Taryn R. Hutchison's Blog: The Glorious Muddle, page 15

Graduations Past

In anticipation of Saturday, I’m being a bit nostalgic and thought I’d post photos of my previous three graduations. The first one was 54 years ago. Funny that I graduated from a Lutheran high school, and now it’ll be a Lutheran university. I’ve come full circle and I’m not even Lutheran. (In case you can’t […]

Do You Hate Mother’s Day?

In the May issue of The Redbud Post, Redbud Writers explore themes of grief and loss. Many people, even those struggling to cope with loss, will avoid talking about such heavy topics, especially in the spring and around Mother’s Day. Yet these topics bring us deeper into community and into the sacred. (Read my article […]

Another Book Launches

The book I’ve been researching and editing and slaving over at work for almost two years, A Fair Star Rises, was launched on March 31st. My name only appears in the acknowledgments, but I know the book would never have happened apart from me. And it’s a nice sentence! My final read-through of the manuscript before publication, at […]

A Happy Ending

Tomorrow is Good Friday, the saddest day in the year. But it’s not the end of the story. Sunday’s coming! For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we […]

More Reflections on the Cross

We live and die; Christ died and lived! ~ John Stott All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, all hell terribly afraid of it, while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning. ~ Oswald Chambers I slew him–this right hand struck the dagger to his heart. My deeds […]

Pondering the Cross

Some profound thoughts to reflect on as you ponder the meaning of the cross. In the Christian story God descends to re-ascend. . . One may think of a diver, first reducing himself to nakedness, then glancing in mid-air, then gone with a splash, vanished, rushing down through green and warm water into black and […]

Love Lustres at Calvary

Some words to aid in your contemplation of what Easter means. The following prayer is from The Valley of Vision (A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions): My Father, Enlarge my heart, warm my affections, open my lips, Supply words that proclaim “Love lustres at Calvary.” There grace removes my burdens and heaps them on thy […]

Giving or giving up

Christmas isn’t the only holiday where we think about giving. At Easter, we contemplate giving up something.  Things like dessert, TV, wine, smoking. But then we take them back when Lent is over. Jesus willingly gave up His very life for our sakes, and when He rose victorious over sin and death, He gave us the […]

Jesus gave but He also received

Soon it will be Easter, when everything changed, forever.  Jesus willingly gave up His very life for our sakes on Good Friday. And then on Easter morning, He rose victorious over sin and death to give us the most glorious gift we could ever receive: new life. But Jesus wasn’t the only one in the […]

Pushing Past the Wall

You know the mythical wall that marathon runners hit – about 4/5 of the way through the race? They simply run out of energy. They’re so tired they want to give up, but if they muster the strength to somehow push on, they usually get an extra boost at the end. Or so I’m told. […]