A range of emotions swept over me as I watched the video clips before the sermon. Shock, since I don’t meet face-to-face with such secular worldviews in my job at a Christian school. A mix of fear and overwhelm and doubt, since I try so hard to prepare my children to be lights in this … Read more
Certain elements of the Christmas season bring me warm, fuzzy feelings every year. Colorful light displays. Children’s Christmas programs. Hot cocoa and family recipe cookies. My tree decorated with treasured ornaments. I look forward to these traditions because they are tickets to temporary happiness in what is often a stressful time of social interaction. Tempted … Read more
Recently my treadmill broke, so I have been exercising outside in the glorious autumn weather. Years ago, my husband and I purchased acreage from a small country church, and now a county road runs between our properties. I had never considered the church cemetery’s gravel pathway to be a walking track until my treadmill broke. … Read more
The cicada’s sizzle-hum sings all September, rising high in rippling waves. Ironweed’s melancholy plum brightens alongside showy goldenrod. Monarchs and swallowtails flit between asters and milkweed leaving a legacy of yellow-orange eggs. Jerusalem artichokes reach heavenward winking their bright black eyes in afternoon slanted sunlight. All the world’s gone to seed. Sumac plumes darken to … Read more
I’ve had to adjust to three of my parents’ remarriages, so when I heard Ron Deal speak on Family Life Today, I was intrigued with his idea of a slow cooker as a metaphor for blended families. Deal says when a blended family begins they need to adjust slowly, on a low simmer in a slow cooker. … Read more