This morning as the sun rose, I thought about Mary and how her experience is my experience, too. Early Sunday morning, she stood weeping outside the tomb, heartbroken, feeling lost and alone. As she turned away from the darkened void, Jesus said to her “Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you seeking?” Thinking HE …
As Alzheimer's progressed, Mom forgot what she had taught her children, but we remember. From the point of her diagnosis until she left this world, made whole again in the presence of Jesus, we remembered for her and used her recipes and her decorations and her creations to recreate moments to make her smile. Now …
The sun is setting on a dreary, damp day filled up with chores and errands and tasks. I don't have anything exciting to turn my focus toward but have a long list of mundane tasks pulling at me. I'm tired and still a bit run down with the after-effects of being a bit ill. And, …
Nightfall after someone we love dies must be one of the bleakest and loneliest moments. When I found out Karl had died, it was already dark, but suddenly the evening that had seemed cool and serene just moments before became bleak and lonely darkness. I remember lying awake for hours crying and wondering how the …
That today is Passover has stayed on my mind quite powerfully all day and into the night. As I understand it, Passover began at Sunset April 8 and continues until sunset April 9. (I am not a scholar, so I will likely get some of the details of this wrong. Share grace with me.) I …
Pray then like this. Those words touch me each time I read them. They feel so intimate, meant just for me (and at the same time, just for you). I find incredible courage and release and comfort and unity when I pray the Lord's prayer, when I follow His example and "pray then like this." …
It's hard to count joy when you are too busy to think and can't finish one activity before you are heading to the next. This week has certainly slowed life down just a bit, and for me, a person who tends to prefer activity and engagement and who is like many people, feeling concern about …
What a surreal week. Suddenly, all the schools in our state are canceled, meetings and appointments are falling off my calendar in clusters, and someone just very firmly tented his hands in front of his chest and nodded his head rather than shaking hands. I don't know enough to take a side on the response, …
At some point today, I heard a rather cynical comment about the commercialization of Christmas and the day-after-Christmas let-down For a few moments, I let that thought draw me into a bit of the Bah Humbugs. I wondered if we really have lost the meaning and if God would prefer we spent the day being …
Seeking God’s plan for our lives—what could be more important? It sounds and seems like the calling. What is God’s plan for my life? Surely, I can do very little that is more important than trying to discover “just what is God’s plan for my life?” However, after decades of deeply desiring to know God's …
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