100 Words

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’ 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,

unexpected twists and turns,

and hidden treasures.

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

Parenting, Relationships

Please Tuck me In

February 21st, 2026
Mollie T. Cox

One dear aunt reveals her worry about her retired daughter being single by asking “Who will bring her a cup of tea?” (See here.)

During a harder than expected recovery from knee surgery, I have received many cups of carefully brewed tea from the Night Nurse aka my oldest son. (My husband is the Day Nurse.) The tea, no matter how loving brewed, cooled, and lemoned, does not compare with being “tucked in.”

Don’t be deceived. The nerve block hadn’t worn off.

I appreciated my son carefully rearranging my pillows and pulling up my blankets after bathroom trips or medicine time. However, one day while reading, I was surprised at the impact this sentence had.

Will you come and tuck me in?

I was being tucked in by the Night Nurse. Children are regularly tucked in, but adults? And yet that was what was happening to me after I was up during the wee hours of the night. It was lovely.

I last remember tucking in my sons when the oldest was a tween. How sad. I wish I had known that one is never too old to be tucked in at night.

Who do you tuck in?