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Collected essays

Devotional pieces written along the water, newest first.

Watercolor of a boardwalk through marsh grasses at sunrise

Devotional · July 5, 2025

A Sensate Independence Day

The senses keep their own record of a day — smoke, salt air, the hush after the last shell breaks open above the water.

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Watercolor of fireworks over a quiet harbor at dusk

Devotional · July 4, 2025

Who’s First on the Fourth?

A holiday spent among strangers has a way of asking who, and what, we put ahead of everything else.

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Watercolor of an open notebook and fountain pen by a window

Devotional · February 19, 2025

My Writing Journey Updates

Notes from the desk: what I am working on, what has stalled, and what the waiting has been teaching me.

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Watercolor of two cardinals on a snowy branch beside a feeder

Poetry · February 15, 2025

Cardinals in the Snow

Watching the bird feeders on a snowy day was the inspiration for this poem. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” — Isaiah 1:18

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Watercolor of a crab pot lifted from a tidal creek beside a kayak

Allegory · February 12, 2025

Crabbing on Bells Creek

An allegorical devotion — the first allegory I have written, set in my new home along the Tidewater creeks.

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Watercolor of a blue crab in shallow water

Devotional · February 8, 2025

Hello World!

Two blue crabs, a kayak, and a move across the country — the first entry in a slow record of grace.

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Graceful Quill

Devotional essays from the rivers of the Chesapeake Bay.

© 2026 Cheryl Stead · Writing desk

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