My Son, My Son
The king sat in the gateway waiting for news, and when it came he never asked who had won. He asked about the boy. David's grief for Absalom, and what it carries for a parent living through alienation.
The Barren One of the House
Psalm 113 climbs eight verses before it lands on one woman in one house. For the parent whose children come back every week and barely speak, the Hebrew has a name for it. The barren one of the house has the house, but not what the house was for.
The Morning He Asked for Bread
He fasted on the palace floor for a week on the strength of two words: who knows. Then the child died, and David washed his face and asked for bread. A reflection on 2 Samuel 12 for parents carrying a loss that nothing can change.
When Being Held Feels Like Being Trapped
Jonah called it the pit, the deep, the realm of the dead. Every name except the one that turned out to be true. A reflection on Jonah 2 for anyone held in a place that feels more like confinement than care.
The Small Life You Did Not Choose
Suffering takes the large things first: the plans, the shared future, the life you assumed you would keep. What remains can feel too small to matter, like the leftovers of a life that got away from you. The manna in the wilderness says otherwise.
The Mask He Wears for Them
Like the hero whose mask hides who he really is, you exercise restraint in pushing, for their sake. To everyone watching, the waiting looks like a parent who stopped trying. For the alienated parent whose silence is love no one can see, held by the God who saw Hagar in the desert.
Comfort According to a Promise
"Let your steadfast love comfort me according to your promise to your servant." A pastoral reflection on Psalm 119:76, and the prayer you reach for when rescue has not come: not asking God to change the situation, only not to leave you alone in it.
When the Prayer Goes Out and Nothing Comes Back
You have prayed the same thing so many times you have stopped listening to yourself say it. David knew that room. Psalm 17 opens with a man asking three times to be heard, and no answer arrives in the text.
