Ruby's daily devotionals — short morning reflections on Scripture and the small mercies of an ordinary day.
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"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
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"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
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"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
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"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
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"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
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"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
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"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." — Romans 15:13 Saturday morning and I am thinking about my children's kitchens. I have been in all
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"Bear one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." — Galatians 6:2 Helen Marsh brought a casserole to the house on Tuesday evening. She did not call first. She just appeared at the screen door with a Pyrex dish and
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"So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; for those who enter God's rest also cease from their labors as God did from his." — Hebrews 4:9-10 I read the word rest this morning in Hebrews and I stopped. Not because
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"We love because he first loved us." — 1 John 4:19 The chair across from me at the kitchen table is empty this morning, the same as every morning for the past seven years. I do not move it. Some people would. Some people would push it in
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"Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." — 1 Peter 5:7 Biscuit and I walked this morning the same route we have walked for years. Down the driveway to the road, left past the Hendersons' fence where the forsythia finished blooming weeks ago,
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"I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ." — Philippians 1:6 A woman stopped me at the grocery store last week. She was maybe forty, with a toddler in the