Daily Devotionals — Ruby's Kitchen Table

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

Watercolor of a kitchen table in morning light with an open Bible, a cup of coffee, reading glasses, and a brass candlestick, cream cabinets and golden fields through the window.

devotional

The light on the table

"I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me." — Habakkuk 2:1 Monday morning and the light through the kitchen window was not where it was last Monday. It was lower. Just enough

Watercolor of a small stone church with a white steeple, its wooden doors open on a summer morning, with a shade tree, parked cars, and small-town houses nearby.

devotional

How great thou art

"Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell. Put things in order, listen to my appeal, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you." — 2 Corinthians 13:11 I was at church this morning and the summer is almost over and

Watercolor of a farmhouse kitchen table with a floral birthday card, a cup of coffee, and a telephone handset, with morning sunlight filling the kitchen.

devotional

Forty-nine

"Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure." — Psalm 16:9 Becca is forty-nine today and I called her this morning before she left for work. She answered on the second ring, which is Becca. She has always answered on the

Watercolor of a garden in late August with tired tomato vines on stakes, a few last fruits, a dirt path between rows, and goldenrod along the fence under a hazy sky.

devotional

The garden is letting go

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" — Micah 6:8 The garden is letting go and I am letting it. I went out

Watercolor of an empty Sunday school classroom with small wooden chairs in a circle, a tin of crayons on a low table, a felt board with paper figures, and sunlight from the window.

devotional

The sower

"We will tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done." — Psalm 78:4 The curriculum is spread across the kitchen table and I am looking at it the way I look at the garden in

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