Ruby Hayes - Ruby's Kitchen Table (Page 4)

Watercolor of a screened porch before dawn with a rocking chair, a steaming mug and Bible on a side table, and a misty garden and pale horizon through the screens.

devotional

After the words run out

"And this is the boldness we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us." — 1 John 5:14 I have been praying the same prayer for a long time now and I am beginning to think the prayer is changing me

devotional

Eggs and toast

"I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." — Psalm 37:25 Tuesday morning and I am in the booth by the front window and Linda has already brought the coffee. She did not ask. She

Watercolor view through a doorway into a sunlit farmhouse kitchen with a wooden table, cream cabinets, a red stand mixer, and afternoon light across the hardwood floor.

devotional

The summer Becca was four

"But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart." — Luke 2:19 There was a summer when Becca was four and Hannah was not yet born and the house was a different house than it is now. Not a different house. The same house. The

Watercolor of a white two-story farmhouse at evening with a single lit window, a dog on the porch, a gravel drive, shade trees, and a twilight sky with stars.

Sunday Letter

Sunday Evening

"Nevertheless I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me with honor." — Psalm 73:23-24 It is Sunday evening and the middle of August is behind me. I am in the chair by the

Watercolor interior of a small stone church during a summer service, with wooden pews, a few congregants, a cross on the front wall, and sunlight through tall windows.

devotional

The rehearsal notice

"It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night." — Psalm 92:1-2 I was at Trinity this morning and the bulletin board in the narthex

Watercolor of a wooden shelf lined with sealed mason jars of golden peach preserves and red tomato sauce, above a painted cabinet in warm window light.

devotional

The top shelf

"Is wisdom with the aged, and understanding in length of days?" — Job 12:12 The jar was on the top shelf and I reached for it and my shoulder told me something I did not ask it to say. It was the peach preserves, the last jar from

Watercolor of a screened porch at dusk with a rocking chair and draped blanket, a potted lemon tree, warm light from the doorway, and a starlit sky over the garden.

devotional

Darker at six

"Those of steadfast mind you keep in peace—in peace because they trust in you." — Isaiah 26:3 I noticed this morning that the house is darker at six than it was a month ago. Not by much. A few minutes, maybe. But I came downstairs and the

Watercolor of a late-August garden with drying bean vines, staked tomatoes, and squash plants along a dirt path, with open fields and a hazy tree line beyond the fence.

devotional

What the garden gives

"You crown the year with your bounty; your wagon tracks overflow with richness." — Psalm 65:11 The garden this morning was quieter than it has been in weeks and I stood at the edge of it and noticed. The beans are done. I knew they were finishing when

Watercolor overhead view of an open Bible with ribbon markers on a wooden table, with reading glasses, a cup of coffee, a crocheted doily, and sunlight through a curtain.

devotional

Dwelling place

"Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God." — Psalm 90:1-2 I read the Ninetieth Psalm this morning and I stopped at

Watercolor of an open journal with a fountain pen on a wooden table beside a cup of coffee and a lit oil lamp, with a view of rolling hills at dusk through the window.

devotional

Dear Hannah

"The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." — Zephaniah 3:17 Dear Hannah, You were three years old and you put

Watercolor of a farmhouse kitchen in morning light with a cat asleep on the windowsill, a steaming mug and fresh tomatoes on the counter, and the back door open to the garden.

devotional

The light this morning

"I sought the LORD, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my fears." — Psalm 34:4 The light through the kitchen window this morning was different and I sat with it for a while before I opened the journal. It is not the angle. It is

Watercolor of a farmhouse windowsill at dusk with a closed Bible and reading glasses, a lit lamp casting warm light, and a sunset sky with fireflies beyond the trees.

Sunday Letter

Sunday Evening

"And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful." — Colossians 3:15 It is Sunday evening and the first week of August is behind me. I am in the chair by the lamp and