Ah, books. How I love them. I love the feel, the smell, but most of all, I love the adventures within their pages. Because reading benefits our lives and moods, it is a habit I hope gets instilled in children at a young age. Let’s encourage them to read wholesome books that help them grow…
Using your God-given gifts brings you joy, but not everyone understands what drives you. I perused books on a shelf debating on a purchase when someone I knew greeted me with her hand on my arm, laughter bubbling through her words. “Don’t you want to write books some day? And how’s that going for you?”…
Have you ever won against the odds? In elementary school, shy and nonathletic, I stood on the perimeter of the crowd of kids on the playground watching my classmates race to the schoolyard fence and back. Memories get hazy, but I recall getting called upon to participate. The popular girls’ comments reflected their certainty of…
I remember myself as a teen crushing on a boy from afar or wishing to be included in a certain group of girls. We never outgrow the need for acceptance. Somehow through the decades, we still yearn to be valued, included, seen, accepted, wanted. Today acceptance might look like belonging to a certain group or…
I wonder what the repercussions will be for this isolation mode we are in. It isn’t healthy to avoid others in person-to-person communication for too long. Good health requires physical touch. It’s a proven fact people need each other. We need to see each other, shake hands, hug, play sports, and dance, etc. To be…
In 1 Thessalonians 3:2-3, Paul says that they sent Timothy to strengthen and encourage people in the faith so they wouldn’t be unsettled by these trials. These words struck me that such a time as we live in now needs people to strengthen and encourage others because the trials are unprecedented, unsettling. Advice to strengthen…
This COVID-19/coronavirus pandemic forced many of us into a new way of living—fewer people in our lives. Staying home and not getting to visit people except online or over the telephone became a new norm. Learning spiked on different levels as more technology was incorporated into our lives through Zoom meetings and Google classrooms, bringing…
Hi, everyone! You may have noticed that I have been having technical difficulties as I transfer from the old site to the new website that we launched yesterday. Some subscribers did not get their notification. We are trying to fix this problem. So this is a test to see if you all get this post.…
In the telling of the crucifixion of Jesus, there’s a lot of shouting, watching, sneering, and mocking going on. Thousands of years later, people still shout, watch, sneer, and mock. Wouldn’t it be nice to be uplifting and stop bullying? Does anyone else get stressed watching the news? So much anger and disrespect and negativity.…
“Who is that?” my husband asks as I strike up a conversation in the check-out line or start a conversation with a fellow shopper as I search for some hard to find item. To be kind is my goal, but not everyone sees it the same. “I don’t know,” I say, often with a smile…