Finding Meaning in the Wait

I’m continuing to live in the state of stillness and trusting the unknown in the new year. This quiet I’m drawn to, a waiting place, is starting to feel important. God often leads us into times of waiting so that we can accomplish productive inner work. There’s external waiting and internal waiting. I’ve experienced both Read More

No Excuse for Excuses

Excuse: (noun) a reason or explanation put forward to defend or justify a fault or offense. Recently, I wrote a guest post for my friend Barb’s lovely blog, about how life happens not in the occasional big moments, but in all the ordinary moments in between. And it’s not until we start to engage with Read More

New Year Musings

The questions… Sometimes, I seem to have way more questions than answers. Today, for instance, my new year musings began with: Why do I always side against myself, instead of for myself? Why do I fill my mouth with food, when trying to fill my heart? Why do I live in my head, instead of Read More

Peace on Earth

I am a pacifist, at heart. I come from a line of women who dislike conflict, are used to holding their tongues to avoid it, and consider mealtime a success only if no one disagrees. Unrealistic? Yes. Something to aspire to? No. In fact, my apologies in advance to my daughter… Try as I may, Read More

Carrying Out the Mission

My husband works on an Air Force base and was telling me that there are a number of COVID-19 cases confirmed and more that had to quarantine. He said that they were going to reduce staffing temporarily. “We still have enough people staffed to carry out the mission,” he explained. I almost inwardly rolled my Read More

If You’re Drinking on the Daily, That’s Your Underlying Health Condition

I had a brief, socially distanced conversation with a friend the other day that I can’t stop thinking about. The conversation was great, blessed socialization, until the end. Her closing comment, delivered in her best one-liner voice, was, “Well, since you don’t drink, I’m drinking enough for the both of us these days…” Haha. The Read More

Rising waters, spreading flames

When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; The flames will not consume you. Isaiah 43: 2 The rivers of difficulty are rising as the wildfire that Read More

Expectations and the Guest of Honor

This year, I am greeting the holiday season with an “It is what it is,” mindset. I’ve wrestled with the habit of expectations for awhile now. Through my sobriety, I feel like God is teaching me to lay down my expectations and just be present. With COVID-19 and all the baggage it brings, I think Read More

Blessings and Blemishes

My middle son and I were in the dentist’s waiting room so he could get sealants put on his teeth. I stared down at my swollen knee, still sore from my surgery last week. We don’t often sit together and talk and I was listening to him lament the phenomenon of “maskne,” or blemishes on Read More

I Don’t Wear Labels

When I was in high school, I loved the clothing store The Limited. I spent hours with my friend, trying on sweaters and jeans. She was a shopoholic and had more money than me, so she often came away from our trips with bags stuffed full of the latest line. I remember one fall the Read More