by jot and tittle

Last year, 2025, I posted 5 blog posts. In my mind, that's a bit pitiful for a writer, don't you think? This year, 2026, I shall try to do better. At the end of one year and the beginning of another, people write about all kinds of things: what they accomplished, what books they read, the places the visited, or the goals they have for the year ahead. I find that all very interesting. I'm a nosy person and am intrigued by how other people spend their lives.  If you're nosy too, go ahead and read the rest of this paragraph where I'll share a bit about what I did in 2025. If you don't care, feel free to skip this bit. I wrote and published a youth novel, learned that you can freeze sourdough dough and then thaw it when you want to bake it (this is a game changer, all my sourdough baking friends), and completed a university course on the Romans. I started a new job and gained 15lb thanks to the reality that both part time EAs and part time cooks do a lot less walkin...

In Ontario, we are in the midst of our two week Christmas break. I've never had a two week Christmas break before because I've always worked jobs that required someone to be there, holidays or not. This year, I predominately teach and when the kids get a break, I get one too.  I don't think I've ever had so much time off and stayed home. Years ago, I took time off to travel Europe, which meant a busy schedule and lots of excitement (if you go, take the train, not the bus). This time, I am spending most of my time tucked in my cozy apartment with a few excursions to visit family and friends.  I am not busy now. I am reading books and plugging away at a school course, walking my subdivision and baking banana bread. And I am thinking. And I am noticing that God is not as close as He used to be.  In the busy, it is easy to get up and do morning devotions and then move on to the next thing that must be done, but in the quiet and calm there is time to sit and wait and notice....

"Lord, you're so good. My cup is so full...it's just...it's not the cup I asked for." That's what I prayed one evening this week. If life is a party, I had asked for a Shirley Temple and received ginger ale. Ginger ale isn't bad, it just isn't what I asked for.  Maybe you feel the same way. Maybe you asked to live close to your family and you live across the country, or you wanted a career as a plane pilot and you're working as a used car salesmen. It's not bad, it's just not what you asked for.  When that happens, we have two choices: give thanks for what we have or stew about what we don't have. This week I was frustrated with the hard parts of my story that I have to deal with...like budgeting and taking out the garbage. So, there I am, telling God about all these things I don't really like, and then my phone buzzed with a kind text message from a friend. Just like that, the Lord reminded me that yes, my life is full and kind of ...

Contentedly situated in lawn chairs with our toes in the sand and the baby playing on a blanket at our feet, my friend and I watch her girls digging holes or running between the beach and the lake. Periodically, the girls run up to us to display the shells and rocks they've found. At one point, as the girls surround us, one of us adults comments on the baby being chubby (which she is, as a baby should be) after which one of the girls looks at me and says, "you're kind of chubby." She wasn't trying to be rude or smart, she was just being bluntly observant as children are. As I looked at I her and considered an answer, I thought of the baggage of body image that women have carried for generations, and I thought, I don't want her to carry this baggage too. I want better for her.   I replied, "you know, being a little chubby is actually a good thing. Our bodies function better and it helps keep us warm." This deep lesson was probably lost on her as she s...

You know how you can read the Bible twice, ten times, a hundred times and yet there's still something you haven't noticed or thought about before? That's basically my relationship with 1 Samuel 16:12-23. This is where Samuel anoints David to be king (first he had to meet all David's other brothers because David was the youngest so he was out taking care of the sheep). After the family dinner with Samuel, the text shifts back to King Saul. Because King Saul had disobeyed God, God had removed His Spirit from Saul and sent an evil spirit to terrorize him. In order to sooth the king's suffering soul, Saul's servants go out looking for someone who can play music to make him feel better.  There's a lot to think about in these short verses but the verse that struck me is verse 18.  Then one of the young men said, "Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, a might man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handso...

 Pragmatism is the philosophy that believes things have value based on their effectiveness; the idea that if something works it is right. Usefulness is most important. And this philosophy is thriving in our culture today, partly because it is so sneaky. Of course we want to use systems that are effective and produce good results, but the danger lies in only valuing something or someone for what they can do. For example, certain people are not very useful, therefore it is okay to remove them from society; or taking care of one's home does not bring in money, therefore it is not as valuable as work that does produce money.  John Snyder says that "in religion, pragmatism values God; but it values Him because He is the most useful of all beings. He can empower us to accomplish our goals--world evangelism, healthy families, personal fulfillment, moral excellence--whatever they are. A useful God is the pragmatist's great desire. Though hard to spot at times, the shift from worsh...

 A couple weeks ago, a young woman asked me, "what is your purpose?" it kind of threw me off. Ok, it really threw me off. It seemed a bit touché to say "to glorify God and enjoy Him forever" when she was looking for specifics. And I get why she's asking. My life does seem pretty random. Thirty-two years old, working on my BA, teaching music part time, working at a coffee shop part time, and living at least an hour from my closest family member. On paper it looks...well...it looks random. I get it. Kind of hard to pull a purpose out of the randomness.  I was talking to the Lord about it because sometimes, even for myself, the person living this life, it's hard to find a specific purpose in the randomness. Sometimes I wonder,  when I get to Heaven if I'm  going to have anything to offer God, if while other people show up with their kids, I'm going to hold out empty hands and say "it's just me." I mean, if He wants soldiers to defeat spiri...

After reading that title, are you singing the Phil Collins song from Tarzan? I was. In my head. During prayer meeting. The theme for prayer that evening was the 3rd commandment; you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain . We bowed our heads and began praying around the circle. My dear friend sat beside me and prayed for her children and the children of our church. She prayed that they would never a know a day not loving the name of the Lord, that they would cling to Him and honour Him all the days of their lives. I went next. I prayed for my coworkers, so many of them living far, far from God, so many enslaved to sin. I prayed that they would know Jesus, honestly ask Him to forgive them, and then live the rest of their lives loving His name and bringing that Name glory. The same desire spurred our prayers, but the places we dwell in had a huge effect on how we prayed. And that's when that song from my childhood came to mind. The truth is that we are one family, my f...

 A group of woman sat around a table; laughing, sharing stories, teasing each other. It was light hearted, a refreshment after a day in the trenches of life. One woman was being teased quite heavily and good-natured laughter danced through the air. What a gifts friendship and laughter are. Then I caught a glance of the woman's face. She was politely smiling, but definitely not laughing. That good natured teasing had gone too far. It had hit a nerve. Her eyes were begging for it to stop.  The subject changed and the conversation moved on. Later, when I contemplated the situation (as one does laying in bed at night) I thought that was not our best work . The women around that table were women pursing God, women who love each other, women who truly want what is best for each other, women who know how to be an encouragement. However, in this instance, we chose to laugh over a subject we are not sensitive too, at the expense of another woman's comfort because she was sensitive to i...

 As I shared in my previous post, I've been working through the book "Psalms in 30 Days," which means every morning I begin with a Psalm, or two, or three. This morning the Psalms were Psalm 20&23.  May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble; may the name of Jacob's God protect you.  Psalm 20:1 CBS LORD, covenant keeping God, please protect me at work today, and protect my friend who is due to have a baby very soon, and protect my friend who is afraid. Thank you that you are our strong tower, our defense and fortress. Thank you that no weapon that is formed against you can stand, that you are mighty to save. You are good. Help us to see you and believe you, trust you and depend on you.  May he give you what your heart desires and fulfil your whole purpose. Let us shout for joy at your victory and lift the banner in the name of our God. May the LORD fulfil all your requests. Psalm 20:4-5 CBS Yes LORD, please fulfil our purposes. We are here to walk with you and...

I've been using the book, "Psalms in 30 Days," during my morning worship. Yesterday I read Psalm 11. It begins with the Psalmist declaring "I have taken refuge in the LORD" and then he asks, "how can you say to me, 'escape to the mountains like a bird! For look; the wicked string bows...When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?'" (verse 1-3 CBS). The wicked are taunting him, trying to get him to focus on all the bad stuff and freak out.  He replies that he's taken refuge in the LORD. "Why are you encouraging me to fear and flee? Why are you bringing me to despair by pointing out that the foundations are destroyed and then asking what I am going to do about it?"  The LORD is in His holy temple. The LORD-His throne is in Heaven. His eyes watch. His gaze examines everyone. The LORD examines the righteous, but he hates the wicked and those who love violence...for the LORD is righteous; He loves righteous deeds. Th...

 The Lord graciously made me with a happy disposition. My natural bent is joy. A couple years ago, however, something happened that shattered my heart. Due to the extreme emotional hurt, I was physically ill. I cried every day for weeks, then a couple times a week for months. For a long time I was sad. For years, the truest, deepest emotion I felt was sadness. When you live with sadness you get pretty good at carrying on. You live your normal life but where the world used to be full of colour, now your life is tinted by grief. If someone asked "how are you?" I could honestly say "good" because I was walking closely with God, but if someone had asked "how do you feel?" I would have had to reply "sad."  Psalm 66 became the theme of my emotional experience. "You brought us through fire and through water, you laid a crushing burden on our backs."  That's how I felt.  All the time.  Surrounded by fire and water, often burdened beyond wha...

 Sometimes I wonder at this little life. What am I even doing here and why does it matter? My life contains little or nothing that would interest a biographer, no great discoveries or acts of heroism. Sleeping, waking, praying, reading, dishes, vacuuming, working, exercising, going to church, family and friends, checking the mail and taking out the trash, these are the everyday and every week things.  The stuff that would not interest a biographer is precisely what has interested God. Reading through 1 Chronicles, I've been introduced to a number of people with little lives--lives not so unlike mine--who have been remembered. In chapter 4:9-10 we meet Jabez, who's name means pain  but he was honourable and wanted to be kept from harm and pain, so he prayed, "And God granted what he asked."  4:21 tells of linen workers, 4:23 tells of potters who were in the king's service, 4:42-43 tells of Simeonites who destroyed the remaining Amalekites (the people that Saul wa...

 Lately I've noticed that people are a bit on edge, a bit irritable, a bit sad, a bit off. Sometimes, when I examine my own heart, I am one of these people. Perhaps it's the let down after Christmas, perhaps it's all the grey days we had in January, perhaps its all the time spent inside. I don't know. But I do know many people have been feeling down and overwhelmed and weary.  Perhaps it's just the day-in, day-out reality of waking up, vacuuming, going to work, feeding the children, exercising, taking the garbage out, school, church, and the small, unpleasant interruptions along the way. The co-workers swearing as they tell their story, the child who does not listen and need correction again, the dishes that are never done, the school readings that are always awaiting you.  We must rid ourselves of the delusion that it is major events which most determine a person. He is more deeply and lastingly influenced by the tiny catastrophes of which everyday existence is mad...