The Beach Spider Lily
Years ago, my sister-in-law, Donice, pruned her beach spider lilies by dividing the bulbs at the root ball. She gave me a few bulbs to plant at our river cabin. “They don’t need any...
Tilling Words Blog
Keep Climbing
My grandson came flying up the beach house stairs with a beautiful shell clutched tightly in his hand. He couldn’t wait to show us his treasure. Just a few steps from the top, his...
Broken Crayons Still Color
The restaurant overlooked the bayside of the peninsula. As the evening sun settled lower in the sky, the water shimmered like sheets of gold. Long rows of pelicans glided just above the surface, each...
Storm on the Horizon
God has always spoken most clearly to my heart at the beach. The Gulf lay before me like a lullaby. Gentle waves rolled onto the shore with quiet confidence, each one surrendering itself to...
Service Isn’t Always Fun
I used to have two pear trees in our yard, the hard kind of pears meant more for cooking and canning than for eating fresh. They were faithful trees. Every season they produced, and...
My Fruit
I went to the grocery store the other day and saw something I have watched for years. There is a gentleman who works in the produce section, steady and kind, always doing the quiet...
Hidden Thorns
This year on our annual dove hunt in George West—a trip my husband and I take every September with my brother-in-law Kit and his wife Marsha—I had no idea God was going to teach...
Try God!
Not long ago, I visited with a man who had lived a pretty rough life. He said he had accepted Christ when he was young, but as an adult he drifted—bad decisions, bad habits,...
Strong Spiritual Current
Yesterday afternoon’s clouds gave way to today’s brilliant, cool morning, one that could only be described as a gift for this usually humid corner of Texas. Wrapped in a light jacket, I walked through...
Spiritual Warnings
My dad called later than he normally would in the evening. As soon as I answered, I heard his smoke alarm blaring in the background. He said he couldn’t get it to go off....