It’s become tradition for me to feel a sudden rush of poetic inspiration in the early days of spring and then churn out something bursting with hope, enthusiasm, and seasonal nature imagery.
This is what happened when I succumbed to the poetry bug this spring.
the hope that froze over in my heart this winter –
stagnant, stubborn, tenacious –
has thrilled to the breath of spring
and gurgles wild,
dripping from my fingertips, transforming me
to a Midas of sorts,
for all that I touch becomes
gilded in gold even as it lies dead…
for I know the Man whose voice reversed decay,
whose very breath filled the lungs Death claimed,
whose heart will never cease now to beat
for the ones whose fingertips have grazed
His hem and now lie panting,
a s t o n i s h e d
in the wake of His mercy.
staggering wonder of wonders…
He has not passed me by.
the power that pours out of Him
has not staunched this years-long flow of grief,
but it has sweetened the cup I must drink
to the dregs, for –
because of Him – His Father’s cup of wrath
shall never touch my lips.
(oh, glory!)
it is joy with Him now
to share in His sufferings:
to weep with Him for His church,
to ache with Him for His kingdom,
to pray with Him for His Father’s will
to outpace the snowmelt to the ends of the earth.
He is good,
He is good,
He is good…
He has not passed us by.
Oh, what a gift it is to feel the world coming alive again and to be reminded that we have come alive again in Christ…and will come alive again in Him. What a gift it is to walk with Him.
Stay the course!
❤ Laurel
P.S. I thought it would be worth noting that if you love poetry with both spring-flavored nature imagery and a Lent+Easter bent, you can find that in Beauty Even Here.✨
One of my dear friends just published a children’s book, and I loved it so much I just had to dedicate an entire post to it. With Easter coming up, it seemed like an especially good time to share, as this book would be a delightful Easter-time gift for the little ones in your life.
// the blurb //
On a big farm, the cows are all loved by their Farmer—including Tiny Bull and Big Sister Cow.
When the Farmer goes on a long journey, he promises to come back and make the farm the most amazing Farm in the whole world (maybe with a roller coaster!). But even though he leaves the Helper with the cows, their jobs aren’t always easy while they wait for the Farmer.
Tiny Bull faces adventures, danger, biting flies, and Angry Bulls. Other cows forget about the Farmer, are lazy, and just have fun all day, but Tiny Bull and his sister must keep obeying because one day, the Farmer will keep his promise. Can they keep going until he does?
I grew up loving allegories like Max Lucado’s Coming Home and Jennie Bishop’s The Squire and the Scroll: beautifully illustrated stories for children that are even more meaningful to read as an adult, due to their rich parallels to the spiritual life.
It’s no wonder I loved this book, then. I smiled and teared up while reading it, as it’s written in such a funny and sweet way (I can picture kids giggling over some of Hosanna’s descriptions!), yet it’s so deep and reflective of the reality of our existence as the Bride of Christ waiting for the return of our Groom.
I came away from this book more excited for Christ’s return and with a renewed desire to live faithfully in the meantime.
And can we talk about the illustrations??
One of my biggest problems with the children’s books coming out these days is the sad lack of beauty in the illustrations. (Must all bookish artwork for kids be ugly, choppy caricatures?)
I was delighted, however, by the whimsy and beauty in Hannah K. Dukes’ watercolor pieces for this book. They’re just so happy – a perfect pairing with Hosanna’s cheery, upbeat writing style.
All hope for children’s literature is NOT lost!
I think the above photo was one of my favorite illustrations. The idea of a cow drinking lemonade made me smile.:)
// to learn more //
You can purchase a signed copy, paperback or hardcover, directly from the author here. If Amazon is more your style, you can find it there, too!
Even if you’re not in the market for children’s books, I hope the bits of this sweet story brightened your day! Are there any children’s books you’ve loved?
February was a stretching month…one of learning (mostly the hard way) to rest my restless soul and mind in Christ and trust that He is the all-sufficient Savior He truly is, even when life is wild and a bit intimidating and I find myself to be so insufficient. What a gift it is to be able to rest in Him! ❤
There were also so many lovely things that filled this February. Here’s a sampler…
BUT FIRST!!!
I wanted to share a reminder that I’m running a Winter’s End giveaway, and it ends this Friday. If you haven’t entered yet and would enjoy a lovely new book to add to your collection (there are two up for grabs!!), please do head over to the giveaway post to enter.
Alright.
Back to the regular post…
Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Psalm 107:8-9
Things worth remembering…
ice skating with a brother
running into a dear friend at the grocery store on a hard day
listening to a song from a friend at just the right moment
cooking with my sisters
a bookish Galentines get-together
the long way home and healing conversation + prayer
flowers from a friend
Valentine’s Day nachos and cheesecake and movie with siblings
reading on the porch with sunlight and a sleepy dog
a delightfully quiet and yet social afternoon of crocheting with other ladies
wig-wearing, house cleaning, and packing with a sister
several firsts on the last day of the month: seeing snow-capped mountains, setting foot in both Colorado and California, renting a car, piloting aforementioned car through six-lane traffic. ‘Twas a day to remember.
We all long for Eden and are constantly glimpsing it: our whole nature is soaked with a sense of exile.
I believe God is sovereign, and I also believe I’m responsible and God holds me responsible for the choices that I make. I simply trust God that both assertions of Scripture are true.
I didn’t adore this book as a whole, but it was an informative read!
O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer Greatest treasure of my longing soul My God, like You there is no other True delight is found in You alone
I’m struck by God’s attention to beauty and the smallest details in His instructions for the building of the tabernacle. Father, give me the patience and reverence for You that I need to care so deeply about the small things I often allow to slip through the cracks. Truly let all I do be done for the love of You.
Help me to live surrendered, Father, serving fully and faithfully in the corners of life to which You call me. I feel so small sometimes…so insignificant in the face of a world full of hurt. May I know that I am small and fit well in Your Almighty hand.
The most transformational thing you can do today is to look clearly at Christ with the eyes of your heart.
Alistair Begg
What made your February memorable? What beauty have you been seeing these days?
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you. We all win.:)
I’ve been wanting to do a giveaway for a while now, and thought that late February would be a good time to do so for two reasons:
1.) After Valentine’s Day, there just aren’t that many fun things to be celebrating! The weather is nasty, spirits tend to be low…of course a good book or two would help.;)
2.) The books I’d like to share with you would make good late winter/early spring reads, as they’re written for those who are struggling to find joy, hope, and beauty in their current life circumstances.
I’d like to send a book (and maybe even a handwritten poetry card??) to two of you!
One person will receive a copy of Ruth Chou Simon’s Now and Not Yet. Goodness, I loved this book. I think you will, too.
Another person will receive a copy of yours truly’s book of poetry: Beauty Even Here. I’ve gabbed about this one a lot already, but looking through it the other day I remembered that there are a few poems in here that make it perfect for Lent and Holy Week! So there you go.
To enter:
Simply leave a comment on this post! Bonus (not actually, but I’ll be proud of you!) points if you share one thing that you like to do to make the drearier days of the year more lovely, or share a book, song, or Scripture that helps point you to hope and beauty.
If you do want a REAL bonus point, just make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletter and let me know that you are in the comments!
I’ll pick two winners on March 13th and reach out to you in the comments.
Stay the course, friends! The days are getting longer, and the day is drawing nearer when Christ will return for His Bride. There is always something beautiful up ahead. ❤
If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people to collect wood, and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Things worth remembering…
a New Year’s Day feast and stories swapped over coffee
baking bread
coffee and book talk with a kindred spirit
lotsss of reading
cooking up bacon and onions and potatoes all at once and feeling like a hobbit
finding new artwork for the living room
a new book study
God moving in ways I never saw coming
surviving fierce winds and severe cold on the farm
Our conversation with others declares what is on our minds. But our conversation with God in private reveals what is in our hearts. Listen to someone pray – or listen to yourself pray – and you gain a window into the very center of the being.
I’m going through this book with a group of other women this winter. It’s so good.
They encouraged each other by walking individually with God and finding His grace sufficient to meet their needs. Together, their lives intertwined into a cord of shared ministry that was stronger than either could have woven alone.
Finally finished this one. It’s an absolute gem, and I highly recommend it.
Why was I always suffering, always browbeaten, always accused, for ever condemned? Why could I never please? Why was it useless to try to win any one’s favour? …I dared commit no fault: I strove to fulfill every duty; and I was termed naughty and tiresome, sullen and sneaking, from morning to noon, and from noon to night.
I’ve been wanting to reread this book for a long time and finally picked it up alongside my mom. Ugh, it’s so rich, and I despise John Reed!!
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)
Before another word could be said, a little old lady appeared in the hall, trying to look stern and failing entirely, because she was the picture of a dear, fat, cozy grandma.
I read this with friends for a book club! It wasn’t my absolute favorite read from Alcott (it began to feel repetitive after awhile), but there were some sweet, thought-provoking stories with Louisa May Alcott’s inevitable dash of humor. Her characters are so endearing!
I almost didn’t listen to this audiobook because I didn’t love the first book in the series, but I’m glad my restless mind got the better of me; I enjoyed this one so much more the one that preceded it! It ended on a horrible cliffhanger, though, and the third book doesn’t come out till March. Boo!!
“We are not called to be successful in accordance with ordinary standards, but in accordance with a corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, becoming in that way what it never could be if it were to abide alone.”
You know I’m not the biggest fan of the romance genre, but this Christmas rom-com has delighted me with how much I’ve been able to enjoy it! I love the depth of the characters and the author’s sense of humor. If you’re a rom-com fan, you should definitely check this book out.
The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works. The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.
Psalm 145:17-18
From the journal…
Strengthen my hands to lay all my hopes and fears to rest on Your chest, and fix my eyes in sheer adoration on You.
Live slowly enough to be able to think deeply about God.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)
It was the 20th of December, and for an entire month the smells of gingerbread and homemade fudge had filled the farmhouse kitchen, secrets had been exchanged in whispers behind hands, and Randy Travis’ Christmas album had been played more than a dozen times through the boombox. The month had borne all the earmarks of a Werner family Christmas…except for the one that was most important in Grace Werner’s eyes.
There was no snow. At least out of doors.
Last year I wrote a short Christmas story about a (fictional) little girl I’d gotten to know quite well after spending a few years writing a story about a baker, a deputy, and a farmer who happened to be Grace’s older brother. Grace was never a main character in that book, but anyone who’s met her on the page knows that she’s most definitely main character material. (Major levels of sweetness and sass will do that for a seven-year-old.)
All Grace wants is to make Christmas 2001 absolutely perfect for her family. Is that too much for a seven-year-old to ask? But she can’t wrap gifts as well as her mother, or decorate cookies that look as nice as Grandma’s, and to top it all off the sky won’t yield even a single snowflake! Her dreams for a perfect Christmas seem to be crumbling as fast as her sugar cookies, but could it be that there’s more to a perfect Christmas than perfection?
This Christmas, join Grace and her family in their blustery corner of the Midwest for a chuckle-inducing adventure that will warm your heart and possibly leave you craving a plate of sugar cookies.
I reread this story last week, and it was such a treat to revisit all of Grace’s mishaps and adventures. (I honestly had forgotten how I’d resolved the story, so it was sweet to read that part like it was the first time, hehe!)
If you love all of the close-knit family vibes, humorous little kids, and the chance to visit a rural Midwest community via the written word, this story might be for you. 😉
I wrote this piece a couple of years ago and wanted to share it now. I hope it can be a blessing!
Practice guitar for the Christmas program.
Continue with gift preparations.
Finalize edits on my aunt’s obituary.
It’s a cruel and confusing thing to be grieving while the world swirls in such happiness and anticipation to the tune of “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” blaring over the radio.
But isn’t that why we have a Christmas in the first place?
God saw, God grieved, and so He came. Christmas isn’t a fragile veneer that’s been plastered over reality. It’s the reality of God made flesh so death could die, and deep grief gives us the opportunity to celebrate that in a way that goes much deeper than trite choruses and wooden nativity scenes.
We stand beside caskets that hold the shells of the ones who have burst into eternity before us, and we lower them into a hole in the earth’s frozen heart and our weeping hollows us out because we are broken, dying humans living in a broken, dying world.
But we sow these shells in a sure and tearful expectation, because, just as the souls we have loved have shed their shells, these shells will one day shed these caskets and meet their Savior in the air because we are healing, blood-bought humans living for a healed and blood-bought world.
And so we carry our grief, sometimes over our shoulders, sometimes in deep, hidden pockets, but always with a deep-seated expectation that weeping only endures for a night, and joy will come with the morning.
Whether that morning is earthside or not matters not to us, because we are trusting a flimsy future to the hands of a sturdy God. He has worked all for the good of those who love Him, and He is unchanging. Why should He think He will break that habit now?
Indeed, in the triune God is the love behind all love, the life behind all life, the music behind all music, the beauty behind all beauty and the joy behind all joy.
My favorite non-fiction read of 2025, hands down. Read it!!
“We are not called to be successful in accordance with ordinary standards, but in accordance with a corn of wheat falling into the ground and dying, becoming in that way what it never could be if it were to abide alone.”
I found this book deeply impactful in high school and have been enjoying a reread.
And I will wait on the LORD, Who hides His face from the house of Jacob; And I will hope in Him.
Isaiah 8:17
From the journal…
May every fiber of my being magnify and rejoice in You!
Lord, let me be obedient to the point of the death of my dreams.
I am satisfied because of Who God is. Please be the first thing I seek, the One I long for in the driest of seasons. Help me to see Your lovingkindness as truly better than life.
To pray, “Thy will be done,” I must be willing, if the answer requires it, that my will be undone.
This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)
Look at me, jumping on a trend for once. But I felt like waxing poetic, and this prompt was just the thing. I would be so glad if you’d use it as a springboard/inspiration to make your own list! ❤
I am rich…
because the November sun makes the edge of gray skies glow pink and lavender as it comes and goes // because I drink root beer and read poetry with my grandma // because mochas are a thing // because all the music I could dream of is at my fingertips // because my parents and siblings are so close, to my home and to my heart // because I have room for an ever-swelling book collection // because I can sing myself hoarse in corporate worship without fear // because my tomorrows are held firmly in the hands of a loving, sovereign God // because long-distance friendships work // because hours fly by with the dearest of friends // because candles and twinkle lights and fireplaces exist // because my aging car has stellar speakers // because there are “good morning” and “drive safe” texts // because brokenness is not the end of the story // because God said “no” and “not yet” more times than I can count // because He is writing a story much longer and deeper and more glorious than what I can see // because I have so many memories behind and an eternity with Christ before me //
Laurel Luehmann 