Author Archives: Linda Calkins

This is an incredibly difficult time in the lives of those who are suffering from this pandemic. Matters not what age, gender or country. Whether in hospital, nursing home or at home, Psalm 38 expresses some of the prayers I can only imagine anyone who knows the ravages of this virus can cause. ‘…your handContinue reading “A Psalm for all who suffer from COVID-19”

Psalm 19 has to be one of my favorites. I sang verses 7-10 as a teenager at Pioneer Girl Camp in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, which as I have discovered, they are now committed to memory and can sing them 50 years later. The Psalmist puts forward the sweetness of knowing God’s statutes,Continue reading “A Psalm to Love”

A Refuge for the Oppressed: Psalm 9 Tomorrow, being the 2nd Sunday of Christmas (yes, Christmas is a season, not a day) one of the Gospel choices is from Matthew. It’s about the Holy Family being refugees in Egypt. Not a sweet image like a babe in a manger, nor of a mother keeping allContinue reading “Refugees”

New Years’ Day 2021 Psalm 3:8 Deliverance belongs to the LORD. *    Your blessing be upon your people! Deliverance…we need that for this year, deliverance from the pandemic. Deliverance from an inept government, no matter what state, what country… Deliverance from fear of each other. We read this verse; if we really dig into this, weContinue reading

We think we own this earth of ours, but really it’s being borrowed, according to Psalm 24. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and all who dwell therein. There is all kinds of not only discussion but dissension about the earth these days. We know from what scienceContinue reading “The Earth is whose???”

Mercy and Truth have met together…Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other. (Psalm 85) There is something stunningly beautiful in its simplicity within this verse. Mercy, Truth meeting together, as in a forest grove. Planned? Maybe. But they meet as friends, as lovers, as bonded in soul and spirit. How we long for mercy andContinue reading “Met and Kissed”

“…under the shadow of your wings will I take refuge until this time of trouble has gone by.” Psalm 57:1 A refuge, a shadow, wings, trouble. Words to which we all can relate. A vision of a mother hen gathering her chicks from the storm. A refuge in the midst of a thunderstorm of quietContinue reading “In the Shadow”

Strange title for a Psalm, but there it is. It’s from Psalm 12:8 ‘The wicked prowl on every side, and that which is worthless is highly prized by everyone.’ We all have baubles, bangles and beads, in the song known to many of us. Stuff which is not worth anything, but we hold onto itContinue reading “Worthless”

When I was a girl, I belonged to an organization within our Baptist Church of girls and women; aptly named ‘Pioneer Girls’. There was a theme and it came from Psalm 119:105: ‘Your word is a lantern to my feet and a light upon my path.’ Every time we met, we said that as aContinue reading “Light”

Psalm 116 is one of my favorites for one particular reasons. It is the carving on my parents’ grave of verse 13: ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his servants.’ They were precious in their life, and now in their death they are precious to God. My mother died inContinue reading “Precious”