote from the book that stands out is from Canon Tallis. “One time I was talking to Canon Tallis, who is my spiritual director as well as friend, and I was deeply grieved about something, and I kept telling him how woefully I had failed someone I loved, failed totally, otherwise that person couldn’t have done the wrong that was so destructive. Finally he looked at me calmly, ‘Who are you to think you are better than our Lord? After all, he was singularly unsuccessful with a great many people.’ That remark, made to me years ago, has stood me in good stead, time and again. I have to try, but I do not have to succeed. Following Christ has nothing to do with success as the world sees success. It has to do with love.” (P. 64)

That one kind of hurt because I could relate to it so well. Lately I have been reflecting on how ineffective I have been in teaching, leading, encouraging, and sharing Christ with others. The good news is that I am not even expected to be effective. I am expected to be faithful. I have expected to love others.

The chapter entitled A Coal in the Hand was also insightful. “We have to be braver than we think we can be, because God is constantly calling us to be more than we are, to see through plastic sham to living, breathing reality, and to break down our defenses of self-protection in order to be free to receive and give love … Paul certainly wasn’t qualified to talk about love, Paul who had persecuted so many Christians as ruthlessly as possible; and yet his poem on love in I Corinthians has shattering power. It not a vague, genial sense of well-being that it offers us but a particularly, painful, birth-giving love … It is a listening, unself-conscious love, and many artists who are incapable of this in their daily living are able to find it as they listen to their work, that work which binds our wounds and heals us and helps us toward wholeness.” (P. 71-72)

This is true for me. Writing helps. It binds wounds. It helps me deal with reality. It moves me towards wholeness. It helps me enter the narrow gate of heaven. It shows me I can walk on water. 

The last chapter is Feeding the Lake. This last chapter is all about vulnerability. It starts by describing Christ’s vulnerability. “We are, ourselves, as little children, and therefore we are vulnerable. We might paraphrase Descartes to read, ‘I hurt; therefore I am.’ And because of the great affirmation of the Incarnation, we may not give in to despair.” (P. 229)

I hurt; therefore I am? In all honesty, this makes sense. We are all on the winding road called life. We all hurt from something. The question is whether we wallow in it or not. 

I may wallow in hurt for a while, but I do eventually pick myself up, dust myself off, and get on with life. I doubt I am making great art, but I know I am working through my pain.

Some of the greatest artists of the past were able to overcome their hurt with their art. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. “Milton could have retreated into passive blindness and self-pity instead of trying to patience of his three dutiful daughters and any visiting friends by insisitng that they write down what he dictated.” (P. 232).

Beethoven was going deaf when he wrote the Ninth Symphony. “Beethoven could have remained in the gloom of silence instead of forging the glorious sounds which he could never hear except in his artist’s imagination.” (P. 232). 
​
What does Madeline L’Engle discover? Over and over, her reflections come back to the fact that she is a Christian. She is an artist, and she is a Christian.

This book invites you to journey into mystery and beauty. She is earthy, passionate, and holy. She is worth following because she followed Jesus. This is so worth the read or re-read! 
Picture
0 Comments

Emboldened: A Vision for Empowering Women in Ministry

1/12/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
I am reading Emboldened: A Vision for Empowering Women in Ministry for a class I am taking to become a pastor with the Nazarene Church. This book is was like fine gold dust. Tara Beth Leach is easy to read, there is a lot of biblical substance, and I am enjoying her story of struggling to become who God created her to be. Leach prophetically rallies and cheers us on to a new imagination and hope while refusing to hide the truth or reality that it will be a difficult journey.

Part I sets the stage with a historical overview of courageous women who have paved the way for what is happening right now. Tara Beth also shares her own conversion, her ministry calling, and some interesting stories, like the first time she stopped the car to preach to the cornfields. There are many incredible stories throughout the book, and the one about love and forgiveness for “Joe” really hit me.

Part II contains practical tips and tells how different men and women have effectively emboldened Leach. For example, some female leaders lay aside their own interests giving space and encouragement during formational years.


She sees beyond the justice aspect and goes right into the missional part. “This, then, is not merely a justice issue: it’s a mission issue.” I had to think through this, and I think she is right. Leach is not using the traditional feminist arguments based on social justice and human rights as theological arguments for egalitarianism are not the focus here. She is passionate and motivated to get the job done. I like her approach to change because she intentionally steers us in a very different direction that is countercultural. Leach's values are more in line with the Sermon on the Mount, a cruciform life of discipleship that includes love and non-violence.

Emboldened is an incredible buffet of ideas courageously rolled out to help provide women a place at the table. It is rooted in Scripture and delivered by a pastor whose heart is passionately in love with Jesus and the church. Whatever your age, status or gender, whether you are a leader, educator or lay person, Emboldened empowers us to enlarge our vision. She believes it takes all kind to change and the world. EVERYONE can join and participate in God’s mission.

Leach concludes that an emboldened church is a wonder. "..in a world that suppresses and sidelines women, that sees women as sex objects, that unfairly pays women, and that unfairly criticizes women, the church has an opportunity to be a witness, to be a sign and a wonder in all of this. We have an opportunity to be a drastic alternative - to be a light."

Tara Beth Leach is gifted, and she is a leader. And she knows how to embolden women to break stereotypes, overcome opposition, and to invite women to step into their God-given giftedness as leaders for Christ’s mission.

Another great aspect of the book is her knowledge and love for the Bible. Although she never uses the phrase, “spiritual intimacy,” almost every page of her book breathes a palpable, authentic, and intimate journey of an evangelical woman’s response to the call of God in her life to full time pastoring. All the way from a teenager to her present love, a Nazarene Church in Pasadena California, "PazNaz". 

She's a trailblazer. In her words, "I have never seen a female senior pastor lead." Great point, what does that look like? 


We get a peek into her first few months of being a senior pastor at PazNaz where she faced some difficult conversations about gender issues. We get an inside look into her particular struggles as she yearns to become her unique self in the presence of significant others.

Spiritual intimacy is appropriate because we see page after page her love for Christ, her love for her husband, her love for her children, her love for Christ’s church. And, yes, her current particular love for her church, PazNaz. She nurtures a desire for us to want to see Christ through all these loves.

I have no doubt that other gifted women will see themselves in these struggles because of abounding and embedded stereotypes about female leaders in ministry.

This is book that fills a huge void. I highly recommend it.
0 Comments

The Wonder of the Greatest Gift

12/9/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
This lovely little Christmas tree has become a part of our Christmas traditions. Ann Voskamp wrote this book of devotions in response to requests from customers about The Greatest Gift, which I wrote about last week as a poem. The customers wanted something interactive for their children and shorter. This is what she came up with.

When you open it, the tree pops up. The little Christmas tree ornaments all correspond to the story told in the devotions.This is a must-have if you like Jesse tree traditions. These traditions tell the story of Jesus from the Old Testament into the New Testament. Each and every story relates to Jesus and his coming to earth as the greatest gift. 

And this is how it starts:

​"This is the most amazing story ever told about a family - about Jesus' family. The family includes a king named David - and it includes your family too! This is a story about a family that was big like a tree, with branches that reached to the sky!

But this family got into trouble. (You'll be surprised!) This family didn't always love God. (You'll see). And when that happened, it was like their family tree kind of crashed, leaving only a stump.

But guess what? The most fabulous, marvelous, miraculous thing happened. A Baby was born into that family - a Baby who like  a teeny, tiny leaf that grew out of that tree stump that looked dead. And Jesus like the biggest tree full of love you've ever seen! This was God's great plan all along. He wanted to wrap you in the warmest, most amazing love, like the biggest hug you can imagine.

But sometimes miracles don't start big, like a humungous tree. Sometimes miracles start out small, like a new life - or a tiny baby.

That's how it was with the miracle of God's son. Jesus comes to our little-yet-big miracles. He makes himself small - so small He can fit inside our own hearts. 

His love is all around us. Can you feel it?

His miracles are all around us. Can you see them?

His love goes down deep into our hearts, like roots. Can you even believe it?

Dear Jesus, thank you for the miracles all around me. Thank you for bringing good things out of things that look dead. Most of all, thank you for you unstoppable love for me! Amen."
0 Comments

Responsible Grace

11/10/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture

​I have never been comfortable with the claim that only certain people are selected by God for salvation and holiness. I believe that God wants all of us to believe, be saved, and become holy. Responsible Grace: Exploring John Wesley’s Theology is one of those books that explains John Wesley’s thought but does not polarize the views on this, a rarity in academic circles. 

I am taking a class entitled “Exploring John Wesley’s Theology” with Nazarene Bible College and we are required to read Responsible Grace: John Wesley’s Practical Theology. I read most of this book last week and I have to say that it is very good and very balanced. John Wesley was astute as finding a middle way between polarized views. This author, Randy L. Maddox, is also great at describing the different viewpoints and then describing Wesley’s viewpoint as somewhere between the two. Maddox has his own middle way, perhaps influenced by Wesley's thought. 

The book covers views a myriad of topics that all deserve exploration. It starts by going relating human knowledge and Wesley’s quadrilateral thought of scripture, reason, tradition, and experience. The second chapter explains the nature of God and Wesley’s view on God as Creator/Sustainer, provider, governor, physician, and judge. The third chapter is entitled Humanity’s Need and God’s Initial Restoring Grace. This chapter is the heart of John Wesley’s thought.

"Wesley's most fundamental conviction about human life was that we are created and dependent beings. Our very existence and all of our faculties are gifts of God's grace" (p. 67). It all begins with God, but we are responsible to respond to this grace. I do not believe we can do this perfectly, but we are called by him to respond.

​The fourth chapter is about Christ - The Iniative of Responsible Grace. It talks of Wesley’s view of Christ as atonement for sin, and explains Christ as a priest, a prophet, and a king or physician. This also touches on Christ’s nature. Other chapters include Wesley’s view on the Holy Spirit, grace and human response, how human response to grace builds on itself, the means of grace and response, and the triumph of responsible grace. 

As previously stated, I find that Dr. Maddox is very adept at avoiding predetermined positions and relating things as he finds them - a rare attribute that comes across openly and honestly. This book is a definite essential for those who would understand the real value of holiness doctrine and theology - and not be disheartened by those who simply dismiss it with cryptic shots from the hip after expounding their own views.

This is probably the only textbook I would recommend to the general public. Go ahead and pick up the classic work on John Wesley's theology. 
​
Picture
0 Comments

When Stars Are Scattered

10/13/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture

When Stars Are Scattered
 is one of those books that restores faith in humanity. 
It was a Goodreads-award nominee of 2020 for graphic novels/comics and deservedly so. It tells the story of adult Omar, now living in Arizona, of the FIFTEEN years he and his disabled brother Hassan spent in Dadaab, a refugee camp for Somali families displaced by the civil wars in their country in the nineties. Their farm burned down, their father was killed, and they never knew what happened to their mother. That is more than enough heartache right there.

This book was a recommendation from Sarah Mackenzie’s Read-Aloud-Revival website. It had been sitting on my bedside table for quite a while before I picked it up and started to read. I had been feeling sorry for myself. I was reading to escape my own reality and found myself in Omar’s reality in Somalia. 

The two little boys, Omar and Hassan, lived alone in the UN-sponsored camp in a hut, taken care of by a woman who "fostered" them. Omar was fortunate enought to be chosen to go to school and they were after many, many years of the very, very few who were chosen to be emigrated to the U.S.. Omar wanted to tell this story from his perspective as a boy growing up there. He is Muslim, so we learn of separate girls and boys cultural and religious experiences. We learn of constant hunger, terrible heat, and occasional good luck. Omar does not quit going to school, doing his chores, and putting one foot in front of the other, even when he didn't have high hopes that anything in his life would ever change.I recognized a story that is moving and hopeful, sad and frustrating, and is laced with both gentle humor and unflinching honesty.

And by the time this book ended, I was left with the sadness of knowing that there are people who have been separated from their homes and their families, who had even lost them to death. Whose lives have been on hold for many years. Waiting. 

Waiting is a theme in life. Waiting. But I knew all this before. It just became more personal. Personal, as knowing and seeing the ill- treatment of the men, women, and children at our own boarders.

It is probably better to think of this book not as a children’s book but as a religious experience, one of faith, love and hope. It is perfectly done for the middle school crowd (ages 9-12) on up, creating a better understanding of people who lived completely differently lives than we did, filling the reader up with empathy, and inspiring them to always keep dreaming while doing the work to catch those dreams.

It is important to consider that there are people (LOTS of people) actually living long-term in refugee camps. Whole lives. So this book was incredibly eye-opening to me and it deserves a wide audience. It's written with a lot of heart and it's just an unforgettable story.

This is the kind of book that stays with you, and I'm so glad it ended up in my hands.  I found it an engaging and inspiring story of brotherhood, friendship, foster families, education, perseverance, and hope. 
​

Picture
0 Comments

The Dot and the Line

9/9/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Dot and the Line by Norton Juster is one of those books that you keep coming back to. It is just so wonderfully written, funny, and it does get to the point as the line does eventually romance the dot.

Here we go…

Once upon a time there was a sensible straight line who was hopelessly in love with a beautiful dot. But the dot, though perfect in every way, only had eyes for a wild and unkempt squiggle. All of the line's romantic dreams were in vain, until he reimagines himself.

He reimagines himself a celebrated daredevil.

He reimagines himself as leader in world affairs.

He reimagines himself as a fearless law enforcement agent.

He reimagines himself as potent force in the world of art.

He reimagines himself as an international sportsman.

But he grows tired of the self deception. And then he discovers...angles!

Now, with newfound self-expression, he can be anything he wants to be--a square, a triangle, a parallelogram....And that's just the beginning!

He becomes mysterious, clever, dazzling.

He becomes profound, complex, erudite.

He becomes eloquent, versatile, and enigmatic. 

And the dot starts to notice how he has changed.

The dot realizes that what she thought she had with the squiggle was freedom was actually something else. She sees the squiggle as untidy and graceless. She sees anarchy and sloth were there once was love.

She goes to be with the line. 

"Do the one with all the funny curves again, honey," she cooes softly as they softly stroll away.

And they lived if not happy ever after at least reasonably.

This book is a gem. Norton Jester has won the Caldecott Medal. This story is hilarious and his others books are definitely going to make you smile! Check your local bookstore to pick it up.


0 Comments

The Lord Words

7/15/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
This absolute treasure of a book follows Sarah's Clarkson "This Beautiful Truth", which I wrote about last month. Sarah was writing about the problem of pain and how God's goodness can break into our darkness. Contemplating beautiful things, like this book, is just one way that God can break in and give some light to those of us who feel things a little too heavily. 

I also connected to this book because it is celebrating something lost within a language, a form of linguistic revival that I find very effective. 

Robert McFarlane, a professor from Cambridge, wrote this book when he found that the people who were compiling the Oxford English Dictionary were replacing words like acorn and adder with more computer related terms. It's a celebration of words that are no longer alive in the world of children.

It is filled with absolutely gorgeous illustrations of the lost word and an acrostic poem. Here are a few samples to get us started. This is the picture of the kingfisher.
​
Picture
And this is the text in the page beside the kingfisher...

Kingfisher: the colour-giver, fire-bringer, flame-flicker, river's quiver.

Ink-black bill, orange throat, and a quick blue back-gleaming feather-stream.

Neat and still it still on the snag of a stick, until with ...

Gold-flare, wing-fan, whipcrack the kingfisher - zingfisher, singfisher! -

Flashes down too fast to follow, quick and quicker carves its hollow

In the water, slings its arrow superswif to swallow

Stickleback or shrimp or minnow.

Halycon is its other name - also ripple-calmer, water nester,

Evening Angler, weather-teller, rainbringer and

Rainbow bird - that sets the stream alight with burn and glitter.


​Let's try another. Here is a picture of a dandelion.
​
Picture
And here is the accompanying text for dandelion...

Dazzle me, little sun-of-the-grass!

And spin me, tiny time-machine!                                                          (Tick-tock, sun clock, thistle & dock)

Now no longer known as 

Dent-de-Lion, Lion's Toothe or Windblow,                                                      (Tick-tock, sun clock, thistle & dock)

Evening Glow, Milkwitch or Parachute, so


Let new names take root, thrive and grow,                                            (Tick-tock, sun clock, rattle & dock)

I would make you some, such as Bane of Lawn Perfectionists


Or Fallen Star of the Football Pitch or Scatterseed, but

Never would I call you only, merely, simply, 'weed'.                                       (Tick-tock, sun clock, clover & dock)

It's a beautiful book illustrated by Jackie Morris. I would recommend this as a pick-me-up after a stress-filled day or as something to look at with young children. Children do look with awe and wonder and this book deserves that kind of attention! 

0 Comments

This Beautiful Truth

6/17/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
This book is destined to become a classic like The Return of the King (Tolkien), Placemaker (Purifoy), and A Gift from The Sea (Lindbergh). It's a well-written, grand treatise on the problem of pain from a sweet, kindred soul. 

Sarah Clarkson considers beauty as a means of grace, a gift from the God who loves and pursues broken souls. For her, she is thinking about it in terms of her own unusual form of the mental illness, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Her vulnerability shines through along with her beautiful prose, and she draws the reader into her journey through brokenness. She works through doubt and moves into restored faith. 


I love what she wrote about theodicy, a theological term for how to defend God's goodness in a world filled with evil and suffering.

"The first books of theodicy I read offered arguments that felt like lawyers' briefs. I felt that God was their client, in need of legal protection against the anguished accusations of those in pain" (p. 35).

"... I struggled through works on sovereignty and determinism, trying to understand theories in which God never loses control of any aspect of the world and yet cannot be blamed for its evil" (p. 35).

I, too, have felt that God allows one to suffer and have wondered if it was necessary for the plot of His (Jesus') story. 

And she brings up Job, that Old Testament hero that had questions for God on his own suffering.

"Job is a drama of questions, a story that echoes with honest anguish. Yet answers are never given in the listed, scientific way we think they ought to be in the modern world" (p. 36).

"God breaks into Job's darkness by actually allowing himself to be summoned by Job's cries for justice. He allows Job to question and grieve, to yearn and weep. But what he offers is not an explanation but an encounter. For Job is summoned to behold God's goodness in the staggering pageant of creation, one so mighty in its loveliness that at its end, Job considers himself answered" (p. 37).

There are other quotes that I fell in love with. Here is one. 


"The visions set forth in the books (and paintings and songs) we turn to for hope are offerings of love, given in the recognition that we truly are members of one another. We all bear the same hunger for eternity. We all walk forward in the dark of doubt, reaching for something we can’t quite name. We all walk blind and grieved in our suffering. We yearn to discover who we are meant to become, what it is we hunger to find in those midnight hours when our hearts will not be sated. But the artists and storytellers and makers of song offer the inner vision they have known as a sign of hope to the hungering world. They invite us into the sacred, inmost rooms of their minds and let us stand at the windows of their own imaginations where we glimpse, ah, wonders we might never have dreamed alone” (p. 187-188).

She also writes of homemaking. A friend offers clues to healing.

“She taught me the pleasure of taking the spaces we have (not the ones we wish we had) and making them beautiful, for room by room she made that little old house the work of her artistry. I watched her design a stained-glass window and save for it for weeks. And plan a room of built-in bookshelves and oversee their building for months…

‘I guess this is beauty enough for me,’ she said. And I think that was the orientation of her heart, to open herself so wholly to receive the goodness of God in whatever place she found herself that there was no such thing as limitation or lack. There was just her willing heart, sated by the beauty God gave. I know there must have been darkness—moments when her burdens must have weighed like lead upon her shoulders—yet those did not define her story” (p. 197-198).


Theology, story, music, photography, and people are all a means of grace. Her story, her craftsmanship, is exquisite.

Her strength lies in her knowledge of books, art, and music where she has found the beauty of God. The bottom line is that profound suffering can make God seem distant, even absent, to our souls, and that can shackle our ability to engage the Bible directly, soulfully, and personally. That said, all the beauties of art, music, creation, story, liturgy, and human love are but shadows of that truest beauty and most beautiful truth. 

I would recommend this artful read to those interested in Christianity, to those touched by mental illness, to Christians suffering other kinds of "dark nights of the soul" that make the Bible feel like someone else's love letter, and to her followers who appreciate her. On Instagram she is @sarahwanders and you can appreciate the beauty in her life through her pictures.


0 Comments

Mr. Putter and Tabby Catch the Cold

5/21/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
Here is another installment of the absolutely delightful series Mr. Putter and Tabby. I have read and reread these books to my children as bedtime stories. They are just sweet, fun, and very funny. And you will get a warm-hearted feeling when you are done the book. The boys and I read one chapter a night.

In this one, Mr. Putter and Tabby are enjoying the winter snow fall while drinking tea and eating warm muffins. Mr. Putter goes out to get the newspaper from the mailbox because he wants to read the funnies, but he forgets his hat. He hopes he does not get a cold, but, alas, he does. 

And then he remembers. He remembers when he was a kid. He remembers the warm soup, minty tea, and adventure books that his mother gave him. He is remembering all this as Mrs. Teaberry, the next door neighbor, calls. 

Mrs. Teaberry thinks that Mr. Putter needs company, but Mr. exclaims that you do "not want to be old and catch a cold"! She calls back a while later and explains that Zeke, Mrs. Teaberry's dog, is going to come over.

Zeke comes through the snow, wagging his tail and carrying a thermos on his back. Mr. Putter checks the thermos and is delighted to find chicken soup inside. 

They are enjoying the chicken soup when Zeke comes back with another thermos of something on his back. Mr. Putter checks. This time he smells peppermint tea with honey sticks and he declares, "Yippee!"

Mr. Putter is remembering when he was sick with his mother many years ago. He decides to call Mrs. Teaberry and ask. 

"Would you perhaps have ...?" asks Mr. Putter.

"Would I perhaps have ...?" replies Mrs. Teaberry.

"An adventure book?" asks Mr. Putter.

"Of course!" says Mrs. Teaberry! "But the book really belongs to Zeke. It's about a brave dog. It's Zeke's favorite."

"Would he loan it to me?"

"Only if he gets to come along." 

Mr. Putter stops and thinks. Could he handle Zeke and a cold? 

"Of course Zeke can come with his book," says Mr. Putter. 

"Wonderful!"

A few minutes later, Zeke is at the door with a book on his back. What do you think Zeke, Tabby, and Mr. Putter do for the rest of the day? ;)


Again, this series is a delight! Enjoy! 
0 Comments

Mr. Putter & Tabby Pick the Pears

4/21/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
The boys and I had some great giggles as we read this delightful book! The boys enjoyed the word play in it. I just enjoyed the story. It is always fun when there is a return to childhood!

It's autumn, and Mr. Putter is enjoying fall things. Juicy apples, juicy tomatoes, hot apple cider, and pear jelly. How is he going to get pear jelly?

Mr. Putter attempts to climb a ladder, but that results in cranky legs. Who wants cranky legs? Not him. He decides for another route with Tabby, his cat, watching. 

Mr. Putter decides that a slingshot is the answer! He is going to knock pears off the trees. So, he goes into the house and makes a slingshot with an old pair of underwear that has good elastic. In fact, it is very good elastic!

He picks up an apple when he is back outside and puts it in the slingshot. He aims and it goes right over his house! He is smiling, and he picks up another apple and puts it in the slingshot. Zing! It flies over the house. Mr. Putter loves this!

He loves this so much he spends the afternoon sending apples over his house and into the neighbor's yard! Tabby, of course, falls asleep. And the next day, they do not have pear jelly. They are moping on the porch when Mrs. Teaberry, the neighbor, shows up.

"When I woke up this morning, there were dozens of apples in my front yard. And I don't even have an apple tree." Mr. Putter looked at Tabby. "Amazing!" he said. "So I made an apple feast!" said Mrs. Teaberry. She has turnovers, apple pies, apple jellies, and a gallon of hot apple cider with cinnamon sticks. They sit down, eat, and then an idea hits Mr. Putter. What do you think he is going to do about the pears up in the tree? :)

This series by Cynthia Rylant and Arthur Howard (illustrator) is just a delightful romp into Mr. Putter's second childhood and all of the fun that a pet brings into your life! A rather delightful read!

0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author

    Storyteller, 
    Glory Seeker,
    Grace Dweller,
    ​English Teacher.

    Archives

    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    September 2016
    April 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    February 2014
    October 2013
    November 2012
    September 2012
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    September 2011

    Categories

    All
    Adder
    Advent
    Advent Art
    Advent Poetry
    Adventure
    Aesceticism
    Africa
    Agency
    Aging
    American South
    Anne Bogel
    Apples
    Art
    Artful Reading
    Asia
    Barn
    Beautiful Bride
    Beauty
    Beauty From Brokenness
    Being Different
    Bells
    Benefits Of Reading
    Bethlehem
    Betrayal
    Birds
    Birth Of Christ
    Birth Of Jesus
    Blessings
    Book-of-luke
    Bread
    Brokenness And Blessing
    Cat
    Charles Williams
    Childhood
    Christian Beauty
    Christianity
    Christmas
    Christmas Narrative
    Christmas Poetry
    Classic Novels
    Colds
    Community
    Compassion
    Creation
    Creativity
    Cross
    C.S. Lewis
    Dandelion
    Deaconess
    Deliciousness
    Easter
    E.B. White
    Empathy
    Fact
    Fall/autumn
    Fellowship
    Firenship
    Food
    God's Unconditional Heart
    Gospel
    Grace
    Grace Upon Grace
    Gratitude
    Great Storytelling
    Growing Older
    Happiness
    Healing
    Holy Week
    Homecoming
    Hope
    Hospitality
    Humility
    Jesus
    Job
    John Wesley
    Joy
    J.R.R. Tolkien
    Kingfisher
    Korean
    Lent
    Light
    Linda Sue Park
    Lost Boys Of Sudan
    Lost Words
    Love
    Malcolm Guite
    Mary
    Mathematics
    Memoir
    Mermaid Child
    Mission Of The Church
    Mr. Putter And Tabby
    Multiculturalism
    Music
    Mystery
    Nazarene Church
    Night
    One Thousand Gifts
    Peace
    Pears
    Perseverance
    Picture Books
    Poetry
    Practical Theology
    Prayer
    Problem Of Pain
    Quest
    Reading
    Reading Aloud
    Reading Life
    Refugee Issues
    Responsible Grace
    Salvation
    Savior Prince
    Screen Time
    Simple Living
    Slingshot
    Snow
    Song-writing
    Spirit
    Stories
    Sudan
    Suffering
    Tennyson
    Theology
    Trees
    Truth
    Virginity
    Waiting
    Water
    Weeping
    Wesleyan Holiness
    Widow
    Wine
    Winter
    Woldweller
    Women
    Women In Leadership
    Wood
    Word
    Woundedness
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly