Daily Devotionals — Ruby's Kitchen Table

Watercolor of a round wall clock reading six-fifteen beside a dark kitchen window before dawn

devotional

The week ahead

"I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry." — Psalm 40:1 The week has begun and I know where it is going. All Saints is Sunday. I have been thinking about it since Pastor Holloway mentioned it yesterday, not with dread and

Watercolor of children's crayon drawings of a father running to his son on a Sunday school table, crayons and a ring of small chairs

devotional

The father watched

"But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him." — Luke 15:20 The prodigal son this morning, and I told it the way I always tell it, which is from

Watercolor of a steaming white coffee mug on a weathered porch railing, a gray October lane and bare trees beyond

devotional

A kind of readiness

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me." — Psalm 51:10 Saturday morning and the house is clean and I am tired. I cleaned yesterday afternoon — swept the kitchen, mopped the hallway, wiped the counters, scrubbed the bathroom sink,

Watercolor of a farmhouse sink under a window looking out on a brown pasture, an open Bible on the table in front

devotional

Green pastures

"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul." — Psalm 23:1-3 (KJV) I have read this psalm ten thousand times and this morning it stopped me

Watercolor of an old hardware store counter with a brass cash register and a wooden stool, a potbellied stove glowing at the back

devotional

The store on Main Street

"The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage." — Psalm 16:6 The hardware store on Main Street is a different store now. It has been a different store for twenty years — it is a gift shop that sells candles and hand-

Watercolor of a coffee mug beside a white farmhouse sink under a window filled with pale washed-out gray sky

devotional

A weather report

"The LORD is near to the brokenhearted, and saves the crushed in spirit." — Psalm 34:18 I do not talk about grief every day. There are people who think I do, because they read what I write and a person who writes about a dead husband writes about

Watercolor of a weathered fence post with a slack strand of wire across a brown stubble pasture under a gray sky

devotional

The fence line

"The earth is the LORD's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." — Psalm 24:1 I walked the property this morning. I do not do it every week the way Earl did, but I do it when the weather

Watercolor of an old yellow Labrador asleep on a rag rug in front of a lit woodstove on a brick hearth

devotional

The morning is ordinary

"O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I plead my case to you, and watch." — Psalm 5:3 The week after a big week is always quieter than I expect. Earl's birthday was Wednesday. I wrote about the fence and the

Watercolor of a brown metal folding chair in a Sunday school room with a child's crayon drawing of two stick figures on the seat

devotional

The boy wins again

"Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs."* — Matthew 19:14 Every child in the room already knew how the story ended, which is the best kind of Bible story to

Watercolor of a row of filled pint jars of apple butter with handwritten labels on a farmhouse kitchen counter

devotional

The whole day

"From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the LORD is to be praised."* — Psalm 113:3 Short prayer this morning. Just the list and the minute and done. The week is almost over and the week was a big week and this morning

Watercolor of a faded handwritten card propped on a kitchen windowsill above the sink, autumn fields outside

devotional

When you pass through

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you."* — Isaiah 43:2 This verse came back to me this week the way a song comes back — not because I went looking for it but because it was

devotional

Apple butter

"This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."* — Psalm 118:24 The apple butter is on the stove. I started it this morning at seven with a bushel of apples from the tree in the back yard and by