Shade Tree Stories
musings and memories rooted in family and faith
Light Fights and Preparation
Perhaps you’ve heard of the great thermostat wars…the battle each household must fight over who controls the temperature of the house. We fight that one in our house, but we have an additional battle– the Christmas lights fight. I love Christmas decorations. I go all out. I have lights all over our house, and not…
God’s Medicine for Worry
For the past several years, I’ve been expanding my creative outlets and thinking about what it means to create. Those of you who know me would probably say that you’ve always considered me to be a creative person, but I never saw myself quite like that. I think that’s because I was comparing my creations…
The House My Grandfather Built
(This is an update to a devotional I wrote two years ago.) I can’t believe it’s been two years since I watched the demolition of my grandparents’ house. It still doesn’t seem real sometimes. My family has lived in Kentucky since the days of Daniel Boone. In fact, as some of the first settlers, our…
Telling Stories
“Tell me a story! Tell me a story!” When I was a little girl visiting my Granny, I often asked her to tell me a story, particularly at night after I climbed into bed. Granny told the best stories, and they were usually silly ones she made up, as opposed to just telling me true…
Thoughts on Alexander Hamilton’s Bio; Can we keep this republic?
I’ve been reading the very in-depth biography of Alexander Hamilton that was the inspiration for the hit Broadway musical about his life. It’s been quite the educational read. I’ve learned so much about our nation’s early days, and I’ve also kept a journal of all the words the author used which I had to look…
Ministry of Presence: what I learned sitting with a dying woman, part 2
In Part 1, I mentioned Job and his three friends who came to sit with him during his time of intense suffering and grief. For seven days and nights, they ministered to him with their presence. But soon, they began to offer Job their opinions on why he was experiencing these tragedies. I imagine that…
Ministry of Presence: what I learned sitting with a dying woman (part 1)
Recently I was asked to pray with a nursing home resident who was nearing the end of her life. Other than her name, the only thing that I knew about her before I arrived was that she was in her fifties though she looked like a much older woman, and that she had had a…
R-e-s-p-e-c-t; What does it mean?
I’m convinced that most people today conflate the concept of manners and respect, and I do not believe that the two are the same. The Oxford online dictionary defines manners as “a person’s outward bearing or way of behaving toward others.” Think of it like saying “please” and “thank you,” “yes ma’am” or “no sir,”…
The Guitar
My grandfather and his brother Nathan were musicians in a band that toured. Well, actually, it was just the two of them, and by “toured” I mean they played the fiddle and guitar at parties and barn dances. This was rural Kentucky pre-World War II. They wore their best suits and provided the entertainment for…
Sitting In a Cathedral
For Mother’s Day my husband took me to my grandparents’ farm. And when I say “farm,” I mean 110 acres that includes fields for growing crops, an old barn that used to house tobacco, woods where you can still see the old wagon trail if you look closely enough, and a creek that cuts through…
No Easter Photos
When I was a little girl, there was no question that my family would spend Easter weekend with my grandparents and attend Sunday church services with them. This also meant that my sister and I would wear frilly spring dresses and our patent leather white shoes. Some years I had dainty little gloves, a hat,…
My Way
I had a very proud momma moment last week. I hopped in my daughter’s car for a short ride across town and, as she always does before she puts the car in drive and after she puts on her seatbelt, she turned on her music. Then she said, “This is the song I’ve been listening…
Stubbornly Leaning
I was asked to write a devotional for a ladies group–“Growing in 2024.” Here’s what I came up with. (Rather, here’s what I think God helped me write.) If you know me even a little, or if you’ve read much of my writing, you know I love trees. It’s difficult to pinpoint why I love…
Hot Dogs Instead of Steak
This Christmas was my second year singing Handel’s Messiah with a large choir and orchestra. If you aren’t familiar with The Messiah, it’s an oratorio (similar to an opera but without the theatrics), written in 1741 by a composer named George Friderik Handel. It tells the story of the coming of Christ through some of…
It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas
I had coffee with a friend the morning after Christmas. “It just didn’t feel like Christmas this year,” she said. Many of her family members had been sick, and she was exhausted from working her new job and trying to take care of everyone. On my drive home, I started thinking, “What does Christmas feel…
Shouting Alleluias and Cuss Words
I’ve been absent for a bit. Sorry about that. I had a long bout of a Covid-like virus in November and I’ve been scrambling to catch up ever since. I didn’t feel like writing anything until just recently, and now my brain is lighting up with ideas. Here’s the first one….. We just had a…
Being Present
I recently enjoyed a much-needed vacation to Hilton Head Island. I was blessed to spend some time relaxing on the beach and bike-riding on the trails through the pine trees and live oaks. The beach was fairly empty, with only a handful of people setting up their chairs and umbrellas each day. At times it…
What test scores and transcripts won’t tell you and letting God do the talking
My daughter is in the process of applying to vet schools. It’s a highly competitive field, and though there is currently a national shortage of veterinarians, there are only so many slots in each university’s program. Maybe because I was Riley’s teacher for so many years, I feel extremely responsible for her performance in college,…
It Matters So Little
Presidential hopefuls take the debate stage to brag about their accomplishments and bluster about the incompetencies of their opponents. At the same time, a frail elderly woman lies in bed waiting for hours for someone to come change her and clean her up; no one asks her about her accomplishments in her life before age…
Singing Children’s Songs
No summer of my childhood would have been complete without Vacation Bible School. Wafer cookies wrapped in a napkin, styrofoam cups filled with Kool-Aid, crafts in the church basement, and memory work competitions that drove me to spend every afternoon of the week cramming Bible verses into my brain so I could win a trophy…
Why do I have to learn this?
It’s back to school time! I don’t care how old I get, I’m always going to love the excitement that this season brings–the prospect of all the new things… learning new and fascinating ideas, making new friends, and relishing in the joy of new lunch boxes, freshly sharpened pencils, and colorful new folders. (I love…
Christmas in July
“What about having Christmas in July?” That was a recent text I received from a nursing home volunteer. She had been crocheting teddy bears as Christmas gifts for the care home residents that attend our weekly Sunday afternoon gatherings, and she had completed them much earlier than expected. As someone who will gladly use any…
Welcome to the shade!
My grandparents lived in a house with no central air conditioning. As spoiled as I am today, I probably wouldn’t last one summer afternoon inside their house. Of course, we didn’t stay inside the house on hot summer days. The house sat in a flat little clearing that was surrounded with trees–God’s natural air conditioning!…