Ruby Hayes is a retired schoolteacher and widow from Lexington, Virginia. Most mornings she is up before the house, writing at her kitchen table with her Bible open and Earl's old mug full of coffee.
devotional
"For God alone my soul waits in silence; from him comes my salvation." — Psalm 62:1 There are mornings after something that feel like the first page of a new week, and this is one. The anniversary was yesterday and it was what it was and this morning
devotional
"Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God." — Ruth 1:16 I cut roses this morning from the side of the house and put them in a jar on the kitchen table. They
Sunday Letter
"The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage." — Psalm 16:6 It is Sunday evening and the house is quiet and the light outside is going gold the way it does in June when the day takes its time leaving. I
devotional
"Unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." — Matthew 18:3 Church was quieter this morning without the children downstairs. The Sunday school class is done until September, and the fellowship hall was empty when I walked past it, and the
devotional
"Give thanks in all circumstances." — 1 Thessalonians 5:18 I bought strawberries at the farm stand on the way back from town this morning. Two quarts, and they are sitting on the kitchen counter in their green cardboard boxes, and the kitchen smells like June. I am going
devotional
"To every thing there is a season." — Ecclesiastes 3:1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. I have been thinking about this verse the way you think about a piece of furniture you have had so long you
devotional
"You cause the grass to grow for the cattle, and plants for people to use, to bring forth food from the earth." — Psalm 104:14 Two weeks ago the garden was all promise and no proof. This morning there is proof. The beans have come up properly, a
devotional
"Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart. Recite them to your children and talk about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise." — Deuteronomy 6:6-7 I was on the back
devotional
"It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." — 1 Corinthians 13:7 I called Hannah this morning to wish her a happy birthday. She is forty-one today, which is a number that does not seem possible and yet there it is. I
devotional
"O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch." — Psalm 5:3 Something has shifted in the mornings and I cannot tell you exactly when it happened. A week ago the coffee was still a warm thing
"If you sit down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet." — Proverbs 3:24 It is Sunday evening and I am in the living room in the chair by the lamp, which is where I have been on Sunday evenings for
"Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening." — 1 Samuel 3:10 The children were already thinking about summer before I got the lesson started this morning. This is the last Sunday before the break, and they knew it, and their bodies knew it before their minds did. They