Countdown to Christmas

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Celebrating the birth of Jesus is sacred. A holy event. We celebrate Love. Grace. Sacrifice. Forgiveness. It is Good. And in these last couple days of preparing for the event… We may experience anything but. What if… We enter into our family events and parties and church services recognizing that things may not go as planned. And then… Instead of moving too quickly from our happy place to frustration, we choose to focus on the bigger picture. Aunt Gladys isn’t trying to be obnoxious with her words and opinions and Continue Reading

Reset…Peek Over My Shoulder

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The four words jump out from the page. It’s like they are written in bold, red font, twice the size of the words around them. With a yellow, neon flashing light behind the letters. …be patient with everyone. Really? Everyone? All the time? How on earth… {I was standing in the wrong line when they handed out patience.} Today I’m writing this little note to me. There is a heart-need deep within that needs a reset on patience. So feel free to just peek over my shoulder as I journal a few Reset Thoughts... Yeah, Continue Reading

I Am Sorry

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I was talking to my sister while at the big box store, standing in front of the cell phones that can do everything but cook dinner, apologizing for what seemed to be the zillionth time that week. She had called a few minutes earlier when I was feeling ignorant, overwhelmed, and so behind the technical times. I had been sharp and short. (And I’m not describing my appearance or height.) Continue Reading

Back to the Basics

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  I’ve been up and out of my desk chair 763 times this morning and it’s only 9:00 a.m. My head is spinning with thoughts about my life, questions about my faith, and I’m wondering “How should I then live?” My body just can’t sit still. The focus isn’t there. So much good and challenging stuff to be thinking about. I feel like a jack-in-the-box that sits scrunched up and then gets wound up only to pop up and bobble its head and then sit back down again. Until the next wind up is done. Ooftah. Continue Reading

A Weekend Wish for You

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Hey, Friends… Just a quick note as we head into the weekend. We work hard all week, don’t we? Meeting the expectations of our boss or our client or the grumpy, whiny person in the cube next to us. Managing the routine at home…laundry that multiplies in the laundry basket, grocery shopping for meals we don’t have time to make, hiding the moldy fruit in the fridge, and printing our name in the dust on the bedroom dresser. Volunteering at church or school or the food shelf while feeling guilty because we aren’t taking care of Continue Reading

Crank up the Music

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Hey, you. Yeah. You. Today is for you. Don’t miss it. Grab it! Yeah, I know. Your calendar is overscheduled. Your commitments are over the top crazy. And you are overwhelmed with stuff. But…what if you just take a few minutes to take a breath? What if you grab a few moments and remember that you are alive and this moment won’t come again and that life is bigger than your to-do list, calendar, and demands that never stop. I’m going to do that. Take a breath. If you feel it’s necessary to push full force into every Continue Reading

When Life Becomes The List

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Domestic Goddess will never be my title. Becoming Suzy Homemaker is a dream… ...sometimes a nightmare. Every time I cook I pray nobody dies. So here we are… With The List that goes on and on and on and on… Those words on that sheet of paper that remind me of all the domestic responsibilities that have taken a backseat to…well, everything else.  The List of expectations, urgent needs, priorities, not-so-much-priorities, demands. The things I don’t call fun. Furniture to dust. Floors to wash. Toilets to scrub. Rugs to shake. Continue Reading

And God Smiled

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This is a guest post by my friend, Shari McGuire.  Shari is a time management expert -- and loves God! And God smiled. Recently, in light of some airline ticket fares that were purchased for significantly less than normal due to a computer glitch, I pledged on social media to do the right thing and not take advantage of a company mistake going forward. Even for something as small as a beverage that is missed on my restaurant check,. And God wasted no time putting me to the test. The very next day I was standing in the return Continue Reading

The Extraordinary Ordinary

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We’re standing in Mom’s kitchen. She’s leaning on the counter making her oatmeal. When her legs start to weaken and her knees start to bend, I remind her, Stand up, Mom.   And she starts singing as if on cue… ♫ Stand up, stand up for Jesus. Ye soldiers of the cross. She doesn’t know the words that come after that, so she just hums. And she hums her way through the rest of her morning routine. It’s so…ordinary. We wish for so many things… The weight loss. An organized house. A significant other…or a perfect Continue Reading

Shards of Glass and Socks

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Like shards of broken glass… Words puncture. Angry glares cut. Conversations slash. We clean up the bloody mess, stitch the tender wound, and hope the scar won’t show.   Broken bodies… Broken minds… Broken hearts… Broken families… Broken dreams… Sons and daughters and moms and dads are forced into the chaos of triage and I wonder what else to pray. What else to do. I move through the day begging God to reach my friends right where they are at. Make the pain go away. Stop the sadness. How do I pray? Pray more? Pray Continue Reading

Rain and The Word

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This Fall weather in Minnesota brings dampness. Drizzle. Chills. Life’s like that sometimes, isn’t it? Moments are ushered in that leave us needing…comfort. Decisions bring consequences. Misunderstandings wound. Change unsettles us. The soft snuggly piece of worn cotton that we had when we still used a pacifier would feel perfect. Something warm to wrap ourselves in. Something that would stop the shivers. And then there are times when the pastel-colored blanket just isn’t enough. The drizzles have turned into icicles Continue Reading

She is in Charge

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I guess she was The One in Charge. Of All Things Important. She relished her role. And I found it…annoying. Mom and I were heading into the eye doctor’s office. We had one focus…one mission…one intention… Get Mom to the bathroom for bladder relief. I knew where the bathroom was and we were moving fast… Until… We scurried past the little sign that said, “Please wait here until someone can assist you.” The One in Charge behind the desk sternly reprimanded us… Stop. You must wait until we ask you to come Continue Reading

Simple is Good

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  There’s Ma, Pa, Laura, Mary, Carrie who never seems to talk much, and Jack the dog. They live on the prairie. They laugh a lot. They cry a lot. They love a lot. Almost every story has a happy ending. (I’ve been catching parts of these Little House on the Prairie episodes when I’m with Mom.) Everything seemed so easy back then, didn’t it? And yet, we know it was hard. So what is it that we are seeing…when it all seems so easy? I think we’re seeing the simple. During that hour of TV, the Ingalls family Continue Reading

Just For Today

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I sure appreciate the sentiment, “Live in the present.” And sometimes… I become annoyed with the sentiment, “Live in the present.” Know what I mean? There are just some days that “the present” is overshadowed by what might be…Tomorrow.  (Somebody has to be concerned about what might be just around the bend, right?) How can I live in the present today when tomorrow looks so… Uncertain? Do you have this tape in your head? It starts with wondering about tomorrow’s situation… Then it moves into fretting about what might Continue Reading

The End of the Story

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Saturday mornings at Betty Amundson’s house in Shelly, MN. One of my favorite times of the week. “Good News Club.” Betty Amundson told the best stories. A bunch of us little kids would squirm and elbow and squeeze into her living room so we could hear her tell us stories of “Good News.”  Bible stories that taught us about God, his miracles, and ordinary people who did some really cool things. (Just think about this for a minute…as a child, hearing a story about a shepherd boy named David who liked to play the harp who killed a Continue Reading

Embracing the Good

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Wanting desperately to be married. Wanting desperately not to be married. Desperate for a job. Desperate for a different job. Dreaming of a good night’s sleep. Dreaming of the ability to get out of bed. If we live in America, we have much to be thankful for. And…if we live in America, our individual needs and wants are unique. We live in two worlds. In one, we are (or should be) aware of the blessings showered on us every moment we take a breath. Our nights are not interrupted by the blinding lights of missiles hitting Continue Reading

BlessBack

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"Guide me to the people who are coastliners I can trust. As I have looked back over my life, I realize just how significant people are to my own journey through life. Some have only stayed for a year or two; Some have been with me since I was born. Help me honor them in a way that reflects their impact and my gratitude for their influence.” A benediction from BlessBack: Thank Those Who Shaped Your Life by Julie Saffrin. Mrs. McCauley was my first grade teacher. She taught me that reading, writing, and arithmetic could be Continue Reading