Abide 7/21/2021 - I was making Kraft mac and cheese for the 7,389th time in my life. It was for one of my picky kids who wouldn’t eat the other stuff I was making. Honestly, I was more focused on the meal I was making for my husband and I because it would be more delicious and more diverse than Blue Box. It was on the back burner literally and figuratively. I know how to make it, I don’t need to read the instructions. I turned the burner on high to get the water boiling, dropped in the noodles and a minute later it overflowed. So I turned it all the way down to stop the gooey, noodle water from dirtying up my stove top. A couple of minutes later I realized I never brought it back to boiling, so the noodles are just marinating in the lukewarm water. I turn the knob back to high and go back to cooking the other food. And it boils over again!... Read more
A Time To Laugh 7/14/2021 - How long has it been since you’ve had a good laugh? I mean a really good laugh that was so hard it made your sides ache? Recently I attended a wedding reception, and as is the custom, as soon as the dance music started it was rare to see someone brave enough to challenge the empty dance floor-except one fearless toddler who had the dance moves of a misguided tornado with twice the energy-“…a time to laugh.” I did my part not to join in, as that would’ve created a time to laugh (for a whole different reason), weep, and mourn... Read more
It Is Well With My Soul 7/6/2021 - I remember the first time I sang the song “It Is Well With My Soul” as an adult. I sang it on a Sunday at church after a teenager that attended there passed away. He had been in a car accident and had died due to the injuries he sustained. I didn’t know him well, but it still affected me. My husband and I were leading a college age group at the time that his older brother attended. We knew his parents because they were very active in many areas in the church... Read more
Hope 6/30/2021 - Hope is what makes us look forward to a new day. We hope that this new diet will finally help us to lose those pounds. We hope that a new outfit will make someone notice us. We hope that our social media post will get lots of “likes” so we can feel accepted. We hope we are included in social events that we don’t even really want to attend just so we don’t feel rejection. And we certainly hope that Google will tell us not to worry about those weird symptoms we’ve been experiencing! The problem with this kind of hope is that, in every single instance, it is mixed with doubt. We hope for something better, but there is always at least a grain of doubt that it will actually happen. Our experiences mostly prove that we’ll be disappointed. Yet, hope wakes us up again tomorrow... Read more
Loving The Unlovable 6/23/2021 - We all have an unlovable person in our lives. You know the one. The person that always gets under your skin. It is the person that when you see them, you inwardly cringe and tell your face it better behave and not betray your inner emotions. It’s that person that constantly challenges you not to mutter un-Christ like words under your breath. The one, that despite hyping yourself up mentally to have a good attitude like a football player on game day, you still walk away from that person feeling discouraged, angry, and maybe even hurt. You come away from them feeling extremely challenged to think gracious and Godly thoughts toward them... Read more