When normal changes suddenly, we flounder. Like a girl learning to swim who is suddenly required to jump in the deep end, our heart rates race, and all we learned before evaporates in the panic. We flail, our arms and legs somehow moving enough to get us to the side of the pool, though we know not how. The lessons aren’t over though, and to our dismay, the next day, the next lesson comes, and we are told to jump in again.  Living through this pandemic can feel like learning to swim in the deep end. It is easy to focus on what we don’t know, on the breadth and depth of the communal and personal tragedy, and on the fear itself that rises in our pulses. But we do know things that will help us, and we can help each other remember them. We can learn, we can adjust, and, most importantly, w...

I walk empty streets a few blocks from my home to sit on a funny wooden bench tilted back and shaped like a barrel at my daughter’s school. The seat is angled so my feet dangle off the ground. It makes me feel small, younger than I feel most days. The bench is in a garden recently weeded of tall bushes of lavender and mint that were growing out of control. It is calm here. Quiet. I swing my feet. The sun is warm on my skin, the air a blanket of fragrance the breeze breathes this way and that. I let it cover me, drape over my shoulders and face and neck. I imagine the scents of heaven–of flowers and water and earth and rock. A biting sweetness. A fragrance of a million colors, a million voices composing one song. My heart knows this song. And in this extravagance of beauty–of light and colo...

wwww.courtnayerichard.com If you clicked onto this post, then I know you’re interested in knowing how you can learn more about walking in the beautiful characteristics of this type of woman described in the Bible. But before you take the test, let’s get a little backstory.  It’s important to know that Proverbs 31 starts off with the sayings of King Lemuel. He shares with us words of wisdom that his mother taught him about what type of woman he should allow in his life, as a king.  She says to him in Proverbs 31:2-3, “O my son, O son of my vows, do not waste your strength on women who ruin kings.” After that, she goes on to say what type of woman he should look for and the virtues and characteristics she should possess in Proverbs 31:10-31. Here is what she taught h...