Ruby Hayes - Ruby's Kitchen Table

Watercolor view through a farmhouse window with sheer curtains and a potted plant, looking down the gravel drive to a yellow school bus on the road and blue mountains beyond.

The school buses

"Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening." — 1 Samuel 3:10 The school buses are back. I saw three of them this morning from the kitchen window, yellow and slow on the road past the house, stopping at corners where children were standing with backpacks and new shoes

Watercolor of rows of sealed mason jars of canned tomatoes on a kitchen counter beside fresh heirloom tomatoes, a copper canning pot, and a sunlit window.

Fourteen jars

"I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being. May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the LORD." — Psalm 104:33-34 The kitchen counter has fourteen jars on it and

Watercolor of worn leather boots on a brick sidewalk in a small town, with fallen autumn leaves, storefronts, a church steeple, and blue mountains in the distance.

I will be at the store

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." — Exodus 33:14 I was thinking this morning about my father and the first day of school. He walked me. Every September, every year, from kindergarten through fifth grade, my father walked me down Oak Street

Watercolor close-up of a half-finished cup of coffee and a cordless telephone on a wooden counter beside a striped dish towel and a curtained window.

September first

"Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." — Galatians 6:2 Dan called this morning at seven-fifteen, the way he does on Tuesdays. I was already up. I had already had my coffee and read my verses and

Watercolor of a farmhouse kitchen through an open doorway with an open Bible and mug on the table, a brass lamp, cream cabinets, and a curtained window showing a pink sky.

The silence was the prayer

"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words." — Romans 8:26 The last morning of August and the coffee is hot and the Bible is open

Watercolor of a farmhouse living room at sunset with a green wingback chair, a closed book, a lit lamp on a side table, a woodstove, bookshelves, and sunset through an open window.

Sunday Letter

Sunday Evening

"Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." — 1 Peter 5:7 It is Sunday evening and August is almost over. I am in the chair by the lamp and the windows are open and the air tonight has a different quality than it did

Watercolor of a white clapboard country church with a steeple beside a two-lane road, a few cars in the gravel lot, a shade tree, and blue mountains in the distance.

devotional

The last Sunday of August

"O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you." — Psalm 63:1 The last Sunday of August and I drove to church this morning with the windows down. The air was warm but it was a different warm

Watercolor of a screened porch at twilight with a ladder-back chair and draped blanket, a potted lemon tree, the garden through the screens, and a purple evening sky.

devotional

Saturday evening in August

"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." — Lamentations 3:22-23 Saturday evening and the light is going and I am sitting on the back porch and the evening is the

Watercolor of a Sunday school classroom with small wooden chairs in a circle, a chalkboard easel, children's artwork on the bulletin board, a cross on the wall, and sunlight from the windows.

devotional

Olivia

"All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the prosperity of your children." — Isaiah 54:13 I was thinking this morning about Olivia. She lives four hours south of here, in Charlotte, with Dan and Beth, and she started fourth grade this month

Watercolor overhead close-up of an open Bible with ribbon markers on a wooden table, with a cup of coffee, reading glasses, and a leather journal with a pen.

devotional

A lamp to my feet

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." — Psalm 119:105 I have had a Bible on this table every morning for longer than I can remember and the pages fall open to certain places the way a door that has been

Watercolor of a late-summer garden in morning light with the white farmhouse behind, dried bean plants, ripening tomatoes, zinnias, and golden fields beyond the fence.

devotional

The garden this morning (VII)

"The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how." — Mark 4:26-27 The garden this morning looked like it had made up

Watercolor close-up of large heirloom tomatoes on brown paper on a farmhouse kitchen counter, with a bowl of cherry tomatoes, a red stand mixer, and a sink by the window.

devotional

The tomatoes

"The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims his handiwork." — Psalm 19:1 There was a knock at the back door this morning and Biscuit got there before I did. It was Henry Beale, who was Earl’s friend for thirty years and who