What is your perspective? From the passenger seat of our car, a field of golden-coloured corn stalks caught my attention. Brightly standing out against the dark grey clouds hovering over them, I commented about their beauty to my husband. He, however, had focused on the threatening clouds and not noticed the cornstalks. Where our eyes … Continue reading Golden Stalks or Dark Clouds?
Life goes on. The pain eases slightly with time. The days feel normal and we get busy with them. Then certain things remind us, like a date, the day they left. Emotions and memories, forgotten in the day-to-day, flood our hearts and minds and the pain returns; we feel the loss again. In this pain … Continue reading Remember Me
Our family has just gone through an extended period of gift-giving. Over the past three weeks, we have celebrated four birthdays and Christmas. All that baking and wrapping has worn my fingers out. We feasted and gave lots of splendid gifts to each other with smiles, exclamations and lit-up faces. What is the greatest gift … Continue reading Greatest Gift
January. It is the renowned month of fresh starts, new resolutions, hopes and dreams. My January started with the making of one birthday cake and two more looming on the horizon, our television seizing up and watching our firstborn drive off to his home, eight hours away. While these things are not terrible, they are … Continue reading Fresh Starts, New Starts
So here we are, a few days away from Christmas day. The stress is rising, fatigue deepening, and frustration mounting as we wonder how we will get it all done. Today, let’s take a deep breath, close our eyes and repeat to ourselves, “I don’t have to do it all.” We can easily get caught … Continue reading Advent – Week 5
“For God so loved the world…” John 3:16 NIV Most of us get a thrill out of giving gifts to those who are precious to us. Our hearts look forward to blessing them with something that will make them smile, comfort them, or help them. God made us in His image. Therefore, it stands to … Continue reading Advent – Week 4
“This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Luke 2:12 NIV God is a God of humility. During Advent, we celebrate that Almighty God, who needs nothing and lacks nothing, humbled Himself to be born as a weak, helpless human baby. Not a … Continue reading Advent – Week 2
Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, But my ears you have pierced; Psalm 40:6a NIV I guide the thin metal to the small hole and it slides smoothly to the opposite opening in the back of my earlobe. Quick and easy, I do it almost mindlessly, but I recall when I first got my … Continue reading Pierced Ears
The lush greenery and quiet brought calmness as I deeply inhaled. As I walked with my friend along the path, she pointed out different landmarks and the history of the land we walked. Pausing, she pointed out the high stump of a tree trunk near the shore of the stream that ran through the property. … Continue reading Tangled
Jesus wept. John 11:35 NKJV Her hair felt wrong. It was stiff and dry, not soft and supple like usual, as my fingers caressed it. The spirit who was my mother was gone. Unreachable. All that remained for me to touch and say goodbye to was this flaccid, lifeless shell. I was jolted awake by … Continue reading Mourning Grace
Well Living 