100 Words

Relationship Scorekeeping

March 28th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

I know someone who keeps score in her relationships. You only get one strike before you are out unless you have money or connections. She not only admits it, but she also believes it is right. I’m in her circle right now, but I know my position stays precarious because her standards are high—standards she can’t even meet.

Thankfully, God deals in grace rather than points.

But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
Romans 11:6 (ESV)

If God set standards he couldn’t meet, I would not only be irritated but also angry. Like immutability and truthfulness (see here and here), I didn’t fully appreciate God’s perfection in meeting his own standards—and giving me grace when I didn’t meet them—until I experienced the antithesis. I may not always be learning more along the way, but what I have already learned keeps going deeper.

The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Deuteronomy 32:4 (ESV)

Relationships, Winter

Stripped Bare

March 21st, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

My parents purchased their newly-built 1959 house in a subdivision that had once been a farm. The result? A lack of neighborhood trees. The squirrels I saw in my grandparents’ Tennessee backyard—attracted by my grandparents’ large oaks—were exotic to me. As a child, I thought squirrels didn’t live in North Carolina.

Perhaps my lack of childhood trees led to my extra attentiveness to the trees during a 1984 Thanksgiving trip to Pennsylvania. And the fact that I was embroidering a winter scene of bare trees while my husband drove. Miles and miles of trees stripped bare made a beautiful memory.

Decades of enjoying trees striped bear of their leaves

have shown me beauty,

struggles for resources such as sunlight,

hidden treasure,

and unexpected twists and turns.

The same has been true with the people in my life. As the adornments in their lives are stripped bare by age and circumstances, their beauty, struggles, twists and turns, and hidden treasure have been exposed.

God's Faithfulness

Burls: Formed By Affliction

March 14th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

A rounded, knotty outgrowth on a tree
Definition of Burl

Although burls are ugly, resembling warts, they have fascinated me for over a dozen years. I look for burls whenever I’m surrounded by trees.

I may not remember my first notice of burls, but I remember why they became intriguing. Burls are formed when a tree becomes stressed from an injury, virus or fungus. The resulting wood grain that grows in a deformed manner is so beautiful that the grain is coveted by wood carvers. Burls are poached.

Even more amazing than their unseen beauty, some burls can grow a new tree. Or multiple trees.

Affliction that seems ugly on the outside produces fruitfulness and inward beauty. That is both Biblical and amazing to see up close in God’s creation.

To grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, and the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified. Isaiah 61:3 (ESV)

Book Recommendations, Parenting

Our Children’s Books Matter

March 7th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

Which came first? The love of the color blue or the love of the blue sweaters and blue jeans worn by the children in Pat Hutchins’ art work? My son wonders. He does know his earliest memory of loving the color blue is linked to Hutchins’ illustrations.

It doesn’t matter which came first. What does matter is that the words and art of the books we read aloud to our children, and the ones they later read independently, linger in their hearts.

I recently read a children’s book that was rich in memorable characters and adventure. It was also rich in laughing over brief episodes of profanity and glossing over hinted promiscuity. Otherwise, the stories were excellent. I wondered. With caveats about inappropriateness, could I read them aloud to impressionable children?

The next day, my son called. Our conversation turned to Piggins, a picture book we enjoyed thirty years ago. He told me the details that impacted his thinking and compared Piggins to another favorite, Brambly Hedge. At that moment, I knew I had to abandon the questionable book. The risk was not worth taking.

I am a part of everything that I have read. Theodore Roosevelt

Decisions

Living By The Clock

February 28th, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

Try setting your timer for five minutes.
Siri Suggestion

My husband laughed when Siri’s suggestion appeared on his smartwatch. I googled to learn about Siri suggestions. I found that Siri suggests what to do next based on routines and app usage. (Siri also suggests whom to invite to parties.)

While recovering from knee surgery, I was to walk five minutes per hour. I was to ice my knee for five minutes followed by five minutes of heat and a final five minutes of ice. Exercises and medicines had their allotted times. Recovery felt like a fulltime job living by the clock.

As to be expected from the above regiment, my husband regularly set his watch timer for five minutes. When he hadn’t one day, Siri noticed and nudged him. We weren’t off our routine but rather less stringent.

Living by the clock was annoying at best. However, all requirements needed for a successful recovery were met. Before Siri’s suggestion, I had pondered how many neglected emails and phone calls might be finished if I set a timer to meet a goal.

Time is what we want most, but what we use worst. William Penn