A Prayer letter
Do you sometimes have trouble finding the right words when you pray? I know I do. That’s why I love to use The Lord’s Prayer as a guideline—after all, it is the Lord Himself who teaches us how to pray. It might be a bit unusual to find nothing but a prayer here. I wrote…
Week 4 Wooden shoes from the Holy man and: My Rule of Life: HOLD ON. Let’s get Organized!
Hello you all! I hope that you had a nice week. Here in the Netherlands, we celebrated Saint Nicholas, a yearly celebration of generosity. We give each other presents and present them in creative ways with poems. Our family seems to have a hard time deciding whether we celebrate Sint Nicholas (in the Dutch way)…
Photoblog: On the necessity of beauty in the bedroom (and beyond)
“The necessity for beauty and harmony is a basic need for a creative soul and a breeding ground for the true, good, and beautiful that I like to nurture in the most intimate space of our home. One is a feeding place for the other. ” (ponderings from my journal). Bedroom happiness A year…
Your Very Own Personal Retreat
You are a God of distance, and yet very near. I do not see You, but I want to experience You. I invite You into this room and into my writing. May I be aware of Your being here with me. Maybe it is not possible to join in on an online retreat, and…
Online Retreats, a reflection
Be still and know that I am God. (That is an invitation). I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. (That is a statement) ps. 46: 10 A reflection: 14 January, February 11, March 11, April 8th. Mayv 6th, June 2nd. We had such precious Online Retreats so…
The Story of Torrie
Laurens wrote and illustrated this story in his notebook around the days of our move from Osijek to the Netherlands. My first book was published in the autumn of 2020. Jelle and I published it ourselves and I could not decide if I should add this story. Does it fit? does it not fit? Finally,…
6 suggestions for contemplative writing
Come now, insignificant man, fly for a moment from your affairs, escape for a little while from the tumult of your thoughts. Put aside now your weighty cares and leave your wearisome toils. Abandon yourself for a little to God and rest for a little in him…. My friend Anneke, who joined me on all kinds…
You are warmly invited to an on-line retreat.
You’re warmly invited to join us for an on-line small Retreat. So, we all like it and decided to have a monthly retreat. Small, because we are just with a handful of people and small because it is just a few hours. When: Registration: see Agenda 19.00- 21-30 (Continental European Time) 18.00-20.30 for the United…
A trip to the world of Corrie Ten Boom
Since we are not able to travel these weeks, I’ll take you along a trip to the world of Corrie ten Boom. In 1844 the grandfather of Corrie started a prayer group in the Barteljorisstraat. He had it in his heart to pray for the Jews. In 1944 the Gestapo came to the House…
The story of the old wall decorator
At the beginning of 2019, I bought an old wall decorator at the Antique market in Osijek. That Market! We wouldn’t miss out. Every first Saturday of the month, the square at the heart of the Old Town Tvrda in Osijek is filled with curiosity objects. During the hot summer months, we would arrive early…