Upon Your Commencement
For Michael upon graduating high school . . . and leaving us . . . Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Timothy 4:12 So it is finally time. I remember when I was eighteen, leaving for the uncharted territory of college, in an unfamiliar city, fashioning a grown up life for myself. The freedom was exhilarating; yet, I ached for home. There was one bastion of familiarity in that place: you. You were three and a half, your brother was brand new. Your parents invited us…
Grab the happy!
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. James 5:13 I think sometimes it’s easy to get stuck in a rut. Something in life can be really, really hard . . . BIG things, things we have no control over, things that we cannot fix. The enormity of these problems can overshadow all other joy in our lives. But I refuse to let the mountains define my reality! This week for my family has been crazy: a beautiful birthday party for our four year old complete with fairy wings and little pirates running around the back yard, my husband’s birthday,…
“Do not worry . . .”
Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not…
A future full of hope
“‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:11-13 I have been sitting on this post for a while. I tend to be very hesitant to talk about politics in any arena other than my immediate family and close circle of friends. The problem is, morality and spirituality are a lot more subjective than they…
Binding up wounds
He heals the brokenhearted And binds up their wounds. Psalm 147:3 I have another blog prepared for this week, but it feels as though we are supposed to talk about wounds today . . . a weird place to start the new year, I realize. But, when I think of all the new year’s resolutions that we so commonly make–lose weight, be healthier, quit smoking, limit or quit drinking, spend less, pay off debt, get organized, repair relationships, go to church—I realize that all of these problems or excesses in our lives may not be the problem at all. Rather, they are a symptom of the problems in our hearts…
